Cardinal Tobin asks Catholics to pray for an end to abortion and act to retain Hyde Amendment
In his latest newsletter, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., strongly defends unborn babies and asks Catholics to pray for an end to abortion and act to retain the Hyde Amendment.
“For the past 45 years, this important legislation has saved the lives of millions of unborn children by prohibiting the use of federal funds for abortion,” Cardinal Tobin writes in Rejoice in the Lord.
He refers to a statement he issued earlier this month, which calls all Catholics and people of good will to act now by sending a strong, clear message that the Hyde Amendment has far-reaching public support and should not be repealed. Petition action links from the New Jersey Catholic Conference are included in the message and are available here.
The decision to have an abortion is often tragic and painful, Cardinal Tobin writes.
“A woman who takes this desperate action is often under great duress and is encouraged by social structures that are patently sinful,” he writes in Rejoice in the Lord. “It’s our responsibility, as people who care deeply for all women who are struggling with unplanned or unwanted pregnancies, to make sure that other life-giving options are available.”
In addition to his own writings on the topic of abortion, Cardinal Tobin shares excerpts from Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (“The Joy of the Gospel”).
“Among the vulnerable for whom the Church wishes to care with particular love and concern are unborn children, the most defenseless and innocent among us,” the pope says. “Nowadays, efforts are made to deny the unborn their human dignity and to do with them whatever one pleases, taking their lives and passing laws preventing anyone from standing in the way of this.”
Cardinal Tobin also quotes from St. John Paul II and his encyclical, “Evangelium Vitae” (“The Gospel of Life”): “Abortion is the deliberate and direct killing of a human being in the initial phase of his or her existence,” he says. “The one eliminated is a human being at the very beginning of life. No one more absolutely innocent could be imagined. In no way could this human being ever be considered an aggressor, much less an unjust aggressor. He or she is weak, defenseless, even to the point of lacking that minimal form of defense consisting in the poignant power of a newborn baby’s cries and tears. The unborn child is totally entrusted to the protection and care of the woman carrying him or her in the womb.”
Cardinal Tobin’s newsletter is available in English and Spanish here.
