Bearing witness

Our Catholic president weighed in on a controversial new Texas law.  To what is he bearing witness? 

A controversial and rather odd Texas law goes into effect today.  As described in news sources:

• The law bans abortions for which a fetal heartbeat can be detected.  This typically happens at 6 weeks of fetal development - so early in the pregnancy that some mothers haven't even become aware they are pregnant
• The law forbids Texas officials from enforcing the new ban
• Instead, the law empowers private citizens to bring suit against those who provided the abortion.  The mother is exempt from this liability

This is the same legislation which caused Democrats in the Texas legislature to flee the state earlier this summer in an attempt to delay or kill passage of the bill by the Republican majority.

Texas becomes the eighth state to pass a fetal heartbeat bill.  When heartbeat bills had passed in the other states (Ohio, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, Alabama, Kentucky and South Carolina), pro-choice advocates sought and obtained court injunctions which prevented these laws from taking effect.

Pro-choice advocates also went to court to block the Texas law.  However, an appeals court and the United States Supreme Court both declined to intervene - perhaps because of Texas's novel enforcement mechanism (private lawsuits rather than public enforcement).  Separate legal challenges are proceeding through other courts, so it's possible that the Texas law may yet be enjoined.  But at least for now, Texas's law holds the record in the Roe v Wade era for banning abortion at the earliest point in the fetus's development.  Until today, the earliest point of development at which the Supreme Court has permitted statewide bans to take effect is the point of fetal viability, generally around week 24. 

Even though the law in question is not a federal law, President Biden has weighed in:

In one sense, there is nothing very remarkable about the president's statement.  He says what we would expect any Democratic president to say - in fact, what any Democratic president must say if he doesn't wish to stir up anger among his own supporters.  His words consist largely of Democratic pro-choice talking points: he frames the issue as one of women's health care, suggests that poor and minority women will suffer disproportionately, and positions Roe v. Wade as a fundamental constitutional right which must be protected.  

In another sense, though, this statement illustrates exactly why Biden's stance on abortion raises the hackles of so many Catholics.  Many Catholics reasonably expect Catholic public officials to be Catholic in their public service.  

How does one be Catholic in public?  We (those of us who are rubbed the wrong way by statements such as the president's) would like to see Catholic public figures bear witness to what we believe, and what we stand for.

Let me try to explain it by drawing a comparison.  All of us who post and comment here at NewGathering are filled with revulsion when church officials commit flagrant and abhorrent crimes and sins, whether it's the sexual abuse of children or financial malfeasance.  Presumably, none of us expects absolute perfection from church officials; we all know perfection isn't possible this side of heaven.  But there are certain standards of behavior to which we should hold Catholic officials.  Far from abusing children, clergy should be protecting children from predators.  Caring for children touches closely to our sense of Catholic identity.  Far from engaging in affairs, clergy should be staying true to their sacred vows.  Being faithful to one's promises touches closely on our sense of Catholic identity.  Far from embezzling and bribing and leading extravagant lifestyles, Catholic leaders should be living lives of financial modesty and probity, and giving alms to those in need.  Freely-embraced poverty and almsgiving touches closely on our Catholic identity.

Our expectations extend beyond church officials.  We expect Catholics in public life, whether they are politicians, teachers, film stars or football coaches, to hold themselves to a certain standard of public behavior.  It is not only a high standard (although high standards are part of it); it is a Catholic standard.  There are certain violations which not only are wrong in and of themselves, but which attack our sense of what being Catholic is about.  

For us Catholics, our models and heroes are saints and martyrs who held themselves to heroic Catholic standards, even in the face of criticism and persecution.  

In my view, with his statement on the Texas law, President Biden did not hold himself to a Catholic standard of belief and witness.  Opposition to abortion - even for those Catholics who believe it is prudent that abortion remain legal - touches closely on our sense of what Catholicism is about.   

There is nothing distinctively Catholic about President Biden's statement.  His pieties about "women's health care" are dishonest, as many abortions -  surely the vast majority - are not instigated by concerns for the mother's health.  

There was no reason for President Biden to speak up at all.  A Catholic president who truly is committed to making abortions rare would not have felt compelled to release a statement about the Texas law, which after all is none of his business as president.  If questioned by the media, he might have used the opportunity to share his conviction that abortions are bad.

Instead, President Biden went out of his way to proclaim, not his faith, but Democratic talking points - which happen to be opposed to his faith.  Rather than acting as a vessel of simple clarity and light to a world enveloped in darkness, he chose to spread a creed of darkness and sin.  He bore witness to the platform of the Democratic Party.  I wish he would bear witness to his faith instead.