A Call to Truth Telling

Abstract

Post-Dobbs, Catholics will need to find ways to move beyond the dichotomizing debate between pro-life and pro-choice. That primary language about abortion debates in the past few decades has not only appeared to pit prenatal children against women, but also fits rather too neatly into the two-party political system that does not help people engage fully with each other or with Catholic thought. I suggest that a way forward is to focus on truth-telling, especially by avoiding lies of omission about either one’s own debate position or that of the other side, and I give a couple of examples in this article. I argue that more concentrated focus on being truthful will enable us not only to see each other’s nuanced arguments but also to sit with peoples’ wrenching, difficult considerations in the midst of pregnancy. Striving to be more truthful in conversations will also bring the kind of complexity that enables us to see that people hold more shared concerns about women, children, and reproduction, than we may initially have thought.