There is nothing new about Catholic politicians identifying themselves as morally opposed to abortion but pro-choice. They would never have or recommend an abortion. They promote public policy to remove contributing causes.

But since many citizens question the personhood of the unborn and differ in valuing the mother’s life against her unborn child’s, they try to accommodate a plurality of values. And they recognize that most Americans, however they view abortion, would not criminalize it – put a million providers and recipients in jail every year.

Notwithstanding the state’s responsibility for life, they would let women decide whether to bear a child.

There is also nothing new in pro-life advocates challenging pro-choice politicians – or in pro-choice politicians ignoring rather than effectively countering fundamentalist attacks.

What is new is (1) Catholic pro-life organizations pushing their one-issue morality to the point of urging bishops to declare John Kerry unfit to receive communion, (2) several bishops departing from the U.S. Bishops’ Conference’s insistence that voters should consider the moral implications of a full array of issues to judge Kerry’s conscience from afar – an unCatholic presumption – and find him unfit for communion, and (3) the Republican National Committee’s presumption to declare President Bush more committed to Catholic moral values on the basis of his views on sexual issues.

This full-court press to persuade scrupulous Catholics that it is immoral to vote for Kerry is based on three false premises.

One is the argument that because abortion kills human life, any politician whose votes do not meet the approval of every self-appointed guardian of the unborn “supports abortion” and should be ousted. Actually, such votes usually reflect recognition that Roe v. Wade is the law of the land, like it or not, so opposition to unconstitutional legislation, or legislation that promises to do more harm than good, or that encroaches on the beliefs of others, or would be unenforceable and undermine respect for law.

Some refuse political suicide, unwilling to forfeit service to the common good in many areas for pyrrhic abortion victories: repeal of Roe would only return abortion to the states, where many would legitimize it.

Some fall morally short, as in voting against constitutional late-term abortion restrictions. Invariably, the one-issue critics make no distinctions. A moral politician must hold that abortion requires criminalization.

Second is the view that abortion is a singular evil because it ends an innocent life. But the industrial world deliberately pursues economic policies and consumer habits that directly result in hundreds of millions of innocents dying of hunger, disease and lack of health care each year when 3 to 4 percent of the U.S. defense budget in a decade would result in 1.3 billion escaping absolute poverty.

Third is the claim that Bush has a stronger record on Catholic values because of his stances on sexual issues. But Bush’s Texas, contrary to Catholic teaching, executed more than other states combined. John Paul II and Christian leaders everywhere condemned Bush’s rush to war in Iraq as unjustified. Where Jesus urged love for the poor, Bush’s compassion has been directed to the rich and powerful. Never has an American government taken so much from so many for the benefit of so few – and so abdicated government’s role as provider of last resort.

Catholic social teaching begins with respect for the dignity of all and primacy of the common good. It embraces a living wage, the right to health care and good education, the rights of workers and peoples to organize, stewardship of the environment, the sovereignty of nations (including Haiti and Palestine), international cooperation and peaceful conflict resolution.

Bush’s policies radically undermine all of this. He shares Jerry Falwell’s moral view: righteous exclusion of sinners, comfort and material security for most Americans at the price of exploitation of the poor everywhere, and simplistic identifications of evil – met with violence. This stew is crowned by an unChristian notion that we are an exceptional, chosen people, called to run the world to suit ourselves.

Excepting his positions on Palestine, Iraq, U.S. exceptionalism and limiting the abortion liberty, Kerry is far more in tune with the Catholic moral vision.

Bottom line: Bush’s re-election may occasion a symbolic victory for the pro-life cause; it will also assure the continued denial of dignity, suffering or death for hundreds of millions, even billions, of people.

The Republican National Committee is unqualified to judge who reflects Catholic moral values. Nor are right-to-lifers whose interest in life too often ends at birth. The openly partisan bishops? Until the hundreds of bishops who moved priest child abusers around deny themselves communion and resign, bishops should be the last to judge anyone’s moral fitness.

William Slavick, coordinator of Pax Christi Maine, has published extensively in the Catholic press.

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