What could be as proportionately evil as abortion?

Thread 1/

The Church teaches that a Catholic may vote for a political candidate who supports a grave intrinsic evil, like abortion, if the Catholic isn’t voting for them because of their support of this evil and the voter has a proportionate reason for doing so. 2/

To that point, I often hear it asked, “But what could be proportionately evil to the death of millions of innocent unborn persons?” 3/

If we were looking at the issue of abortion itself, short of another world war or a devastating environmental collapse, no issue could come close to the sheer gravity of lives lost through abortion. 4/

However, I don’t believe the Church is asking us to weigh the issue of abortion as a whole. 5/

The US Bishops teach that Catholics must "take into account a candidate’s commitments, character, integrity, and ability to influence a given issue" when they discern who to vote for. A candidate's ability to influence an issue is key here. 6/

When the Church says we must have "proportionate reasons" I don’t think she is saying we must be weighing issues as proportionately evil as abortion. Rather we are weighing things proportionate to what the person we're voting for can/will realistically do. 7/

If I believed Trump could or would end abortion and thus save millions of lives, or Biden could or would double the abortion rate and kill millions of lives, I'd definitely be hard pressed to find a proportionate reason to vote for Biden. But neither of those are the case. 8/

For decades abortion rates have steadily declined, and they have dropped more quickly under Democratic presidents than Republican presidents. I'm not saying that's causation. Only that I don't think a Biden presidency to break with that pattern or make the abortion rate go up. 9/

Further, since 1988, the Supreme Court (when it has had all nine justices) has continuously had a majority of judges who either originally opposed Roe vs Wade or who were appointed by a president who promised to appoint anti-abortion justices. 10/

This has been the make up of the Supreme Court for 32 years, longer than I've been alive, but not only hasn't Roe been struck down - it's been reaffirmed. 11/

Even if Roe is reversed, that’s not a guarantee (as this video points out: ) that abortion rates will dramatically decline. What will likely lower rates are local and state policies that restrict access to abortion and increase access to healthcare. 12/

However, if we look at the issue of child separation at the border - something the Church teaches isn’t a “lesser issue” and pope says is “cruelty of the highest form” - the president can do a lot to influence those families. 13/

It was the Trump administration, without Congress or the Supreme Court, who created a zero tolerance policy intentionally designed to separate children from their families in order to deter migrants from crossing the border to seek asylum. 14/

It was the Trump administration who treated these children inhumanely, even denying them soap. It was the Trump administration who still haven’t been able to reunite over 500 children with their parents. 15/

Whoever the next president is for the next four years will have an incalculable impact on the lives of migrants coming to our border. 16/16