Pro-life community ‘hopeful’ as they weigh in on leaked Supreme Court document

CLIFTON  News about the leak of a draft decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on May 2 that would likely overturn the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 that legalized abortion in the nation has drawn intense scrutiny throughout the country. The possibility of such a historic ruling prompted pro-abortion advocates to anger and to protest, while many pro-life supporters expressed joy, guarded hope, and a continued vow to stand up for the unborn, particularly in New Jersey, where abortion up to the moment of birth is legal.

Since the leak — unprecedented in the history of the Supreme Court, The Beacon has interviewed Bishop Kevin J. Sweeney, along with priests, and laity involved in Respect Life groups to get their reactions.

“This [leaked Supreme Court decision] is a reminder how sensitive and controversial this topic is but this is only a draft and we won’t know anything definite until we have an official ruling,” Bishop Sweeney told The Beacon last week. “But this is hopeful. We believe that Roe is a bad law because it doesn’t recognize the dignity and value of every human life,” the Bishop said.

Bishop Sweeney urged Catholics to remain calm and prayerful. They also should be sensitive to people who disagree with them, while main­taining their own convictions. They should care for the children, mothers, and fathers of crisis pregnancies, even after birth, he said.

“Help mothers say ‘yes’ to the gift of life that she has received. Also, do not judge or condemn a woman, who felt that she had to make that choice [of abortion],” said Bishop Sweeney, who called on the faithful to look to the Blessed Mother who suffered the death of her son, Jesus. “No one should lose a child in any way. Stay close to Jesus and discern where the Holy Spirit is leading you,” he said.

Catholic churches across the nation were put on high alert by local law enforcement authorities when they detected that some pro-abortion activists were planning to disrupt Masses on Mother’s Day.

In fact, Bishop Sweeney wrote to pastors of the Diocese May 6, urging them to stay alert for any disruptive behavior that radical abortion advocates promised in Catholic churches at weekend Masses. Incidents were reported across the country, including the interruption of Mass in a Los Angeles Catholic Church by protesters and the destruction of a pro-life office in Wisconsin when a Molotov cocktail was hurled through a window, but none were reported in the Diocese.

In the leaked draft, written by Associate Justice Samuel Alito, a Catholic, called Roe “egregiously wrong from the start” and that Roe and that the 1992 Casey v. Planned Parenthood decision that affirmed Roe “must be overruled.” Alito writes that abortion is a state level issue.

In 2017, Alito visited the Diocese to deliver a talk on ”Religious Freedom in the Constitu­tion and in Federal Law” at St. Paul Inside the Walls in Madison.

Dr. Mary Mazzarella, diocesan Respect Life director and a retired pediatrician, said most people do not realize that this possible ruling will not end abortion and that it still will be available in some states.

“The ruling is long overdue. The issue will be moved back to the states and viability will likely be at 15 weeks. We know that the baby feels pain then. Abortion is a barbaric procedure,” Dr. Mazzarella said.

Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said, “As Catholics, we care about every unborn child and every mother. Our Church has consistently witnessed in word and deed that life begins at the moment of conception. We stand ready to help all pregnant women in need in each of our communities,” he said.

Jean Capone, president of Morris County Right to Life, said she was “excited” to hear the news on TV, which she called “breathtaking.”

“We in the pro-life movement have known that abortion isn’t a constitutional right. We have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Also, science backs us up with Roe,” said Capone, a parishioner of St. Mary in Denville. “We need to approach this issue through education and legislation. Abortion is not a loving option. We are all children of a loving God. We need to get those ideas across,” she said.

Father Michael Rodak, pastor of St. Jude the Apostle Parish in Hardyston and diocesan coordinator of buses that travel to the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. each January, said that the Court’s possible ruling only would “move the battle lines from the federal level to the state level as prescribed in the case before the Supreme Court, and a more divided nation over abortion will be created, as there will be pro-abortion states, and pro-life states.” A former legislative aide in Trenton before becoming a priest, he called New Jersey a “pro-death state,” where now under New Jersey law unborn babies can be killed up to birth. It is also one of eight states that permits assisted suicide or euthanasia.

“We need to call on state legislators to wake up — that this is a child, a life. There is a heartbeat and developing hands and feet at its very early stages in the womb. This life needs to be protected,” Father Rodak said. “We, as Catholics, must pray for a greater respect for the life in the womb and persist through action by peaceful demonstrations, letters to lawmakers, and care for mothers and children. The Catholic Church is already there to help women in pregnancy and to help heal those who have had an abortion through Sacramental reconciliation and through Rachel’s Vineyard,” he said.

Christine Flaherty, executive director of LifeNet, located in Montclair, reminded local pro-lifers to “stay focused on New Jersey, no matter the ruling.” Coming up is the enactment of a disturbing piece of the Reproduc­tive Freedom Act: the commissioning of a study to determine whether insurance plans should be required to pay for abortions without a copay, she said.

“New Jersey has 48,000 abortions per year. There will be more if people come over the border from others states to have an abortion here,” Flaherty said. Many Catholics from the Diocese have been involved with LifeNet, which has a mission to achieve equal rights for babies in the womb through education, advocacy, and networking.

Frank Tinari, a co-captain of a March for Life bus from his parish of Holy Family in Florham Park and from St. Vincent Martyr Parish in Madison, criticized the leak, which he said, “Is a violation of protocols and standards of the Supreme Court, which we hold in the highest esteem.”

“The only solution is to change hearts and minds. Down the road, we need a federal Constitutional amendment to protect the unborn. If this ruling holds, I am hopeful for the work at the state level. It must continue,” said Tinari, who is a member of Morris County Right to Life; chair of Holy Family’s pro-life ministry; board of trustees member for LifeNet, the Life Education Council, and Legal Center for the Defense of Life; and publisher of a pro-life newsletter.

At DePaul Catholic High School in Wayne, Valerie Haggerty, adviser to the Right to Life Club, told The Beacon, “I am very suspicious of the circumstances surrounding the leak from the Supreme Court. It seems patently orchestrated to rally pro-abortion activism.

“On the other hand, the Supreme Court has been poised to act in this direction at least from the latest court nominee. I am encouraged by the movement but wary of the further division among the ‘united’ states,” Haggerty said. “There will be abortion ‘hubs’ and I’m very disturbed by the fact that New Jersey will be one of them. Our prayers must intensify for the end of this sadness and the grace to accept all of our babies with joy,” she said.

Christopher Bell, co-founder and president of Good Counsel, which operates four homes for pregnant women in New York and New Jersey, said, “the ruling does not go far enough.

“Returning abortion to the states is exactly what the country did in allowing slavery to be decided by the states, thus setting up a civil war situation,” Bell said. Good Counsel also has a national helpline and online services and has directly assisted more than 8,200 once-homeless mothers and children before birth and after. “Either a child is alive from the moment of conception, or not. Either a child, like the slave, should be granted full human rights, or not. It is unconscionable to allow some children to live, and others, not. It is also unconscionable to allow some pregnant women to get all the help they need, and others reduced to taking the lives of their children because the culture in that state encourages, pays for, and sometimes forces poor women to have an abortion instead of taking advantage of the many opportunities we pro-lifers offer,” Bell said.