Legislative Policy
The U.S. Bishops have taken positions on a number of violence-related policies. Below are some policy statements on specific issues:
We support policies and laws that encourage childbirth over abortion, and urge government and the private sector to provide programs that assist pregnant women and their children, especially those who are poor. We support efforts to prohibit domestic and foreign abortion funding, as well as efforts to protect states from having to fund abortions contrary to their own laws. We reject the 1973 Supreme Court decision and we support efforts to prohibit or restrict abortion legislatively and to provide constitutional protection for unborn human life. We call for an immediate ban of partial birth abortions.
We believe that the use of the death penalty is further eroding respect for life in our society. We do not question society's right to protect itself, but we believe that there are better approaches to protecting our people from violent crimes. The application of the death penalty has been discriminatory towards the poor, the indigent and racial minorities. Our society should seek methods of dealing with violent crime that are more consistent with the gospel visions of respect for life and Christ's message of healing love.
Poverty is a major contributor to violence. The fact that so many people are poor in a nation as wealthy as ours is a social and moral scandal that must not be ignored. The disproportionate impact of poverty on children, women and members of racial and ethnic minorities must be addressed through just policies on employment wages, taxes, welfare, and family life. Dealing with poverty is not a luxury to which our nation can attend when it finds the time and resources. Rather, it is a moral imperative of the highest priority.
We affirm public policies that respect the life and dignity of those who are dying: legal safeguards against direct killing by action or omission, policies that enable mentally or physically disabled patients to receive the same basic care accorded others, and funding policies to ease burdens on families whose members are in need of long-term care. We reject any law or social policy that sanctions suicide or assisted suicide or any deliberate and direct hastening of death for seriously ill patients.
We are increasingly concerned about young people's access to small arms. We urge lawmakers to require gun manufacturers to make weapons safe from small children so unintentional shootings are minimized. We encourage gun owners to keep their firearms securely locked out of reach of children. We urge stronger measures to require guns to be safety tested.
About 100 million landmines around the world, kill an estimated 500 people per week, most of whom are civilians. While landmines can be used responsibly they become indiscriminate in time because they continue to kill long after a conflict is over. The U.S. currently has a moratorium on the export of landmines, but has not signed the Ottawa treaty banning the use and production of anti-personnel landmines.