The Thread That Unravels - Auspice Maria Ep 22
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Transcript:
Welcome again to the Auspice Maria podcast. I'm Bishop James Ruggeri of the Diocese of Portland in Maine, and today I'd like to speak about why the right to be born must hold preeminence.
But first, of course, I want to offer a prayer to the Holy Spirit, asking for that inspiration of the Spirit to guide this podcast and to all who will receive it.
Holy Spirit, open our hearts and minds to your truth, your love, your wisdom. Give us all the gifts we need to be builders of the culture of life and principles of unity in your Church. We ask all this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
So, if I were to entitle this podcast, I would say The Thread That Unravels, and again, why the right to be born must hold preeminence. I wish to speak from the image of a seamless garment — a symbol often used in life ethics and when speaking about the consistent ethic of life — an image that shows why life issues, in general, are key and essential.
Well, as we look at the image of the seamless garment, why can I say, using that image, that the protection of the unborn must hold a foundational and preeminent place in any truly consistent ethic of life?
Well, again, the consistent ethic of life — or the seamless garment — refers to the plethora of life issues: abortion, embryonic stem cell research, in vitro fertilization and surrogacy, contraception and abortifacients, poverty and economic injustice, racism and discrimination, access to health care, immigration and treatment of migrants, workers’ rights and just wages, environmental stewardship, euthanasia and assisted suicide, capital punishment, war and violence, torture, human trafficking, gun violence, addiction and substance abuse, disability rights, homelessness, and care for the elderly and terminally ill.
This plethora, or this incredible amount of issues — these issues that all pertain to human dignity and the dignity of life — often are spoken of as woven into a moral fabric: a consistent moral fabric and a consistent ethic of life. They’re often spoken of as each having equal moral weight. Indeed, Catholic teaching insists that every human person, at every stage, merits dignity.
Yet again, back to the seamless garment — even the image itself teaches something. In a garment woven without seams, there is a vulnerable point: a thread at the hem or border, such that if that thread is pulled, the entire weave can begin to unravel.
And keeping with that image, if we treat all life issues as of equal priority without moral ordering, it’s possible we can miss which thread, if weakened, endangers the rest. And I’d like to just postulate that that is what has happened. In treating all moral issues as having equal weight or equal moral priority, I believe we’ve missed the thread that weakens or endangers all the rest.
And that thread is the right to be born. If a society fails to guarantee that right — the right that a human being, once conceived, has a fundamental right to exist — then every other life issue or concern becomes really precarious, on unsteady ground.
Once non-existence by design is normalized — meaning once the right to be born is not a given — the moral scaffolding for protecting life at later stages is undermined. That’s the precariousness.
Back to the garment: in that vulnerable hem, in that crucial thread, is the right to life. It is not merely one among many; it is the crucial thread that safeguards the integrity of the garment.
Now, moral instinct tells us that without existence, no rights follow. If a person is never born, then rights to health care, education, elder care, and potable water are really nonexistent. Thus, in moral priority, defending life at its beginning — especially the weakest, the unborn — must be foundational.
And there is Church teaching to underscore that: not all moral issues carry equal weight, particularly in public debate or in the public forum.
I’d like to give an example of when selective birthing, or selection, becomes not only the norm, but a threat to a society’s well-being. We already see results of loosening the fundamental, the foundational thread.
Again, in selective birthing, terminations — or termination of life — are based on a prenatal diagnosis. And if that diagnosis is not amenable to the parents, then selective birthing allows them to end or to terminate that pregnancy.
And a concrete example is Down syndrome. This is not hypothetical. I’d like to point out a couple of examples in modern-day societies. In Denmark, for example, where first-trimester screening uptake is over 90%, meaning that many pregnant mothers are participating or submitting themselves to screening in that first trimester. When a diagnosis, as a result of that screening, of Down syndrome is confirmed, termination rates — or abortion rates — exceed 95%.
A study of couples in Denmark who received the diagnosis and chose termination — who chose to abort their babies because of Down syndrome detected in their unborn child — shows many made the preliminary decision even before receiving the confirmed diagnosis. That was due to the influence of medical, social, and emotional pressures.
Another society where selective birthing or selection plays a huge role with babies diagnosed in the womb with Down syndrome is Iceland. Reports estimate that approximately 80% to 85% of pregnant women elect prenatal screening in Iceland, and that nearly 100% of those pregnancies in which Down syndrome is detected are terminated or end in abortion.
Europe overall — modeling across European nations — suggests that elective terminations or elective abortions have reduced the number of babies born with Down syndrome by 50% to 60%.
These pieces of data indicate that in societies where prenatal selection has become normalized, the unborn are treated more as conditional bearers of dignity than as inherently dignified. Selective birthing — or allowing someone to be born if certain conditions or criteria are met — exposes the vulnerable thread of the garment.
Again, if that basic right to life at conception is not safeguarded, then things like selective birthing become a reality. That’s not only seen in these European societies; it’s seen here, too, in the United States as well.
Another sign of the vulnerable thread being exposed — again, if the right to be born, the right to life from conception, is not honored or held in moral priority — is the commodification of persons: viewing human life through cost, utility, usefulness, or quality-of-life metrics.
Once that logic takes root at the earliest stage, it seeps into how we view the elderly and the disabled. So, if we’re looking at pre-born children as going to be too costly — whether it’s material cost, emotional cost, time cost, or temporal cost — then that logic also takes root later on regarding the disabled, the marginalized, and those who suffer.
That has also been a big part of the argument for assisted suicide or euthanasia. The human being becomes a project, a burden, or a utility. In other words, the thread is exposed; the thread is pulled by this utilitarian, commodification mentality, and the fabric unravels.
The consistent ethic — often associated with Cardinal Bernardin, the late Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago — rightly resists moral myopia, meaning we don’t just focus solely on one issue and insist that all threats to life matter, and that is very true. But I also firmly assert that it is misleading to claim that no issue can be prioritized.
I believe an issue needs to be prioritized. And again, the Church’s doctrinal guidance states plainly that abortion and euthanasia do not share equal moral weight with other issues.
So, I want to assert two truths. A consistent ethic of life is essential — every human life deserves defense and care. And two, within that ethic, protecting the unborn has a foundational priority — a preeminence.
If birth itself is not safeguarded, then the very ground for safeguarding all other human goods or rights and dignities erodes. Moral ordering is not a devaluing of life; it is a prioritizing of the right to be born once conceived, in order that all other rights associated with human dignity can be acknowledged and protected.
For now, let’s look at a vision — or let’s image something together. Imagine the vision of a great garment: the moral fabric we call the pro-life witness, woven with threads of compassion, justice, public policy, care for the poor, health care, welcome to immigrants, protection of the aged, opposition to the death penalty and to euthanasia, and more.
All these threads have vital strength. It’s a beautiful tapestry of human dignity. But there is a vulnerable hem — even in the tapestry, there’s a vulnerable hem, the border of the cloth — and there lies the very first thread: the right to be born.
Should that thread come loose — should a society explicitly or implicitly accept that some unborn lives may be ended by design — then we risk unraveling all the rest. For what basis remains for any life to be defended if society admits as normal the intentional elimination of those most defenseless?
This is not to say, again, that other life issues are not important. Of course, they are. But unless birth itself is safeguarded — or the right to be born once conceived — the rest of the fabric becomes exposed, raw, and fragile.
I therefore urge: we must guard the hem. We must attend to the unborn as the preeminent thread. We must strengthen support for pregnant mothers who find themselves in need, as well as social services and prenatal care.
We who aspire to the consistent ethic of life bear the responsibility of building a culture of life that supports all pregnant women in general.
I’d like to make a connection now, if I may, to the Eucharist — particularly referring to this beautiful Bread of Life discourse that Jesus offers in John chapter 6, referring now to John 6, verses 53 to 56.
Here Jesus says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him.”
In this beautiful passage, the Lord reveals that the Eucharist is communion — a real sharing in His life — and, through Him, communion with one another.
In receiving the body and blood of Christ, we are united not only to Him, but to each other as members of one body. Every time we approach the altar, we are drawn into this mystery of unity — the strong and the weak, the born and the unborn, the aged and the infirm, the poor and the powerful.
To partake of the Eucharist worthily is to recognize the sacredness of every person joined to Christ’s body. The Eucharist thus opens our eyes to the dignity of every human being. It forms our hearts in solidarity and tenderness, teaching us to see others not as burdens or competitors, but as brothers and sisters who share one bread and one cup.
In this communion, the divisions and hierarchies of the world lose their power. Love becomes the law of our shared life. And so, the Eucharist becomes the healing of the unraveling garment. It binds what is torn, restores what was frayed, and strengthens us to protect life at every stage.
In the body of Christ we receive, we are reminded that every life — no matter how small or hidden — belongs to that same body. In Christ, the thread holds — the vulnerable thread holds — the garment remains whole.
In conclusion, I would like to say a special word, of course, to many in our Church, but also in society, who have known the pain and regret of abortion, whether through choice or coercion. My hope is that God’s mercy may bring healing and that our public moral vision might safeguard future lives so that fewer suffer in silence.
And so, I would ask those who are suffering — perhaps having had an abortion or having participated in an abortion, either cooperating or encouraging — to consult Project Rachel Ministry, also Rachel’s Vineyard, which is a retreat ministry for post-abortive women and men, because it does affect both. These are healing ministries that the Church offers and can be very not only consoling, but also very healing.
So again, thank you for joining me today in this Auspice Maria podcast. I’d like to conclude, as always, by offering to our Blessed Mother this podcast and putting it all in her loving care and under her intercession.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Works Cited
- [1] Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger). “Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion: General Principles.” USCCB, 2004.
- [2] Lou, S. et al. “Termination of pregnancy following a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome: a qualitative study of the decision-making process of pregnant couples.” Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, 97(10) (2018).
- [3] Heinsen, L. L. et al. “Shouldering Death: Moral Tensions, Ambiguity, and the Unintended.” Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy (2023).
- [4] Government of Iceland. “Facts about Down’s syndrome and pre-natal screening in Iceland.” (2018).
- [5] CBS News. “What kind of society do you want to live in? Inside the country where Down syndrome is disappearing.” August 2017.
- [6] de Graaf, G. et al. “Estimation of the number of people with Down syndrome in Europe.” European Journal of Human Genetics (2021).
