Last Sunday, on NBC's "Meet the press" Senator Biden was asked by an unyielding Tom Brokaw about when he thought life begins.
Tom Brokaw
If senator Obama comes to you and asks, 'When does life begin?', help me out here Joe as a Roman Catholic. What would you say?
Senator Biden then tried to dodge the apparent contradiction between his ethical beliefs and his position as legislator:
I would say look, I know when it begins for me. It is a personally and private issue. For me as a Roman Catholic, I am prepared to accept the teach[ings]in my church... But that is a matter of my judgement. For me to impose that judgement on everyone else who is equally and even more devout seems inappropriate in a pluralistic society."
Senator Biden essentially says that abortion is an individual or personal matter of judgement. In Philosophy, an individual and personal matter of judgement is the sphere of morality.
The AP then Reported today that:
Two prominent bishops said Tuesday that Joe Biden contradicted church teaching...adding, "Protection of innocent human life is not an imposition of personal religious conviction but a demand of justice,"
I will try to explain below the fold that Biden was mistaken to call his position on the initiation of life "personal" while at the same time the two prominent bishops that have recently rebuked Sen. Boxter and Sen. Biden have over-extended their ethical reach into the sphere of Law.
Brokaw's question about when life begins is prefaced with a statement about Sen. B. Boxer's claim that "the church has [also] struggled with this question". Brokaw continues to preface the question by quoting a strong refutation of Boxer's statement by the Arch Bishop of New York.
Edward Cardinal Eagan
"Anyone who dares to defend that they may be legitimately killed because another human being 'chooses' to do so or for any other equally ridiculous reason should not be providing leadership in a civilized democracy worthy of the name."
This statement deserves sharp rebuke by Biden, for its over-reach into Bidens proper sphere of Law.
The full response to Brokaw's question: "If senator Obama comes to you and asks, 'When does life begin?' What would you say?"
I would say look, I know when it begins for me. It is a personally and private issue. For me as a Roman Catholic, I am prepared to accept the teach[ings]in my church. But let me tell you, there are an awful lot of people of great confessional faiths, Protestants, Jews, muslims, and others who have a different view. They believe in God as much as I believe in God, they are intensely religious as I am religious, they believe in their faith and they believe in human life and they have differing views of when life...I am prepared as a matter of faith to accept that life begins at the moment of conception. But that is a matter of my judgement. For me to impose that judgement on everyone else who is equally and even more devout seems inappropriate in a pluralistic society."
There are two problems with Biden's answer. Firstly his faith that life begins at conception is not "personal", but it is the shared view of the Roman Catholic church. Secondly, he does not mention that as an elected official he is the authority of Civil Law, not the Arch Bishop of New York.
In Philosophy, shared moral views are called ethics. Biden is absolutely right that his ethics are not shared by everybody. Less than 20 percent of America belong to the ethical community of the Roman Catholic church. But he is wrong to call his views merely personal.
The problem is that the shared beliefs of the Catholic Church are not merely a personal morality. Morality by definition is what you personally think is good and this is closely related to your good intentions.
The specific limit of Morality is that there is no way to confirm that what you think is good is really and truely good. As they say, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions". As Biden points out, everyone is entitled to judge his own idea of the good and follow his heart.
Abortion is a good test case.
Maybe I personally believe that all life is sacred, but another person believes that it is cruel to raise a child in an environment where 2 strikes are already against him or her.
We both have equal right to that judgement.
If we try to resolve this moral issue in terms of the Law (or the sphere of Right), we run into the limitations of the abstract nature of Law.
At the base of modern law is the most fundamental right of Property Right. All Rights are lost if I do not "own" my physical body. The Law must protect my physical body, and it does so under Property Right.
The German Philosopher Hegel was the first to formulate the importance of Property Right explicitly in 1820. However, the carvers' of the constitution were able to grasp the concept in a crude way with "Privacy".
Some on this list have tried to suggest that you can have "privacy" without ownership, and have used public bathrooms. But recent highly publicized events in public bathrooms have proved this to be false.
Ultimately, the Law (and individual Rights) will break down in the contradictory situation of two living bodies simultaneously co-existing in one body. As in the case of pregnancy.
In the U.S. constitutional papers the law is clear suggesting that "we are born with inalienable Rights". The "we are born part" makes it clear that women have the Right over thier own bodies over the rights of the un-born child.
Yet lots of things can be legal without being moral. The George Bush administration has spent most of its precious time trying to demonstrate that many of its immoral policies are technically legal.
So where is the middle? How is Sen. Biden's position here anything but a contradiction as Brokaw seems to suggest with his question:
If you believe that life begins at conception, and you've also voted for abortion Rights...?
Biden responds:
No. What I voted against was curtailing the Right [to abortion], criminalizing abortion. I voted against telling everyone else in the country that they have to accept my religiously based view that it is the moment of conception. There is a debate within our own church that Cardnal Eagan would acknowledge that has existed since St. Thomas Aquinas wrote in Summa Theologica that it didn't occur until quickening 40 days after conception. [So] how am I going to come out and say to you or anyone else that you must insist upon a view that is based on a matter of faith. This is a matter between a person's God, whether they believe in God, their doctor, and themselves. And what we are concentrating on is reducing the ammount of abortions that take place by providing the care, the assistance, and the encouragement for people to carry to term and to raise their children."
I agree with everything that Sen. Biden says here. However, he avoids the very important issue. He doesn't mention that it is the Law of the land (i.e. the constitution) protects the "privacy" of the every individual's decision concerning when life begins, and as a legislator, and a publically elected official, it is his proper duty to uphold the Law and protect the individual Rights of his constituents.
He avoids it because it is a contentious issue that is not well understood.
But here is where he should have scolded Edward Cardinal Eagan for over-reaching his authority into the sphere of law.
While at the same time, as a member of the Roman Catholic church Biden should have acknowledged that inside the ethical community of the Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal Eagan's authority applies.
And this is exactly where the last line of the Biden's quote above is applicable.
what we are concentrating on is reducing the ammount of abortions that take place by providing the care, the assistance, and the encouragement for people to carry to term and to raise their children.
What is Biden's responsibility to his ethical community? He needs to personally encourage everyone he can to move towards life.
However, the church is over-reaching its bounds if it claims that Biden's role is to take a women's right to make decisions concerning thier body away.
If Biden's grand daughter violates the principles of the church, will she be arrested? No. An Ethical community is a shared ethic, not law.
So the middle ground in the abortion debate is to embrace the role of ethical communities while at the same time reminding these communities not to encroach the sphere of Law.
The recent rebukes of the Arch Bishop of New York, and other prominent bishops reveal that the Catholic Church still does not understand its proper role in modern civil society.