Bishop Barron: I balk at Democratic Party’s ‘extreme position’ on abortion

Los Angeles, Calif., Jul 1, 2021 / 21:01 pm (CNA).

In a video message Bishop Barron is calling out pro-abortion politicians for refusing to “dialogue” about abortion – or support restrictions of any kind.

Bishop Robert Barron, an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, released a video asking pro-abortion politicians “Can We Actually Dialogue?”

If politicians can’t even agree to “protecting the life of a baby writhing on the table having survived an abortion procedure,” he asked July 1, then “what precisely are we dialoguing about?”

He remembered speaking with members of Congress and Capitol Hill staffers about abortion a couple of years ago. The topic came up during a meeting with independents, Democrats, and Republicans in a “more conversational setting.”

While Bishop Barron identified himself as the “son of a dyed-in-the-wool Chicago Catholic Democrat,” he challenged today’s Democratic Party for “this very extreme position that they’ve taken on abortion.”

“That’s where I just really balk,” he told them.

In response, the politicians stressed the importance of “dialogue” – and “the dialogue between the Church and pro-abortion-right politicians.”

Bishop Barron agreed to dialogue.

While the Church opposes abortion and “we’d love to see a complete ban of abortion,” he stressed, “we’ll dialogue if you’re willing to set some restrictions . . . We’ll get behind bills that would restrict the taking of innocent life.”

But the bishop found dialogue difficult when he “began sort of testing the waters” to find common ground with the politicians. He started by asking, “Would you be willing, for example, to limit third-trimester abortions?”

When they said “no,” he followed-up by asking about “so-called partial-birth abortion” or the “procedure by which a child basically in the birth canal is killed.”

When they said “no” again, he asked about born-alive legislation or “laws that say we should protect a child who is somehow, by a miracle, managed to survive an abortion procedure.”

They said no for a third time, which led Bishop Barron to ask, “What exactly are we dialoguing about?”

“In any real dialogue, it seems to me, there’s a kind of give and take,” he explained. “There’s a willingness to each side going a few steps in the other direction.”

That’s why, he said, “I pressed the matter with the politicians.”

“Are you willing to give on this question at all, if protecting the life of a baby writhing on the table having survived an abortion procedure – if that’s too much – again, what precisely are we dialoguing about?’

He ended with a “very blunt and specific” message.

“I would say to Catholics, especially, who are supporting the right to abortion, ‘Okay, are you willing to support this born-alive legislation, as a first step?’” he emphasized. “Are you willing to say, ‘Yes, we should protect the lives of a child that survived an abortion procedure?’ If you’re not, again, I don’t know exactly what the point or purpose of the dialogue would be.

“I think that’s why, to some degree, we’ve come to an impasse on this matter,” he concluded.

The video complemented a recent New York Post opinion piece by Bishop Barron in which he challenged “pro-abortion-rights Catholic politicians.”

“If you’re truly interested in dialoguing with the church on this crucial matter, show a little profile in courage and support born-alive legislation,” he wrote. “If you can take this small step in the direction of protecting innocent life, I’ll know you’re serious about the conversation.”