When we speak of being Pro-Life there are any number of topics that quickly come to mind: abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, and more. What does not come immediately to mind is economic policy and striving for a just economy. The Catholic bishops of the United States believe building a just economy that works for all and encompasses a wide range of issues, including food security and hunger, the federal budget and tax policy, social safety net programs, social security, work and joblessness, homelessness and affordable housing, labor laws and tax credits for low-income families, as well as protecting programs that serve poor and vulnerable people throughout the federal budget.
Pope Francis has written: “We have forgotten and are still forgetting that over and above business, logic and the parameters of the market is the human being; and that something is men and women in as much as they are human beings by virtue of their profound dignity: to offer them the possibility of living a dignified life and of actively participating in the common good. Benedict XVI reminded us that precisely because it is human, all human activity, including economic activity, must be ethically structured and governed (cf. Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate. . . , n. 36). We must return to the centrality of the human being, to a more ethical vision of activities and of human relationships without the fear of losing something.”
The US bishops have routinely proclaimed that a fundamental moral measure of any economy is how the poor and vulnerable are faring. And so, all economic life should be shaped by moral principles. Economic choices and institutions must be judged by how they protect or undermine the life and dignity of the human person, support the family and serve the common good. What underlies this is that all people have a right to life and to secure the basic necessities of life (e.g., food, clothing, shelter, education, health care, safe environment, economic security), the right to economic initiative, to productive work, to just wages and benefits, and to decent working conditions. Society has a moral obligation, including governmental action where necessary, to assure opportunity, meet basic human needs, and pursue justice in economic life.
This too is being Pro-Life