The Iowa Catholic Conference prepared testimony in support of the Protect Life Amendment for an Iowa Senate subcommittee held this past February, but COVID-19 restrictions in place at the Capitol limited the time available for presentations and it was revised.
We are publishing the original text of our testimony to encourage legislators and the public to act in support of the proposed constitutional amendment.
ICC statement in response to SJR2
We recognize each person is created in the image and likeness of God.
Our faith informs our position on the moral injustice of the Iowa Court’s 2018 decision, but it is science and biology that inform our knowledge of prenatal life and the reality of abortion.
Faith is not required to oppose abortion, but facts.
During the late 1960’s and early 1970’s Dr. Bernard Nathanson was one of the men instrumental in founding the national movement for abortion-on-demand and the campaign for its public funding. Dr. Nathanson began to reconsider his support after the introduction of ultrasound technology and what it revealed to him but also because of what he knew would eventually be revealed to the general public.
Dr. Nathanson became convinced a public policy of abortion-on-demand could not be the response of a just and moral society to a woman in crisis. Nor would it achieve the policy goals promised by activists. He concluded it was possible the movement was contributing to the problems it proposed to solve, and it could no longer justify the deception required to create or sustain it.
Publicly-funded abortion-on-demand is now possible in Iowa because of the Court’s 2018 decision. In it, we believe the majority continues a legacy many have abandoned since the past midcentury.
Every abortion is performed to end what we now know is indisputably a human life. It is a tragedy, and its facts should not be concealed or dismissed to a point its violence is called healthcare in public policy. It discredits the policy and deceives the public.
Abortion-on-demand offends both faith and reason in a just society. It ignores our basic obligations to one another, especially women and their children. We ask your support for this bill. Thank you.
