“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
In evaluating the fourteenth amendment in the American Constitution it can clearly be distinguished that persons cannot be deprived of their right to life, liberty or property. This statement helps to re-iterate the thought that women have the freedom to control their bodies, as well as the human life residing inside them. According to Michelle Dilion a professor of sociology, “The U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision transformed abortion from a relatively marginal and invisible technical matter into a public and moral issue” (Dillion 1). This legal precedent established itself as a tension because it went against every belief of the Roman Catholics living in America. The Roman Catholic Church views abortion as an injustice. Of the ten commencements known to Catholics “thou shall not kill” is often used to fight off the concept of abortion. The mother, does not have the right to kill the foetus because in the scripture it teaches “ men and women are made in the image of God (Genesis 1.27). In killing an innocent foetus the mother is distorting the image of God. Furthermore, in the book of Jeremiah, God tells Jeremiah “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you" (Jeremiah 1:5), this statement establishes that God has an intimate relationship not with people that already exist on earth, but further the unborn. Killing the foetus, is killing the relationship between the creator and the unborn. After the legal precedent that was set in the Roe v. Wade case, there were frequent violent protests against abortion clinics. These violent protests ranged from bombs, murders, shootings, arsons and as well as vandalism of property. A specific outbreak would be the bombings of three abortion clinics in 1984. (Reeves) Three clinics where abortions had been performed were bombed on Christmas day. Four individuals were charged with the obstruction of the abortion centers, Kaye Wiggins, 18, Matthew Golsby, 21 , James Simon , 21, as well as Kathy Simmons ,18. A reporter had asked Kaye Wiggins who was being charged with conspiracy why both Matthew and James bombed the three abortion centers, and for that she responded that it was “as a gift to Jesus on Christmas day” (Reeves). Despite the numerous interferences by pro-life Roman Catholics to universalize their anti-abortion policies, the legal precedent for abortion remained as is. This was due to the already establish the rights woman had to life, liberty and property in accordance with the fourteenth amendment. Because the bible is an internal document supported only by Roman Catholics it is powerless in comparison to the globalized legal function system.
Not only does the interpretation interfere in legal function systems, but further in the political function systems. The tension between political parties and Roman Catholic Churches arise, because certain political parties are in favour of abortion, and certain are anti-abortionists. Every time a political party is elected in the United States, it changes face due to the totalizing view of the specific parties policies. In the words of Mark A Noll, author of A history of Christianity in United States and America,
“ the religious landscape seems to be divided between those who favour a “civil religion” of tolerance , expression and civility on the one hand and those who favoured a “civil religion” of tradition , restraint and moral courage on the other”
In other words, strict Roman Catholics are more conservative in a sense that they believe abortion on demand is an affront to moral law (Noll 455) and they prefer take a pro-life stand. Their reasoning for pro-life: the scriptures. For example, in the book of Psalm (139; 13-16) there is a great portrayal of Gods’ involvement with the unborn. In Davids’ words "You knit me together in my mother's womb". This statement has a great impact on Catholics because it further inputs the notion that a feotus has been personally knitted together by the creator, himself. In destroying the foetus, individuals are taking away the attachment created by God, and further taking away the opportunity for the life to have a future. This reasoning is what evokes Catholics to follow conservative beliefs because they prefer to impose a life with courage, tradition, morals and a society that upholds the true values of the bible. This believed abstraction caused Catholics both in Quebec and in other regions in 1985, to support the Conservative party, compared to Anglicans or members of the United Church. (Noll 454) Regardless of Roman Catholics trying to globalize anti abortion policies there are other individuals whom are more liberal and consider access to abortion a lesser evil (Noll 455). They prefer to take a pro-choice stand. There reasoning is the social cost of undesired pregnancies and further restricting women’ right to control reproduction. According to Dunkel-Schetter, Sagrestano, Feldman, & Killingsworth, authors of “Ethnicity and Social Support During Pregnancy”, social support has been proven to portray beneficial effects on the mental and physical health of pregnant women. In order for the mother to be mentally and physically healthy they require health care check ups, medications, proper environment, and healthy food for the baby and the mother. Nevertheless all of this must be funded. Another reason for the pro-choice stand by individuals is due to the idea that individuals have the right to privacy, and women have the right to control their reproduction. According to section 8, of Canada's Constitution and Charter of Rights and Freedoms, “Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure.” even though in the charter the idea of privacy is not explicitly mentioned it can be interpreted that an individual has the right to expect privacy. This statement emphasizes the concept that woman have the right to their privacy, and what they do with their bodies. For these reasons, individuals of other Christian sects as well as non-Christians tend to support liberals or the New Democratic Party. In 1985, support for the socialist New Democratic Party and liberals was more than three times greater among members of the United Church than among Quebec Catholics. (Noll 455). In analyzing the reasoning behind each parties beliefs for or against abortion, one can easily see that controversy arises because the pro-life parties are attempting to impose their own all-universal policy but cannot be successful due to the fact that after each election, that governing party changes. This constant change makes it extremely difficult for them to impose their view on abortion but enables them to create a constant, legal interference and helps them create more and more tension on the global debate of abortion. For example, according to CBC Canada, Barack Obama the president of United States reversed the previous presidents, George W Bush, ban on funding for international groups who perform abortion. When George W Bush was elected in 2001, Bush who opposed abortion ordered, “federal funding be cut off to international groups that either offer abortions or provide information, counselling or referrals about abortion.” (CBC). Many pro choice individuals felt as if the ban limited the reproductive rights of women in developing countries and gave them greater chances for woman around the world to die from high-risk pregnancies because they lacked access to family planning. Overall due to the bible being a text of Roman Catholics, they are met with great difficulties when trying to impose their values because although they can gain attention in politics, they cannot for sure stabilize their idealistic views because of the change in government. Roman Catholics than attempt to further interfere by comparing a crime in the bible equal to a crime in the political function system. This can be portrayed, in “the Constitution on the Church in the Modern World”, Thomas Wasser states “ Therefore from the moment of its conception, life must be guarded with the greatest care, while abortion and infanticide are unspeakable crimes.” (Wasser 5) In analyzing this quote, individuals can see that the abortion is portrayed as a crime. A crime is part of the political function system where as abortion in this reference is calling it a crime against the bible that is a subsystem. These little twists in words, help the totalizing view of the Catholic Church, which thus leads to many who cannot distinguish between the view of the subsystem and the political system.
To conclude, the Roman Catholic Church is a highly centralized bureaucratic organization. Authority is invested in the notion of being sacred. This “sacredness” comes from the Holy Bible. The Holy Bible plays a major role in each and every one of the principles that are known to Roman Catholics today. However the Roman Catholic Church uses the internal document, the bible, which is not accepted by every individual to attempt to create a all-inclusive policy. The policy being that abortion should be illegal everywhere, because it is a sin to kill a foetus. However in a globalized world, this attempt to interfere causes tensions in society because of the different functions system already in place. Roman Catholics trying to impose the pro-life policy they are causing a great amount of tension within both the political and legal function systems in Northern America. As earlier mentioned, “Religiousness might be broadly present in the consciousness of individuals, but it would have a great deal of difficulty having an real social effect” (Beyer 98). What Peter Beyer is saying is that, the Roman Catholic views of abortion will always face challenges when trying to interfere with other function systems because religion is always at odds with modern society. Function systems such as politics, legal rights, economics, media will always have a social effect on latter operations in a compressed world unlike religion , a mere subsystem.
Works Cited
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Lyon, David, and Marguerite Die. Rethinking church, state, and modernity: Canada between Europe and America. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000. Print.
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by
selvatha (student)
