Consistent life ethic

In 1971, Roman Catholic pacifist Eileen Egan coined the phrase "seamless garment" to describe a holistic reverence for life.[5][6] The phrase is a Bible reference from John 19:23 to the seamless robe of Jesus, which his executioners left whole rather than dividing it at his execution. The seamless garment philosophy holds that issues such as abortion, capital punishment, militarism, euthanasia, social injustice, and economic injustice all demand a consistent application of moral principles valuing the sanctity of human life. "The protection of life", said Egan, "is a seamless garment. You can't protect some life and not others." Her words were meant to challenge members of society who divided their commitment to protecting and cherishing human life, choosing anti-war stances but not anti-abortion work, or those members of the anti-abortion movement who were in favor of capital punishment.

J. Bryan Hehir, staff writer for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on political affairs, is credited by Charles Curran with coining the term "consistent ethic of life"[7][8]

Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago helped publicize the consistent life ethic idea, initially in a lecture at Fordham University, Dec 6, 1983. At first Bernardin spoke out against nuclear war and abortion. However, he quickly expanded the scope of his view to include all aspects of human life. In that Fordham University lecture, Bernardin said: "The spectrum of life cuts across the issues of genetics, abortion, capital punishment, modern warfare and the care of the terminally ill."[9] Bernardin said that although each of the issues was distinct, nevertheless the issues were linked since the valuing and defending of (human) life were, he believed, at the center of both issues. Bernardin told an audience in Portland, Oregon: "When human life is considered 'cheap' or easily expendable in one area, eventually nothing is held as sacred and all lives are in jeopardy."[9]

Bernardin drew his stance from New Testament principles, specifically of forgiveness and reconciliation, yet he argued that neither the themes nor the content generated from those themes were exclusively Christian.[10] By doing this, Bernardin attempted to create a dialogue with others who were not necessarily aligned with Christianity.

Bernardin and other advocates of this ethic sought to form a consistent policy that would link abortion, capital punishment, economic injustice, euthanasia, and unjust war.[2] Bernardin sought to unify conservative Catholics (who opposed abortion) and liberal Catholics (who opposed capital punishment) in the United States. By relying on fundamental principles, Bernardin also sought to coordinate work on several different spheres of Catholic moral theology. In addition, Bernardin argued that since the 1950s the church had moved against its own historical, casuistic exceptions to the protection of life. "To summarize the shift succinctly, the presumption against taking human life has been strengthened and the exceptions made ever more restrictive."[2]

The Consistent Life Network and other member groups protesting in Washington, D.C., calling for an end to war.

The non-profit organization Consistent Life Network, founded in 1987 as the Seamless Garment Network, promotes adherence to the ethic through education and non-violent action.[11] [12] Individual endorsers belonging to the organization include Father Daniel Berrigan, theologian Harvey Cox, Village Voice columnist Nat Hentoff, Father Theodore Hesburgh, actress Patricia Heaton, L'Arche founder Jean Vanier, death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean, pastor and activist Patrick Mahoney, author Ken Kesey, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Nobel Peace Prize laureates Mairead Corrigan Maguire and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel.[13] Rachel MacNair, for ten years (1994–2004) President of Feminists for Life, an anti-abortion organization, is the director of the Institute for Integrated Social Analysis, the research arm of Consistent Life Network.[14][15]

The Network also consists of member groups. Rehumanize International was created under the name Life Matters Journal by Aimee Murphy. It is currently headed by Murphy, Herb Geraghty, Maria Oswalt, and Sarah Slater.[16][17] Secular Pro-Life, Democrats for Life of America, the Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians (PLAGAL), and All Our Lives (a pro-contraception feminist group), New Wave Feminists (led by Destiny Herndon-De La Rosa), and American Solidarity Party are all additional members. [18][19][20] [21][22] [21][22] These organizations collaborate together and with Consistent Life Network for activism and volunteer outreach efforts.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops still continues to promote the consistent ethic of life through publications, volunteer efforts, and declarations. Several Catholic dioceses have groups created with the aim of promoting the consistent life ethic in their communities, and putting it into practice.[23] The Catholic Worker Movement, established by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, is an organization primarily aimed towards grassroots organization and volunteer work to serve the poor, marginalized, and those facing unexpected pregnancies.[24]

Other prominent authors who have written in support of the consistent life ethic include Frank Pavone,[25] James Martin,[26] John Dear,[27][5][28] Ron Sider,[29] Tony Campolo,[30][31][32] Joel Hunter,[32] Wendell Berry,[33][34][28] and Shane Claiborne.[32][35][36]

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Rather than "thinking of a pregnant women and her fetus as being adversaries battling over exclusive rights, the right of a woman to control her body versus the right of the fetus to live long enough to control hers", a consistent life ethic would view both as valuable and important, and seek to provide both all the support they needed to live and live well.[38]

Traditionally, arguments for the death penalty focus on the idea that it: 1) deters further violence; 2) enacts just retribution on the criminal, effectively gaining a sense of justice for society and those affected by the crime; 3) seeks to reform other criminals with the threat of such severe punishment and; 4) protects society from those criminals which the government has deemed to be the most heinous.

Bernardin and some other consistent life ethic advocates recognize the right of the state to use capital punishment. However, they reject the necessity of this type of punishment for many reasons, arguing that there are more appropriate and effective ways for the state to defend its people. Many consistent life ethic advocates call for a total abolition of the death penalty. The consistent ethic's opposition to capital punishment is rooted in the conviction that an atmosphere of respect for life must pervade a society, and resorting to the death penalty does not support this attitude.[39] Adherents argue that the result of the death penalty – removing the criminal from society, enacting justice on the criminal, and bringing about feelings of revenge for those affected and the greater society – do not necessarily have to be accomplished by taking a life.

One out-spoken anti-death penalty activist is Sister Helen Prejean. Her books Dead Man Walking and The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account to Wrongful Executions are autobiographical accounts of the time she spent ministering to death row inmates.[40] Another notable independent Catholic anti-death penalty organization is Priests for Life.

Bernardin understood the consistent life ethic as implying a societal responsibility to provide adequate health care for all, especially the poor.[41][42][42]

According to Ron Hamel,

...a moral vision constituted by the consistent ethic of life sensitizes one to procedures, technological developments, and aspects of the health care system that fail to promote or do not adequately promote human dignity and do not sufficiently enhance human life. ...it is not sufficient to only oppose euthanasia, but one must also be concerned about and address those factors that give rise to euthanasia and find ever better ways to care for the dying and ensure the dying the opportunity to forgo treatment and to live their lives fully while dying.[43]

As such, appeals to the consistent life ethic have been made in support of universal health care.[44]

Writing for Life Teen, Caitlin Sica held that the abuse of alcohol and other drugs must be considered a "pro-life" issue, reporting that the "number of deaths from drug overdoses now supersedes the deaths from gun homicides and car crashes combined".[45]

In the same vein, James Hedges, in an article titled "Prohibition Platform incorporates a Consistent Life Ethic", stated that "Alcohol in many ways causes 'premature deaths,' and it degrades the quality of life before death."[18]

Chris Christie opined that "pro-life just doesn't pertain to matters of abortion; it means fighting for a person's life at all stages, no matter how complicated or messy that person's life gets" and noted that in the United States, "only 2.5 million of the 23.1 million people who needed treatment for drug or alcohol abuse actually received it".[46]

The consistent life ethic has been invoked to include care for immigrants and refugees.[47][44][48][49] While not directly appealing to the consistent life ethic, other Catholics have sought to apply the "pro-life" ethic to the issue of immigration.[50][51][52]

Leonardo Blair, in The Christian Post, discussed how speaking out racism is a "pro-life" issue, specifically commenting on the murder of George Floyd in May 2020:[53]

I would go on to write about my experience and raise my voice in media interviews but there are many more people of color in America who have suffered through far worse. Some have lived to tell their stories and many others have not. For those that live, the trauma lives with us and we simply learn to cope while praying and pushing for a more perfect union in America. ... Evangelicals are pro-life people and I strongly believe if nothing else, standing against anything which threatens the life of our brothers and sisters in Christ must also be treated as a pro-life issue. We have all been witnesses to a killing that leaves very little doubt about why it happened. Let’s stand for justice in the name of Jesus.[53]

James Martin, a Jesuit priest, who affirmed a belief in a consistent life ethic, specifically stating that a "reverence for life includes a desire to care for the unborn child in the womb, the elderly person in danger of euthanasia, the refugee starving on the border, the L.G.B.T. youth tempted to suicide and the inmate being readied for execution on death row".[54] Martin stated that to that list, sacred lives also include "the woman standing in line at the grocery store checkout counter, the elderly man seated in a church pew or the office worker who has just stepped aboard public transportation."[54] Because masks prevent of contagion, the act of wearing a mask in Martin's view is being "pro-life".[54]