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Bishops' Statement Re. Texas Right to Life
. The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops has urged parishes not to participate in the activities of Texas Right to Life. Working with Texas Alliance for Life, Texans for Life Coalition, and other pro-life agencies is still very much encouraged.
Briefly, there are three reasons which I have outlined below. To see the entire statement (one page) click here. The Texas bishops have been discussing these issues with Texas Right to Life for a number of years. Since Texas Right to Life has not changed their policies and have rather accused the bishops of not following Catholic doctrine, the bishops have now taken this step.
1. Conflicts on pro-life reform: Texas Right to Life prefers to push for as much pro-life concessions as they possibly can, regardless of whether the bill is likely to survive in the courts against law suits brought against the bill. In some cases the final outcome may be worse than the original situation. The bishops are more in favor of incremental reforms which improve the current status less than we would like, but are more likely to stand up to court scrutiny.
2. Conflicts on end-of-life reform: The bishops have been compelled to publicly correct Texas Right to Life's misstatements on end-of-life care and advance directives. The doctor's conscience must also be protected rather than he be required to adminster a treatment that he believes is harmful to the patient.
3. Texas Right to Life Voter Guide: The bishops believe that the scorecard published by Texas Right to Life does not accurately represent which legislators are pro-life, but rather who has followed the voting recommendations of Texas Right to Life. A number of pro-life legislators have been opposed by Texas Right to Life.