As abortion foes grow more intense, a new view surfaces

In New York, Cardinal Edward M. Egan published a picture last week of a 20-week-old fetus in his newspaper column and declared that abortion is a crime "no less heinous than what was perpetrated by Hitler and Stalin."

In Dallas and Fort Worth, two bishops jointly declared that voting for a politician who supports abortion rights is "morally impermissible." In Pennsylvania, a bishop made a surprise visit to a parish politics forum, declared, "I own this building," and dismissed the bishops' own voting guide that says Catholics are not single-issue voters.

Over the last few weeks, more than 60 Catholic bishops, articulating their traditional views in ever stronger language, have urged voters to make abortion their top priority in an election dominated by the nation's economic turmoil.

But the urgency of the bishops reflects an increasing concern about a new argument posed by some antiabortion intellectuals and organizations: that the legislative battle to outlaw abortion is hopeless and that antiabortion groups would be better off devoting themselves to preventing unwanted pregnancies and persuading pregnant women to carry their fetuses to term rather than trying to change the laws of the land. The discussion is taking place within evangelical Protestantism, as well as among Roman Catholics, but it is more visible in the Catholic Church because of the high profile of Catholic bishops.

The debate, which Trinity College professor Mark Silk termed "an emerging civil war within the upper reaches of American Catholicism," is playing out in diocesan newspapers, speeches, blogs, and op-ed pages. But the bishops' views do not appear to be having much impact on voters.

Recent polls have suggested that Catholics are tilting increasingly toward Democrat Barack Obama, who supports abortion rights, and some polls have suggested that Obama is also making incremental gains among evangelicals.

"The banning-abortion position, conservatives will admit, is not a realistic one in this country - it's never going to happen, and they admit it's not going to happen," said Jim Wallis, a leading progressive evangelical. "Maybe abortion reduction could result in a more prolife outcome than taking what have become symbolic stances that are never going to be achieved" in the United States.

Within the Catholic Church, the argument has been made most prominently by Nicholas Cafardi, a legal scholar at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh who has held several important church positions, and who wrote last month: "While I have never swayed in my conviction that abortion is an unspeakable evil, I believe that we have lost the abortion battle - permanently."

The reason, Cafardi and others have argued, is that even if Roe v. Wade were overturned, the battle would return to the states, many of which would not outlaw the procedure.

Church leaders are responding loudly. Cafardi, who was the legal counsel for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh and who was appointed by the bishops to a sexual abuse prevention panel, resigned from the board of a conservative Catholic university after making public his case for Obama. And another leading Catholic legal scholar, Douglas Kmiec, a Pepperdine University professor who is the former dean of the Catholic University of America law school, drew protesters during a speech at a Catholic university after he publicly outlined a case for supporting Obama.

Antiabortion Obama supporters have been using the Internet to fuel an argument that has captivated a corner of the blogosphere. A new organization called Catholic Democrats has posted a Q&A on its website suggesting that Democrats would do a better job than Republicans at reducing the abortion rate, and Catholics United, another liberal organization, has launched a direct-mail campaign in swing states urging Catholics to rethink what it means to be "pro-life."

Earlier this week, a group called the Matthew 25 Network began broadcasting on Christian radio stations in swing states an ad featuring Kmiec with the theme "Pro-Life, Pro-Obama," and today, a coalition of Catholic and evangelical activists plans to hold a news conference to speak out against single-issue voting and to launch a radio ad campaign urging a more comprehensive strategy to reduce the abortion rate.

"There's been a lot of evidence among evangelical leaders, not on the hard Christian right, but among more moderate conservatives, of an openness to the kinds of initiatives we saw from members of Congress trying to figure out ways to reduce the prevalence of abortion," said James L. Guth, a professor of political science at Furman University in Greenville, S.C.

Guth said Obama "certainly has been the most prochoice imaginable over the years, but that doesn't seem to have picked up much traction except among the usual folks who pay attention among the issue."

Scholars say the idea of abortion reduction is not new. As president, Bill Clinton wanted to make abortion "safe, legal, and rare." But it has gathered new currency as the Democratic Party included the idea in its platform and two Catholic Democrats in the House of Representatives - Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, who supports abortion rights, and Tim Ryan of Ohio, who opposes abortion rights - have pushed an abortion reduction package in Congress.

Obama raised the issue in the last presidential debate, saying, "there surely is some common ground when both those who believe in choice and those who are opposed to abortion can come together."

Republican John McCain, an opponent of abortion, disagreed, saying: "We'll do everything we can to improve adoption in this country. But that does not mean that we will cease to protect the rights of the unborn."

Clearly, the bishops have noticed the new line of argument.

Last week, two officials of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a direct and detailed response to critics, rejecting the strategy of abandoning legislative efforts in favor of behavioral change. "The Catholic community is second to no one in providing and advocating for support for women and families facing problems during pregnancy," the bishops said. "These efforts, however, are not an adequate or complete response to the injustice of Roe v. Wade."

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver addressed the issue in a recent speech, saying, "People who claim that the abortion struggle is lost as a matter of law, or that supporting an outspoken defender of legal abortion is somehow prolife, are not just wrong; they're betraying the witness of every person who continues the work of defending the unborn child."

A high-ranking American at the Vatican warned that the Democratic Party is becoming a "party of death," and nearly every day, another bishop speaks out; the count of more than 60 bishops to date was generated by blogger Rocco Palmo.

Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley of Boston has weighed in somewhat gingerly, criticizing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's comments on abortion in his blog, and, at the annual March for Life, praising Sarah Palin's choice to carry to term a fetus with Down syndrome. In a written statement to the Globe for this story, he said, "The leading cause of death in the United States is abortion."

"If we had the opportunity to vote as a nation there would certainly be limitations imposed on the abortion industry that destroys not just the lives of the babies but also the lives of all involved," O'Malley said. "A dictatorial court has imposed an unethical decision on our country and divided the American people. We pray for the opportunity to allow the American people to have a voice in such a crucial issue."

Michael Paulson can be reached at mpaulson@globe.com.