Platform -- Abortion

THE NATURAL LAW PARTY is committed to substantially reducing the number of abortions in America. However, the Natural Law Party holds that the best way to reduce abortions is through education -- not through legislation.

The Natural Law Party supports proven educational programs to bring individual and national life into harmony with natural law. These programs develop intelligence and creativity, improve moral reasoning, and promote far-sighted thinking and actions that do not create problems. Such education alone can produce the changes in behavior that will reduce unwanted pregnancies. Only the Natural Law Party’s strong educational approach, by changing attitudes and behaviors from the inside out, can offer prevention on a realistic basis.

Our nation’s history shows that it is difficult to legislate morality. Laws forbidding the manufacture and sale of alcohol during Prohibition had little effect on alcohol consumption. Instead, they led to an increase in crime and the most murderous epoch in our nation’s history. Similarly, legislation to outlaw abortions will simply lead to illegal abortions.

For this reason, the Natural Law Party believes that it is counterproductive for the Federal Government to outlaw abortion. Furthermore, the Natural Law Party holds that the moral responsibility for this decision should be left in the hands of those whose lives are affected most -- the mother, the family, and the doctor -- not the Federal Government.

At the same time, the Natural Law Party encourages a shift from public to private funding of abortion -- specifically, private charity by those who wish to make abortion accessible for women who cannot afford it. Over time, the government should eliminate the use of taxpayer dollars to fund abortion as a method of birth control, especially because such use of public funds is morally offensive to millions of taxpayers. The Natural Law Party would allow public funding of abortions in cases of rape, incest, or life-threatening medical necessity.

The Natural Law Party further believes that private charity to fund abortions could be better used to support proven, community-based programs such as CareNet, which reaches out to women with crisis pregnancies to offer them both material and emotional support, and the “One Church, One Child” adoption initiative founded by Fr. George Clements, which has enabled over 50,000 children to find loving parents and a nurturing home environment.

The Natural Law Party’s “antigovernment” stance regarding abortion -- neither subsidizing abortions nor legislating them away -- is the only defensible position from the standpoint of the U.S. Constitution, which states in the 10th Amendment that “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

The Natural Law Party’s prevention-oriented approach to reducing the number of abortions will produce a much-needed unifying influence on our nation, which has been deeply torn by this highly divisive issue. Our policy serves the interests of both those who are pro-life and those who are pro-choice by (a) decreasing the number of abortions more effectively than legislation and (b) leaving moral responsibility in the hands of those whose lives are affected most. Only the Natural Law Party can solve the problem of abortion at its basis and thereby fulfill the goals of all Americans -- those who emphasize the sanctity of life and those who uphold the sanctity of individual freedom.