A recent column in the newspaper for the Diocese of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, urged Catholics to vote against a pro-abortion amendment on the November ballot.
Michael Pauley, the executive director of the South Dakota Catholic Conference, compared the importance of voting in the upcoming election to the importance of stopping to help somebody if their car was overturned and there was nobody else around.
“We’re morally obliged to stop and help,” he said about the people in the overturned car, “especially when we know that our decision could make the difference between life and death.”
“Unfortunately, this sense of moral clarity doesn’t always extend to other realms of life, such as our responsibility to vote and participate in political life,” Pauley continued.
He stated that South Dakota’s pro-abortion amendment, known as Amendment G, is a life-or-death issue.
“The outcome will determine whether thousands of preborn girls and boys have a chance to be born, or whether their lives will come to a violent end through abortion,” Pauley wrote. “A ‘no’ vote on G gives these babies a chance to be born. But if a majority vote ‘yes,’ these babies will die. That is the stark choice before us. Only rarely is an issue of such eternal significance placed into our hands.”
Click here to sign up for pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com
The Baltimore Catechism states that exercising one’s right to vote “is a moral obligation when the common good of the state or the good of religion, especially in serious matters, can be promoted,” and Pauley concluded that Amendment G is a serious matter affecting both the common good and the good of religion.
Pauley recognized that while some voters “may not like” either candidate, an issue that the Church offers guidance on, they still had a moral obligation to vote on Amendment G.
“You can decide to leave your ballot blank for one or more of the candidate races, while still casting a vote on ballot measures like Amendment G, and your vote will still be counted,” he stated.
Pauley urged Catholics to register to vote to save the lives of the unborn.
LifeNews Note: Joshua Mercer writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
