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I want to end abortion. I don't believe outlawing abortion will end abortion. I believe the best way to end abortion is to put in place a social safety net which encourages women keep their children knowing the government will provide pregnancy services, day care, etc. Statistics back me up here--countries where abortion is legal but the government provides services have the lowest abortion rates.

Can a Catholic or other Christian support ending abortion but not support outlawing abortion?

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    I'm all for ending abortion too! But I'm having a hard time finding determining exactly what the question is here. Are you asking whether the Catholic Church or Catholic organizations support keeping abortion legal while making it irrelevant by creating a utopia?
    – Peter Turner ♦
    May 5, 2021 at 20:07
  • FWIW, this is a good question because many places in the US at least, have a contingent that believes this, more-or-less, they're usually the ecumenical sort and then there's the hardliners who want to outlaw it. I would be interested in the answer because it seems like the out for many Democrat politicians facing excommunication.
    – Peter Turner ♦
    May 5, 2021 at 20:09
  • "Catholics or other Christians" is really too broad. I think this should be tightened to just Catholics.
    – curiousdannii ♦
    May 9, 2022 at 5:42
  • There's a big difference between decriminalizing and legalizing, but in today's polarized world that difference is ignored. For many decades here in Canada people from all walks of life campaigned to have cannabis decriminalized (it's ridiculous to put people into prisons and give them a criminal record for simple possession). Recently, the government finally did this, but instead of simply removing it as a criminal offence (but still subject to a fine, like for parking violations or drinking in public) they made a completely legal industry with retail outlets. From one extreme to the other.
    – Ray Butterworth
    May 9, 2022 at 13:57
  • "I don't believe outlawing abortion will end abortion." It won't. Abortion is simply a symptom of a bigger problem. One must determine why so many people are having abortions, and then try to alleviate the cause. (Yes, there are cases of rape etc., but they are a very small fraction of cases, and are not part of the underlying problem.) Treating symptoms often makes the real problem worse, and that is true here; many people end up seeing readily available abortion as a more convenient form of birth-control.
    – Ray Butterworth
    May 9, 2022 at 14:05

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When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. Ecc 8:11.

This Scripture passage means that if people are not punished for a crime, they are emboldened to commit that crime. This is Godly wisdom and common sense. Therefor it would be unreasonable to assume abortion can be stopped while still making it legal i.e., abortion clinics would still open for business and subsidized by government and easily accessible.

Many Safety nets are already provided by Medicaid, 2,700 Crisis Pregnancy Centers, many hundreds of free community health centers and a church on almost every corner in America that would be glad to help a pregnant mother. There are also Safe Haven Laws in all 50 states when a mother cannot care for her newborn she can leave the baby at the hospital, at any fire station or at any doctor’s office. Safety nets are important and we have them now and abortion is still flourishing. I would doubt the assertion that countries with legal abortion have fewer abortion. I have never seen that proven.

Abortion according to the Catholic Church intrinsically evil and is murder by the mother herself. It should never be made legal.

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  • I agree. The "right to choose" is smoke and mirrors intended to obfuscate what is being chosen.
    – Mike Borden
    Aug 12, 2021 at 12:04
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The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation:

"The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority. These human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took his origin. Among such fundamental rights one should mention in this regard every human being's right to life and physical integrity from the moment of conception until death

"The moment a positive law deprives a category of human beings of the protection which civil legislation ought to accord them, the state is denying the equality of all before the law. When the state does not place its power at the service of the rights of each citizen, and in particular of the more vulnerable, the very foundations of a state based on law are undermined.... As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child's rights.

CCC #2273

This seems to imply that a Catholic must support making abortion illegal, at least to be in good standing with the Catholic Church. Of course you can take a both and approach. I don't think Catholics are obliged not to support a social safety net for pregnant women. You can do that, while also supporting making abortion illegal.

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