Respect for Life
Decisions 2006
Public Policy Positions of the Catholic Church
One of a series by the Maryland Catholic Conference on public-policy
issues affecting the November 7th 2006 General Election
On November 7, Maryland voters will elect a governor, a U.S. senator, members of the U.S. House of Representatives
and members of the Maryland General Assembly. The majority of the candidates chosen in the General Election will
serve for at least the next four years, during which their decisions will impact critical social and moral issues. As
Catholics, we have not only the right, but an imperative duty, to bring the light of the Church’s teaching to the public
debate of these issues. And we are called to be active and informed participants in choosing the men and women who
will decide them on our behalf.
The Maryland Catholic Conference offers the following overview of some of the important public policy issues that
victors in the November 7 election contests will consider during the next several years. The Conference is the public
policy arm of the bishops of the Baltimore, Washington and Wilmington dioceses. This summary sheet focuses on the
Church’s policy positions in three major areas: Respect for Life, Education and Family Life, and Social Concerns. Each
issue area is also addressed more extensively in documents available on the Conference’s website,
www.mdcathcon.org.
“It is impossible to further the common good without acknowledging and
defending the right to life, upon which all the other inalienable rights of
individuals are founded and from which they develop.” (Evangelium Vitae)
ABORTION
Physicians in Maryland are not required to notifyparents if a minor girl seeks an abortion. Parents have
the right to know if a medical procedure is performed
on their minor child.
Will the candidate support legislation to ensure
parents are notified if their child seeks an abortion?
An estimated 35,000 abortions are performed annually
in Maryland, where abortion is legal through all nine
months of pregnancy. The number is estimated because
Maryland is one of only six states that do not require
the collection of abortion statistics.
Will the candidate support legislation to require the
state to gather and report abortion statistics?
State taxpayers pay for about 4,000 abortions every
year through Medicaid. The state spends an additional
$13 million on abortion and other “family-planning”
services. The state provides no funding for pregnancy
centers which assist women who choose childbirth over
abortion.
Will the candidate support funding for an
alternatives-to-abortion program that assists women
in need who decide to bring their pregnancies to
term?
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Evangelium Vitae teaches that society must respect thehuman dignity of all persons, even those convicted of
capital crimes. Because the need to protect society
through the death penalty is “practically non-existent,”
the practice further erodes our society’s respect for life.
Will the candidate support abolition of the death
penalty in Maryland?
CLONING AND EMBRYONIC STEM-CELL RESEARCH
The desire to help those who are suffering must never
be fulfilled at the sake of human life. Science affirms
that a human embryo is a human life. To end life
through embryonic stem cell research – or to create it
through human cloning only to destroy it for purposes
of scientific experimentation – is a grave evil. Humans
must never be used as science experiments. In 2006,
the Maryland General Assembly approved funding
for embryonic stem cell research.
Will the candidate oppose continued state funding
of embryonic stem cell research?
Will the candidate support legislation to ban the
creation of human embryos through cloning?
END-OF-LIFE ISSUES
Human life retains its unique dignity even in old age
or physical, mental or emotional pain. Policies which
legalize assisted suicide or euthanasia disregard life
and fail to protect the weak from the strong.
“‘Causing death’ can never be considered a form of
medical treatment, even when the intention is solely to
comply with the patient's request. Rather, it runs
completely counter to the health care profession,
which is meant to be an impassioned and unflinching
affirmation of life.” (Evangelium Vitae, Pope John PaulII)
Will the candidate oppose weakening laws that
prohibit assisted suicide and oppose efforts to
legalize euthanasia?
MARRIAGE
The protection of marriage is critical to ensuring the
wellbeing of children, and the foundation of social life.
Recent litigation has challenged the Maryland statute
limiting the state’s legal recognition of marriage to the
union of one man and one woman. The Church’s support
for measures to protect the institution of marriage does
not conflict with supporting the right of all individuals to
appoint the person of their choosing as health-care
agents or deciders of other critical matters.
Will the candidate support measures that affirm in law
that marriage is the union of one man and one
woman?
FAMILY LIFE
Public policies that support the ability of families to care
for the needs of their children, and that protect children
from abuse and neglect, are essential to creating a
flourishing and healthy society.
Will the candidate support legislation to require
background checks of all employees and volunteers
who work closely with children?
Will the candidate support policies that provide
adequate leave for working parents to care for sick
children and attend important school meetings?
EDUCATION
Many states provide certain constitutionally-permissible
services, such as textbooks, technology, nursing, and
transportation to all students, including those attending
nonpublic schools. Maryland spends only $4 million to
provide secular textbooks and technology to nonpublicschool
students – a reduction from the program’s initial
$6 million allocation.
Will the candidate support legislation to restore
funding for the Nonpublic Schools Textbook/
Technology program, and to provide other equitable
services to nonpublic school students and teachers?
Several states, including nearby Pennsylvania, encourage
business support for education through tax credit
programs that reward businesses that donate to
scholarship organizations for nonpublic-school students
and teachers, or to innovative programs for public-school
students and teachers.
Will the candidate support a tax credit program for
business donations to education?
Social Concerns
POVERTY
Two-thirds of those who receive Temporary Cash
Assistance (TCA) are children. TCA grants go to families
that comply with all requirements the state sets for
them, with most adults spending 40 hours a week in
work activities. The grants, which families use to pay
all of their non-food related expenses, are very low
(for example, less than $500 a month for a family of
three). When paired with federal food stamps, TCA
grants provide families with only 61% of the amount
the state says is needed to live in minimum decency.
Will the candidate support funding to raise the level
of TCA grants?
In Maryland’s expensive housing market it is
increasingly difficult for low-income families to find
decent places to live. Maryland’s Rental Allowance
Program (RAP) is designed to help those who are
homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless, to afford
housing. However, the program is so underfunded that
it helps only 1,000 households a year – approximately
one percent of those eligible.
Will the candidate support increased funding for
RAP?
HEALTH CARE
The Church sees decent, affordable health care that is
accessible to all as a basic human right. It also holds
that health care should be pursued in a way that
respects human life and dignity. Public policies should
protect the right of health care professionals and
institutions to provide care in a way that does not
violate their religious beliefs and mission.
Will the candidate support a restoration of health
care funding to legal, income-eligible immigrant
children and pregnant women?
Will the candidate oppose measures to deny health
care professionals and institutions the right to refrain
from providing services or dispensing drugs that
conflict with their religious beliefs?
IMMIGRANTS
The Church advocates for a fair and workable
immigration system that balances a sovereign nation’s
right to secure its borders with an individual’s right to
migrate in order to secure the protection of his or her
basic human rights and dignity.
Will the candidate support comprehensive reform of
the federal immigration system, to include an
earned-legalization program?
Education and
Family Life
“The family exists at the heart of all societies. It is
the first and most basic community to which every
person belongs. There is nothing more fundamental
to our vitality as a society and as a Church.” (Followthe Way of Love, U.S. Bishops)
“A fundamental measure of our society is how we
care for and stand with the poor and vulnerable.”
(Faithful Citizenship, U.S. Bishops)
