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McCain and Obama on ‘Catholic’ Issues
BY The Editors
September 21-27, 2008 Issue |
Posted 9/16/08 at 12:17 PM
Last week, we
reminded readers what the candidates actually said at the conventions about
issues of importance to Catholics. This week, as promised, we want to remind
readers how the candidates have voted on those issues.
Abortion
Pope
Benedict XVI recently summed up the Church’s teaching: “The fundamental human
right, the presupposition of every other right, is the right to life itself.
This is true of life from the moment of conception until its natural end.
Abortion, consequently, cannot be a human right — it is the very opposite. It
is a deep wound in society.”
John McCain
Opposes
the “Freedom of Choice Act” (FOCA), a bill which would prohibit states from
placing limits on abortion.
On
Supreme Court: “Chief Justice [John] Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito would
serve as the model for my own nominees.”
In
the U.S. Senate:
Voted
YES, make unborn children eligible for the SCHIP health-care program.
Voted
YES, keep federal money out of abortion.
Voted
YES, use taxpayers’ money to kill human embryos in stem-cell research.
Voted
YES, a parent must be notified when a minor gets out-of-state abortions.
Voted
NO on promoting contraception to teens.
Voted
YES, unborn victims of violence count.
Voted
YES, ban partial-birth abortion.
Voted
YES, ban abortion on military bases.
Voted
YES on banning partial-birth abortions.
Voted
YES on banning human cloning.
Barack Obama
Co-sponsored
the “Freedom of Choice Act” (FOCA) and says his first act as president will be
to prohibit states from placing any limits on abortion.
On
Supreme Court: Obama sharply criticized the Supreme Court for its 2007 decision
upholding the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.
Voted
to allow “live birth abortion” when the “Born-Alive Infants Protection Act”
came up in the Illinois Senate.
In
the U.S. Senate:
Voted
NO, don’t make unborn children eligible for the SCHIP health-care program.
Voted
NO, parents needn’t be told if their children get abortions in other states.
Voted
YES, use taxpayers’ money to kill human embryos in stem-cell research.
Voted
NO, parent should be notified when their
children get out-of-state abortions.
Voted
YES on promoting contraception to teens.
School Choice
There
is no official Church teaching on voucher plans that use government funding to
help students afford private school, but many Catholics support vouchers.
McCain
In
1997, he voted YES on school vouchers for D.C.
Obama
He
has not voted on the topic, but says he is opposed to private school vouchers.
Immigration
The
Church has long taught that immigrants must be welcomed. On Aug. 31, Pope
Benedict added: “A sense of responsibility must also be shown by the countries
of origin, not only because their citizens are involved, but also to remove the
causes of irregular migration, as well as to eradicate, at the roots, all forms
of criminality linked to it.”
McCain
Voted
YES on comprehensive immigration reform.
Voted
YES, make English our official language.
Voted
YES, build a fence on the Mexican border.
Voted
YES, create a Guest Worker program.
Voted
YES, give Social Security to illegal aliens.
Voted
YES, help Guest Workers become citizens.
Barack Obama
His
record is the same as McCain’s except:
Voted
NO, don’t make English our official language.
Iraq
The
Church has no official teaching on the Iraq war, but Pope John Paul II and Pope
Benedict XVI called the invasion of Iraq unjust. The Church does demand that,
once war is undertaken, an invader has an obligation to stabilize the area it
invades.
McCain
Voted
YES on authorizing use of military force against Iraq.
Supported
the surge of U.S. troops in Iraq, which has helped stabilize the area after
invasion.
Obama
Wasn’t
in Senate when U.S. invaded Iraq.
Opposed
the surge of U.S. troops, which has helped stabilize the area after invasion.
Marriage
The
Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith taught in 2003, “Laws in favor of
homosexual unions are contrary to right reason because they confer legal
guarantees, analogous to those granted to marriage, to unions between persons
of the same sex.”
McCain
In
1996, he voted to prohibit same-sex “marriage.”
In
2007, he voted to kill the federal marriage amendment without even allowing it
to be debated in the Senate.
Obama
In
2007, he voted to kill the federal marriage amendment without even allowing it
to be debated in the Senate.
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