Is "pro-life" an accurate term?

[Qoeleth]

The topic reminds me of something in the British comedy, "The New Statesman"- where Alan Ba'stard (a Thatcherite politician) says: "Let me be clear- I am not pro-choice. I am pro-abortion."

On the topic- the anti-abortion position is not vitalist. It is not like mortal life is the highest value. On the contrary, it is opposition to the sin of murder. So, I think the term anti-abortion (or more accurately anti-murder) is truer.

[Corki]

All Catholics should be pro-life, as the Popes have stated, from the moment of conception to natural death.

However, the Church also teaches that the greatest effort should be placed on protecting innocent life and that of those most vulnerable. That would be the unborn, the elderly, the disabled.

Second, the Church makes distinctions between those "pro life" positions that protect the very existence of life (abortion, euthanasia) and those that deal with the quality of life (poverty, access to health care) with the greater effort rightly going to the former. (as an aside, there is no Church position on free healthcare, just healthcare access)

And lastly, the Church allows for Catholics to form different opinions on how to deal with many life issues but not all. There is only one valid position, for example, regarding abortion but there are many, many opinions on how best to combat poverty or war.

I rarely encounter anyone who is pro-life with regard to abortion but is pro-war or pro-poverty. I am fairly active with the pro-life group in our parish and, to a man, everyone is involved in some form of other social outreach - feeding the hungry, visiting the elderly, prison ministry, etc. So, it wouldn't be fair to characterize them as just anti-abortion.

In my experience, as far as Catholic organizations go, it is rare to see capital punishment (or even contraception) as an issue that is dealt with by pro-life groups. This is often simply due to how the Church is organized at the diocisan level. In our diocese, for example, the issue of capital punishment is addressed via the Social Justice department of the chancery offices; contraception is addressed via the Family Life department and other life issues (abortion, euthanasia, embryonic destructive stem cell research) are addressed via the pro-life office.

[runningdude]

Originally Posted by Corki

All Catholics should be pro-life, as the Popes have stated, from the moment of conception to natural death.
...
In my experience, as far as Catholic organizations go, it is rare to see capital punishment (or even contraception) as an issue that is dealt with by pro-life groups. This is often simply due to how the Church is organized at the diocisan level. In our diocese, for example, the issue of capital punishment is addressed via the Social Justice department of the chancery offices; contraception is addressed via the Family Life department and other life issues (abortion, euthanasia, embryonic destructive stem cell research) are addressed via the pro-life office.

Best summary to date in this thread