This year in California, we are called in a very specific way to reject the pathway of making illegal virtually all limitations on abortion. Proposition 1, which would enshrine in the state constitution the ability to have late-term abortions and abortions for purposes of gender selection, as well as allowing subsidies for abortion for people who do not even live in California, is absolutely incompatible with the Gospel call to protect all human life. And we must witness to that contradiction in our role as citizens.
The very excruciating issue of abortion calls us to balance the challenging problems of women who are pregnant with the lives of unborn children. Proposition 1 simply obliterates the moral reality of the unborn child in striking this balance. As people of faith, we must not accept such a logic.
Instead, we must work within our society to build a comprehensive framework that genuinely protects and builds the dignity and sacredness of human life in its fullness, at every stage and for every person. Only if our state’s voters reject Proposition 1 can we meaningfully proceed toward this goal in California. And that must begin with us.