I'm engaged as an onlooker and sometime participant in an email discussion about the merits of the Obama/Biden vs Romney/Ryan tickets with regard to how a Catholic should vote when both candidates support intrinsic evils. I have myself been guilty of over-simplifying the picture as I did in an
earlier post. But the question is, at what point is abstaining from the process altogether (at least in the national election) or voting for a third-party candidate with no chance of winning legitimate? If the little ones in the womb could speak, how would they want us to vote?
I decided to examine the two presidential candidates' positions with respect to intrinsic evils. But first the definition: an intrinsically evil act is one that is always evil no matter the circumstances. The life issues are the most obvious cases involving intrinsic evil. There is nothing that can make an abortion acceptable - ever! It is always, in every circumstance, evil. Someone may object that the Church allows the removal of an ectopic pregnancy or a cancerous uterus even during pregnancy. But those acts are NOT abortions. In both cases, a diseased organ is removed, i.e., the uterus or the fallopian tube and the baby unhappily cannot be saved. But there is nothing done to directly kill the baby and, if technology ever provides artificial wombs, those babies can be saved. Essentially, that is the principle of double effect where the evil that occurs (the death of the child) is not sought or intended.
Other examples of intrinsic evils are embryonic stem cell research which kills a baby at an early stage to cannibalize his cells for the "good" of others who may benefit from research; removing essential, unpaired organs from a still living organ donor causing premature death; both active and passive euthanasia to hasten the death of a person who may or may not be dying; murder (defined as the deliberate killing of an innocent person; and homosexual sex. Obviously forcing others, or attempting to force others, to engage in intrinsic evils also falls into the category of intrinsic evils. None of these acts can ever be justified in any circumstance.
If you compare the two tickets and the positions of the parties, it becomes clear as crystal which team is more committed to intrinsic evil. The Republican platform supports NO intrinsic evils; the Democrat platform includes several. Obama supports: abortion on demand, infanticide by neglect of babies who survive abortion, embryonic stem cell research, federal funding of Planned Parenthood (which has spent millions on political ads for Obama), exporting abortion to foreign countries, taxpayer funding of contraception including abortifacients mislabeled as contraceptives, violation of freedom of religion and conscience rights including forcing Catholic organizations to provide moral evils in their health plans. Obama also supports same-sex "marriage."
