May 4, 2023
Dozens of Catholic women who are medical professionals—doctors, physician assistants, mental health counselors, nurses, and nurse-midwives—affirmed their support for Catholic teaching on abortion in a newly-released statement that responds to the “open letter” on “reproductive justice” previously released by the advocacy group, Faith in Public Life.
In the statement released May 4, 2023, the Catholic medical experts urged those who signed the Faith and Public Life statement to “follow the science,” highlighting how their combined years of experience treating and caring for women and children had only strengthened their support for the Catholic Church’s “unchanged and unchangeable” teaching on abortion.
Committed to defending the dignity of each human being, including unborn children, the respondents noted:
We would welcome a “comprehensive agenda” that would better genuinely support women and families. But we cannot in good conscience support that agenda if human rights violations like abortion are offered as a solution to unplanned or unwelcome pregnancies.
The response was coordinated through the Catholic Women’s Forum, a program of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. The Catholic women who signed the open letter are trained in a variety of medical specialties, from obstetrics and gynecology, to neonatology and midwifery. Collectively, their professional lives represent thousands of years of service to the healthcare profession.
The Catholic Women’s Forum provides academic and spiritual opportunities to professional women with doctoral or professional degrees who also share the Catholic faith.
