CHICAGO (CNS) -- Chicago Cardinal Blase J. Cupich June 1 said the Illinois Senate's passage of a bill "eliminating even minimal limitations on abortions under previous law marks a sad moment in our history as a state."
"We have worked to make the case for a consistent approach to human dignity in Illinois and will continue to do so even as elected officials single out unborn persons for particular disregard," he said in a statement.
"It remains our hope that Illinois will eventually distinguish itself as a safe place that welcomes not only those seeking a new life or second chance, but also the most vulnerable among us who deserve a chance at life," he added.
Close to midnight May 31 in a 34-20 vote, the Senate passed the "misnamed 'Reproductive Health Act,'" as the state's Catholic bishops referred to it. The state House OK'd it May 28 in a 64-50 vote. The measure has now headed to the desk of Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who pledged to sign it.
Before and after the House vote and before the Senate vote, Cardinal Cupich, the bishops of Illinois' five other dioceses and the Catholic Conference of Illinois decried the measure, calling it flawed and saying lawmakers rushed to get it passed before the end of the legislative session.
The state Catholic conference, which is the public policy arm of the state's Catholic bishops, said it is "an extreme measure" that allows "for the abortion of unborn life at any stage of pregnancy and for any reason" and said the lawmakers' approving it was "a grave tragedy and a collective moral failing."
In a May 29 statement, the conference urged senators to reject the measure, which establishes "fundamental right" for women to get an abortion in Illinois, and asked them "to consider carefully what message a vote for this legislation sends to our people."
"Upholding the right to life of unborn human beings also upholds the right to life of all people, promised in our Constitution and enshrined in our laws," it said.
In his June 1 statement, Cardinal Cupich said that women "have a real choice when they are given the support they need to bring their children into the world and parent them, supported by a society that truly values them."
"We will give that support to all who seek it in the hope that by offering them a choice, we will build stronger families and a better Illinois," he said.
He said that Catholic Charities and its partners provide such support, serving hundreds of young women and developing families every year.
"They nurture the mother and therefore the baby by providing classes in health and child development. They encourage the new families toward independence by providing childcare and making referrals for education, housing and employment," Cardinal Cupich said.
He quoted a young woman who was served by a Catholic agency: "It was like a second family when I came here," she said. "My doula (birth coach) took me to doctors' appointments, explaining what all the papers and procedures meant, how my baby was developing, the changes my body was going through and how to eat and exercise to stay healthy."
Cardinal Cupich said that today the young woman's son "is thriving in the organization’s early childhood program and its family support program helps her stay on track with personal goals."
The young mother will begin a bachelor’s degree program this summer, he noted.
With the "loving encouragement" Catholic agencies have provided to help her in her time of need, "she has turned stressful circumstances into a positive, hopeful future for herself and her son," Cardinal Cupich added.
In its May 29 statement, the Catholic Conference of Illinois said it "will continue to make our case against such callous disregard for human life whenever it appears in society."
The Catholic Church understands "the complex and difficult challenges facing women who have unplanned pregnancies or who carry babies destined to have short or difficult lives," it said. "They deserve all the support society can give them."
"But to deny that the lives growing within these women is anything other than human or that they would, in the vast majority of cases, develop into healthy children is simply to deny reality," the conference added.
And the below is all the church should be doing - not seeking to make abortion a crime:
"In his June 1 statement, Cardinal Cupich said that women "have a real choice when they are given the support they need to bring their children into the world and parent them, supported by a society that truly values them."
"We will give that support to all who seek it in the hope that by offering them a choice, we will build stronger families and a better Illinois," he said."
If this is all the church did offer - help for women who choose to have their babies then I could support them 100% but that is not the case.
Criminalizing abortion, at any stage in pregnancy, does not lower the rates of abortions, during that state of pregnancy, it only causes those rates to rise but through unsafe and illegal means, in every country of the world, and with later term pregnancies (4-5 months) - self aborting almost guarantees the death of the woman too. This has been proven on a global scale.
I hate how misleading our bishops are - if you can't get what you want with the truth - Just lie! Seems to be their motto.
No state is allowing (with these new laws) an abortion to an 8 month pregnant woman. That is called a birth still, legally, and no there is no law in Illinois or anywhere else in America that allows for viable babies, born during any month of pregnancy, to be killed or denied reasonable medical care that a clinic should be able to offer any person in need of basic medical care. There is no law,in any state, that would deny a viable baby an ambulance trip to the nearest hospital, if it was sustaining its own life but with difficulty, but a difficulty that a basic incubator could cure, even if the birth was an intended abortion.
There are freak examples of medical problems that occur at, or near birth, but are rare, for example: when the baby's head is too big to be successfully born through the birth canal and is stuck because it has started down the canal so the baby can't be saved by C-section. In these cases, it is up to the mother, and if she is not conscious, then her health proxy, usually the husband, to decide whether to save the life of the mother or the baby because to cut the woman apart to get to the baby, in an emergency situation like this, might save the baby but will also definitely kill the mother. This kind of law would secure the decision be the mothers, drs,, or proxys, and not the state government or any religious leader's choice.
This bishop is sexist too. When he was interviewed on Christiana Amanpour's show recently, and she brought up the fact that the lack of parity between genders, caused by patriarchy, was clearly resulting in sexual abuse of both children and nuns, and how this evidence should maybe give the church cause to finally admit it needs women ordained the same as men, and as priests and bishops, he just ignored her question, and answered her, "Well, we do need to consider how clericalism is causing us problems." She didn't ask him about clericalism.
I also wonder is this bishop offering all women free daycare from the church?
and for all of the first 5 years before kindergarten begins? so women can go to school and work?
Is he offering all women who have their babies a free college education at Catholic Colleges?
I think that is a great idea, but I am not sure that is what he is guaranteeing.
What help is he referring to exactly?
and which women "exactly" can count on the help coming from him, and the Illinois diocese?