Catholics, Women, and their Votes {Part III}

 We've read the Church's instruction to be informed and discerning citizens. We've seen some of the negative attitudes that can creep up on us during the stress of election season. Now let's take a closer look at some of the issues that directly and more specifically affect women.

Sweet patriotism

We're fans of femininity here at the Catholic Young Woman blog. Clare wrote about How to Be a Beautiful Woman. Grace keeps us up to date with modest clothing styles. Yet we also realize that true femininity--the kind that Christ calls us to--runs even deeper than the outer layer. Yes, we love our pearls and our cute dresses and our baking-in-the-kitchen-with-aprons...but we also know that femininity is about who we were created to be as women. We are made in the image and likeness of God as His daughters and we reflect Him in a unique way that no man ever can. (Just as our brothers reflect our Creator in a unique way as men--don't want any of our male readers to feel left out!) Embracing our feminine natures and our bodies is an embrace of God's design. When we reject, dismiss, or distort them...we reject, dismiss, and distort His beautiful design-- and we become a very confused and hurting society. That, my dear friends, is what is happening today. Let's look at some of those issues.

Abortion

It's been legal for almost 40 years now. I think sometimes we become passive about it and forget what really goes on in an abortion clinic. We forget the horror of babies being torn from their mother's safe womb every day, of post-abortion women depressed and suicidal, of parents encouraging their teen daughters to 'take care of' their pregnancy so no one has to find out--and the guilt all of them experience down the road. I just took a four-day course on training to volunteer for the crisis pregnancy center. Stat after study after stat showed that abortion not only hurts--kills--babies, but also the WOMEN who choose the abortion. Depression, guilt, suicide, as well as a host of physical symptoms and risk--including infertility and cancer--can and do result from abortions. The pro-life movement cares not only about the future generations of children killed in the womb every day--but also about the current generation of women being lied to and led to believe that this one 'choice' will not have devastating consequences.

My brothers found this great bumper sticker

Obamacare

You've all heard about the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. This act contains some seriously offensive laws that will change healthcare as we know it. Honestly, girls, I'm worried about the implementation of this law if it is not revoked and if Obama is not pushed from office. Two of the main things that concern this Registered Nurse are:

-the Human Health and Services Mandate that all employers must provide insurance coverage for contraception, sterilization, and abortions. Obamacare itself will cover these as well for anyone insured under the government healthcare plan as well. These three medical treatments (if we can even call them such) are COMPLETELY against Catholic teaching and God's plan for love and sex and life. And they degrade women by acting as if fertility is a disease, or pregnancy a punishment, rather than beautiful aspects of womanhood. Women are treated as sex objects--for pleasure without consequences--when their reproductive system is viewed as a hindrance. We should be indignant at the thought of any of our tax money being used for these treatments that encourage such attitudes.

-the emphasis on Palliative Care. Palliative Care is a healthcare term for comfort care for the dying. In and of itself, it's a great concept and there still are many times palliative care is not only beneficial in a physical sense, but also a beautiful work of mercy. HOWEVER--and you need to understand this--the euthanasia movement has taken hold of this term and run wild. Be wary of anything under the umbrella of palliative care. Ezekiel Emanuel, PhD, an advisor to the Obama administration on healthcare reform wrote that "services provided to individuals who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens are not basic and should not be guaranteed. An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia." The focus in palliative care is often on the phrase "Quality of Life." The danger in that is when people start to make their own definitions of what determines quality or lack thereof (your Down Syndrome sister, your grandmother with Alzheimer's, and so on). EVERY life has quality in God's eyes-- no matter how 'useful' they are to society. For more on this topic, check out this article from Celebrate Life magazine.

Same-Sex 'Marriage'

The Church loves homosexuals.

Let me say it again. The Church loves homosexuals. It also loves heterosexuals. The Church--and God, for that matter--loves all His children. I love the way the Catechism talks about this topic:

The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition. (CCC 2358)

But even though those with this inclination should not be discriminated against, neither does that mean they have a right to marriage--or even homosexual acts. Homosexual acts are contrary not only to the Bible, Divine Law, and the Church, but also to the natural law itself. They violate the very nature of sex and God's plan for it (to be life-giving/procreative and love-giving/unitive).

Marriage is a union between one man and one woman. It always has been, and always will be. It was defined by God from the very beginning of Creation. We cannot change that definition out of compassion for those who struggle with homosexual tendencies.

Ladies, some of you are married or discerning marriage. The gay marriage debate affects your vocation and your children. When our culture not only begins to accept this distortion of nature and God's laws but to embrace it and fight for it, the family as we know it is threatened. Your children's friends may have two moms or two dads. You may be viewed as judgmental or narrow-minded, but we must show the world the beauty of Christ's truth by our words, our actions, and by our votes. It's up to us to vote for candidates who believe in, support, and protect traditional marriage.

Hanging out at the Romney rally

Final thoughts: There are many other issues such as education, immigration, and the economy that are important when determining worthy political candidates. In a previous comment, it was mentioned that we must look at all the issues and not focus in on one. I totally agree--I also agree that we should prioritize those same issues., and that prioritizing does not make one a single-issue voter. The right to life, God's definition of marriage, and the Church's teachings on sex/love/contraception are all crucial issues in American culture today, so I chose to share information on these today. Please feel free to comment with other issues you are concerned about, I'd love to hear your thoughts!