Professor Bainbridge...on law, politics, religion, culture & food

Joe Biden and the Gospel of Life

According to Pew’s Biden On the Issues page, Roman Catholic Democratic Senator and presumptive Vice Presidential nominee is pro-abortion rights:

Biden “strongly support[s] Roe v. Wade.” He said he is “prepared to accept” the Catholic Church’s teaching that life begins at conception but said Roe v. Wade “is as close to we’re going to be able to get as a society” to incorporating diverging religious views on the issue. Although he voted in favor of the bill to ban late-term abortions, Biden said the Supreme Court’s April 2007 decision to uphold the ban was “intellectually dishonest,” saying its language undermined Roe v. Wade.

The Doctrinal Note on some questions regarding the participation of Catholics in political life informs us that the Church teaches that:

In the face of fundamental and inalienable ethical demands, Christians must recognize that what is at stake is the essence of the moral law, which concerns the integral good of the human person. This is the case with laws concerning abortion and euthanasia (not to be confused with the decision to forgo extraordinary treatments, which is morally legitimate). Such laws must defend the basic right to life from conception to natural death. In the same way, it is necessary to recall the duty to respect and protect the rights of the human embryo.

According to Pew’s Biden On the Issues page, Roman Catholic Democratic Senator and presumptive Vice Presidential nominee is pro-death penalty:

The Biden-authored Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 expanded the federal death penalty to cover 60 offenses, including terrorist homicides, murder of federal law enforcement officials, large-scale drug trafficking, drive-by shootings resulting in death and car jackings resulting in death. In 1996, Biden voted against limiting appeals of those facing the death penalty.

Contrast Pope John Paul II:

The new evangelization calls for followers of Christ who are unconditionally pro-life: who will proclaim, celebrate and serve the Gospel of life in every situation. A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform. I renew the appeal I made most recently at Christmas for a consensus to end the death penalty, which is both cruel and unnecessary. (Pope John Paul II, St. Louis, MO, January 1999)

According to Pew’s Biden On the Issues page, Roman Catholic Democratic Senator and presumptive Vice Presidential nominee is pro-embryonic stem cell research:

Biden voted in favor of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, which was vetoed by President Bush. The bill would have allowed federal funding for research on stem cell lines obtained from discarded human embryos originally created for fertility treatments.

According to the Pontifical Academy for Life, the Catholic Church teaches that:

Is it morally licit to produce and/or use living human embryos for the preparation of ES cells? 

The answer is negative…

The second ethical problem can be formulated thus: Is it morally licit to engage in so-called “therapeutic cloning” by producing cloned human embryos and then destroying them in order to produce ES cells?

The answer is negative....

The third ethical problem can be formulated thus: Is it morally licit to use ES cells, and the differentiated cells obtained from them, which are supplied by other researchers or are commercially obtainable? 

The answer is negative…

Three strikes and you’re out.