Roe v. Wade opponents on Cape Cod see beliefs affirmed in draft Alito opinion
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In the Rev. Michael Fitzpatrick’s Mothers’ Day sermon at St. Francis Xavier Church in Hyannis on Sunday, he noted the irony of abortion headlining the news.
Since Politico released the draft opinion on May 2 by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Jr., the topic has been front and center on print and digital media platforms. It came just in time for the country’s annual rite of spring: the celebration of mothers.
Fitzpatrick used what he called that "convergence of events in the world" to speak to the message in Alito’s draft opinion, as well as the Catholic Church’s long-standing opposition to abortion.
“The Catholic Church has always held the line against abortion,” he said from the pulpit.
Catholic doctrine holds that human life begins at conception and that abortion is contrary to moral law. The doctrine is supported by teachings dating back to the first and second centuries, according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The Diocese of Fall River includes 256,000 people in southeastern Massachusetts including the Cape and Islands, according to the diocese website.
After Alito's draft opinion was publicized, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore urged Catholics to fast and pray for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to the Catholic News Agency. The church has been behind marches to overturn the ruling, outreach efforts to support pregnant women, and prayer events featuring the rosary, a set of prayers meant to be meditations on God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and Mary.
St. Francis Xavier will continue to sponsor events where the rosary is prayed. Last Saturday parishioners were at the Cape Cod Mall in Hyannis where outreach efforts continue, according to Fitzpatrick.
Pastor Gary Armstrong of the New Testament Baptist Church in West Yarmouth said there is nothing biblical about abortion. Armstrong has been pastoring churches since 1970, three years before Roe v. Wade was decided.
He calls the West Yarmouth church an independent Baptist church, one that does not belong to a national convention. As a result, Armstrong said, his church does not receive directives from an ecclesiastical hierarchy about doctrine.
“Abortion is murder,” he said
Armstrong knows of no concerted group efforts planned among his church members, but he isn’t opposed to joining others should there be continued protests against abortion.
“If you look at the life that’s being taken, who is accountable for that?” Armstrong said. “Sometimes down the road each one of us is going to have to account to God for what we did in life.”
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Myrna Maloney Flynn, president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, shared the statement her group issued after Alito's opinion was leaked. The organization is nonpartisan, nonsecular, and tries to influence public policy at the local, state and national levels through educational and political activities, according to the group's mission statement.
“If the Court's opinion holds, Massachusetts Citizens for Life (MCFL) will be very pleased that justices recognized that our Constitution does not imply or permit abortion on demand,” the statement read.
The opinion, as it’s written, would overturn Roe, but wouldn’t outlaw abortion. It would send the issue back to the states to decide, according to the statement.
Flynn said the organization’s focus remains on “efforts to protect the dignity of the human person, extend human rights to all, born and pre-born.” She acknowledged the ruling would be a historic win after 49 years of effort.
She cited a 2021 Marist Poll where 76% of respondents opposed abortion on demand and said they would limit abortion to the first three months of pregnancy.
Other polls have shown more nuance, or at least more complicated opinions among those who generally oppose abortion. A 2021 Gallup poll found only 19% of respondents thought abortion should be illegal in all circumstances.
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According to the nonprofit Catholics for Choice, 52% of Catholics believe abortion is morally acceptable in some instances. Twenty percent of white evangelical Protestants support legal abortions, according to a 2019 Pew survey.
Father Fitzpatrick said Alito’s reasoning in the opinion — that the constitution does not confer a right to an abortion — makes sense.
“It challenges the logic and reasoning of Roe/Casey,” he said
That 1992 decision — Planned Parenthood v. Casey — upheld the 1973 Roe v, Wade decision, but introduced the allowance of restrictions on abortions. Some states have introduced time limits for getting abortions, waiting periods for those women seeking them, consent requirements from parents and spouses, and in some cases, required counseling.
There were restrictions under Roe, but not in the first trimester of pregnancy.
If a majority of justices agree with Alito’s opinion it would send the issue of abortion back to the states, or in Alito’s words — “the people and their representatives.”
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Adam Lange, United Cape Patriots founder, and chairman of the Brewster Republican Town Committee, said the Patriots agrees with Alito’s opinion. The right to abortion is not a constitutional freedom, Lange wrote in an email.
“Our founding fathers wrote the constitution specifically to prevent this, by decentralizing control to the states,” Lange wrote. “Voters can then select law makers who best represent their values.”
It should be up to the states to decide abortion rights, Fitzpatrick said.
“It’s hard to argue this isn’t a more just approach,” he said.
Contact Denise Coffey at dcoffey@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @DeniseCoffeyCCT.
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Roe v. Wade opponents on Cape Cod see beliefs affirmed in draft Alito opinion
