By Sean Murphy
The “We Need A Law” campaign has revealed a dispute in the pro-life community about whether or not it is acceptable to try to limit abortion with laws that impose gestational limits.
The dispute is divisive and it can take an ugly turn. Accusations of “heresy” have been hurled by some who believe that Catholics who advocate gestational limits legislation are contradicting the teaching of the Church’s magisterium.
Although usually made in good faith, such accusations are often based on confusion about law, especially “rights” law. For example, some claim that American law allows abortion, but that no such law exists in Canada, so the kind of incremental approach approved by Blessed John Paul II in Evangelium Vitae cannot be justified here.