To the editor:
It is with profound sadness that the National Council of Catholic Women contemplates the passage of the late term abortion legislation in New York now being promoted in other states of our country.
The act of killing a child at any stage of life is unconscionable, but killing a baby about to be born into the world that could even be in the birth canal or partially delivered can be considered as nothing more than a barbaric act unworthy of this great nation, a nation that noted the right to life in our Declaration of Independence.
We pray that our legislators will understand the sacredness and extraordinary gift of life and that abortion is not a political issue but that there is a moral imperative to preserve and cherish life at all stages.
We believe that there is always forgiveness for those who have chosen abortion, and we know that God loves them as He does all His children and hope they find the healing they will come to need.
There are wonderful options for those who carry a child but do not feel they can parent a child. With medical advances, there are few cases where the choice must be made of one life over another.
The National Council of Catholic Women, deeply shocked and saddened by abortion legislation and, in particular, by late term abortion, wishes to register our opposition to these laws that destroy rather than preserve that most precious gift, life itself.
Respectfully,
Mary E. Stewart Blogoslawski
President, National Council of Catholic Women