Permissive Abortion Laws, Religion, and Moral Compromise

In the 1984 elections in the United States some of the candidates were criticized for advocating public policies that conflicted with the teachings of their churches. Chief among such targets of this criticism were Catholics, such as Geraldine Ferraro and Mario Cuomo, who defended permissive abortion laws while maintaining that in private they regard abortion as morally wrong. The purpose of this essay is to explore this criticism and to see what those under attack (whom I shall call "liberal Catholics") might say in response. And though I shall focus on Catholic public officials, it should be clear that the criticism under consideration need not be restricted to Catholics nor to public officials. A Jehovah's Witness who approves of blood transfusions will be open to this criticism, and so too will private individuals aligned with "Catholics for Free Choice"1 (or any other person who supports permissive abortion laws but whose own church opposes them)