Iowa’s Catholic bishops push late-abortion ban

Iowa's four Catholic bishops implored state lawmakers Wednesday to take an important step in protecting life by approving legislation that would ban nearly all abortions in Iowa after the 20th week of pregnancy.

They also urged the Legislature to give Iowans an opportunity to vote on the definition of marriage as only between one man and one woman, saying such a move would not be discriminatory because relationships between individuals of the same sex would still exist but would not carry the same name as the one ascribed to opposite-gender unions in natural law.

Des Moines Bishop Richard E. Pates said Council Bluffs parishioners in his dioceses are upset over plans by a Nebraska doctor who performs late-term abortions to open a clinic in their community and want to see lawmakers approve House File 5, a proposed new law that would ban abortions after 20 weeks, except in cases where the mother's life is at risk. He said Iowa pro-life lawmakers who are opposing the bill – and jeopardizing its chances for approval -- because it doesn't ban all abortions are not considering the good that would come from halting a “horrific” procedure.

“I would frankly disagree with that. If we have the chance to improve the situation, we should do so. It's not all or none,” Pates said in an interview.

“I think I would raise the question that if we don't get this law and this authority and these late-term abortions were to continue, I would have a hard time facing myself in the mirror I think because that could have been prohibited,” he added. “I think the kid who is born because they took this section out would thank them tremendously later.”

Dubuque Archbishop Jerome Hanus, Sioux City Bishop R. Walker Nickless and Davenport Bishop Martin J. Amos echoed Pates' concern that pro-life legislators must face the reality that achieving change in the political arena oftentimes is an incremental process. The four Catholic leaders were at the Capitol to convey their concerns about restricting abortions, protecting traditional marriage, curbing pay-day loan abuses and other issues to Gov. Terry Branstad and legislators.

“The goal is to end abortion, absolutely, but this is one step along the way, and I just feel sorry for people who just feel that it's just got to be all or nothing and then they miss the opportunity to do a little bit. Think of the abortions that are happening because they won't take that one step, where we could eliminate some of those,” Nickless said. “Abortions are happening. This could stop some of them. Whatever we can take, we want.”

Amos conceded House File 5 does not go far enough for some pro-life advocates. “Obviously, we would like to see it go all the way from moment of conception. But from my vantage point even if it's a baby step, it's a step.”

On the marriage issue, Pates said “it seems a little arrogant” for Senate Democrats to block an effort to give Iowa voters the opportunity to decide whether they want to add a marriage amendment to the state constitution.

The GOP-controlled House already has approved House Joint Resolution 6, a proposal calling for a constitutional amendment declaring “marriage between one man and one woman shall be the only legal union valid or recognized” in Iowa, but Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, has said he will not bring the issue up for debate because he does not support writing discrimination into the constitution.

“We're trying to defend and promote what marriage is and the definition of marriage really can't be changed,” Pates said.

Other relationships between two people of the same sex “should probably be declared with another term,” he said. “In other words, you take a long-standing cultural reality that has been part of the human scene since the beginning and say this is a natural reality and when you package marriage this is what it is. And, when you package a relationship between two individuals of the same sex, I don't think that it's logical necessarily to call that a marriage. You call it what you want to call it and you guarantee whatever civil rights that that person is entitled to under that kind of a set of understanding.”

Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, a Catholic and an openly gay legislator, said he viewed the bishop's position to be contradictory and another example of the Catholic Church losing relevance to the people it serves.

“I think the bishop is wrong and I think the whole church is going to be judged harshly in history on this issue,” McCoy said. “There's a whole group of disenfranchised Catholics and GLBT people that are being denied the doors to the church to participate in the sacraments because their lifestyle doesn't jibe with the doctrines and dogmas of the church and I think that's sad.”