Catholic Faith & Politics

In 2012, even more than in 2008, the answer is “YES!” Looking through the lens of Catholic Social Teaching, President Obama has spent his entire career striving for the common good. He led the historic effort to pass health insurance reform, a central tenet of Catholic Social Justice for more than 100 years, extending care to 32 million more Americans. He helped turn the corner on the worst financial crisis in 75 years, with all its disastrous implications for working families; and he worked tirelessly to find solutions that allowed distressed families to stay in their homes. Rather than trying to overturn Roe v. Wade, the weak Republican approach to dealing with abortion for the past 40 years, President Obama implemented the first explicit abortion reduction legislation in US history, promoting health care for pregnant women and better infant care, day care and job training. Now a new study from Washington University in St. Louis following 10,000 women for four years has shown that the provision of free contraception, one of the provisions of the new Affordable Care Act, dramatically decreased abortion among a group of high-risk girls and women.