The following is the full text of Bishop Malooly’s response to the April 11, 2017, Delaware Voice op-ed in the News Journal:
April 12, 2017
It was disheartening to read the recently published Delaware Voice op-ed, endorsed by several clergy, which offered the argument that pro-life should mean pro-choice. Whenever the value of the life of the unborn child is denied, logic, reason, and science are rejected in favor of ideology. The letter’s assertion that the termination of a pregnancy is a moment of grace elevates that ideology to the point of being incomprehensible. It is to these extremes that one must go to in order to defend Planned Parenthood, American’s number one abortionist.
Those who defend the right to life of the unborn are not interested in anger and judgment. We strive to live by mercy, but at the same time, we cannot avoid the truth. We look at the reality and see a genetically distinct, living human person in the mother’s womb. We are profoundly concerned for both mother and child and reject any notion that the good of one can be set against the good of the other. We live out this concern every day in our parishes, through Catholic Charities, and the collective efforts of the Catholic Church worldwide.
The pro-abortion position simply refuses to acknowledge the visible, tangible reality of unborn life; but we who believe in the Creator of heaven and earth are required to act on the basis of the truths that present themselves to us.
For decades, the Catholic Bishops of the United States have been advocating for health care access for all. We believe that stopping the beating heart of an unborn son or daughter of God is not health care.
Most Reverend W. Francis Malooly
Bishop of the Diocese of Wilmington
