Catholic Bishops Should Stop 'Harassing' Giuliani, Other Catholic Politicians, Letter To Editor Says

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) and other Roman Catholic politicians who have said they "oppose abortion but do not wish to impose that view on the entire polity have support in Catholic teaching," and Catholic bishops should "cease harassing" them, Daniel Maguire, a professor of moral theology at Marquette University, writes in a New York Times letter to the editor (Maguire, New York Times, 6/29).

Some church leaders have said they are disturbed by Catholic politicians such as Giuliani, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination. Bishop Thomas Tobin, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, R.I., in a recent column for the diocese's newspaper, the Rhode Island Catholic, said Giuliani's "public proclamations on abortion are pathetic and confusing," adding, "Even worse, they're hypocritical." Tobin also said that he never would support a candidate who supports abortion rights.

According to Tobin, Catholics are "required to be pro-life, to cherish and protect human life as a precious gift of God from the moment of conception until the time of natural death." Tobin is the first bishop to challenge Giuliani on his abortion-rights position. At a recent debate, Giuliani was prompted by moderator Wolf Blitzer of CNN to respond to Tobin's comments. He said, "My view on abortion is that it's wrong but that ultimately government should not be enforcing that decision on a woman" (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 6/25).

According to Maguire, Sts. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas both favored legalization of commercial sex work because they thought "greater evils" would occur if it were banned. Legislators who "truly think abortion immoral could vote to keep it legal since greater evils" -- including "multiple deaths of women" from "botched abortions as seen before Roe v. Wade," the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that effectively barred state abortion bans -- "would follow," Maguire writes (New York Times, 6/29).

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