“Keep your Rosaries off of my ovaries!” If you've followed the news coverage of the upcoming Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization U.S. Supreme Court decision, you've probably heard this old pro-abortion battle cry recently. The basic claim is simple: Catholics are opposed to abortion because of their religion, and they shouldn't impose their beliefs on the rest of the country. Is abortion really just a “religious” issue? Are pro-life Catholics just trying to force their religion on others?

It's true, of course, that Catholics are motivated by our faith to defend the lives of the unborn. It is a fundamental truth of Sacred Scripture that every human person is created “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27) and therefore possesses innate dignity and certain God-given rights, including the right to life. Among the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses was the explicit command, “You shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13). The Didache, the oldest known Catechism written at the end of the first century, says, “you shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which is born” (Didache, 2). Catholicism firmly, authoritatively teaches that the direct and voluntary killing of any innocent human person - including an unborn person - is gravely immoral. This teaching is an infallible de fide credenda teaching, i.e., a divinely revealed teaching of the highest authority that all of the faithful “must believe with divine and Catholic faith” (Can. 750 §1; See also Ad Tuendam Fidem 11). All Catholics are required by their faith to believe that direct and intentional abortion is a grave evil.

While it is necessary for all Catholics to oppose abortion, it is obviously not necessary to be Catholic in order to oppose abortion. Catholics are joined not only by other Christians, but also by non-Christians and atheists in their pro-life efforts. Perhaps most notably, a number of non-religious groups like Rehumanize International and Secular Pro-Life have been on the frontline in the battle against abortion in recent years, clearly demonstrating that one does not need religion to understand that elective abortion kills an innocent human person. Although Scripture and Catholic Tradition make it explicitly clear that abortion is wrong, we can come to this same conclusion through the use of our own natural human reason alone.

Catholic teaching affirms that many of the moral teachings that God has revealed in Scripture ought to be knowable through human reason alone. We don't really need any special divine revelation to know, for example, that we should not kill innocent people, that we should not cheat on our spouses, that we shouldn't steal, or that we shouldn't make false accusations against one another. Because we often attempt to justify these behaviors, however, God made these moral prohibitions clear on the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments and further clarifies them through the teachings of the Catholic Church. St. Augustine explained, “God wrote on the tables of the Law what men did not read in their hearts” (CCC 1962, quoting, En. in Ps. 57,1). The Catechism of the Catholic Church further explains, “The Law of Moses contains many truths naturally accessible to reason. God has revealed them because men did not read them in their hearts” (CCC 1981).

When Catholics stand up for the rights of the unborn, it is not because we are attempting to impose religious doctrines onto a secular society, but because a natural understanding of human dignity that ought to be shared by all demands it. This same appreciation of human dignity compels Catholics to speak up for the rights of the poor, the elderly, the disabled, the criminal, the immigrant, and - most importantly in this context - mothers in difficult pregnancies. When Catholics rightfully speak out against things like racism, the death penalty, the exploitation of workers, or unjust war, our contributions to the political conversation are often welcomed, not dismissed as an imposition of religion. Why, then, are Catholics somehow expected to remain silent about the right to life of children in the womb?

Abortion isn't just a “Catholic issue” or a “religious issue,” but a “human issue.” May not only all Catholics but all people of goodwill come to a deeper understanding of the dignity and rights of each human person, even in the womb.