“My body, my choice” is a Christian principle, according to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.
The New York Democrat spoke against abortion bans at the Georgia Capitol on Thursday, saying that anti-abortion legislation, including laws just passed in Georgia and Alabama, is not only a violation of the separation of church and state, it’s also un-Christian.
“If you are a person of the Christian faith, one of the tenets of our faith is free will,” Gillibrand said. “One of the tenets of our democracy is that we have a separation of church and state, and under no circumstances are we supposed to be imposing our faith on other people. And I think this is an example of that effort.”
The presidential candidate is trying to keep her longshot campaign going by positioning herself as a champion of women’s “reproductive rights.” First, she promised to nominate pro-Roe v. Wade judges to the Supreme Court. Now, she’s pulling the religion card on her pro-abortion platform.
Gillibrand, a Catholic, used faith to justify her political platform, which is odd considering in the same breath, she invoked separation of church and state. She was wrong on both points.
First of all, “free will” isn’t understood by any Christian denomination as a sort of excuse — a laissez-faire in the face of grave moral evil. Free will is merely a means to an end — the ability to choose right and wrong. Her invocation of “free will” here as some sort of moral principle is a pure non sequitur.
Secondly, a person’s views on abortion don’t have to come from a purely religious motivation. Hippocrates, centuries before Christ, included in his oath a prohibition on doctors performing or participating in abortions. Today, scientific data increasingly establishes the humanity of the fetus, and plenty of nonreligious people are pro-life. The debate isn’t about “keeping your rosaries off my ovaries,” as the pro-abortion slogan goes. It’s about protecting a developing human being — a scientifically defensible claim.
“My body, my choice” is not a Christian doctrine, but it is a politically expedient one. If she wants to avoid hypocrisy, though, Gillibrand should probably keep her religious justifications out of her political policy, applying the same distinction she demands of Georgia lawmakers.
