Abstract
The legalization of abortion in New York State has aroused opposition from certain quarters in the Roman Catholic Church, most notably the American bishops, including Terence Cardinal Cooke. Recently on Right-to-Life Sunday, Cardinal Cooke issued the following pastoral letter to be read from pulpits within the archdiocese of New York. The article below is reprinted, with permission, from the May 14, 1971, issue of Commonweal magazine, which prefaced it as follows: “Few of the many comments on the unfortunate contrast between the strong stand of American bishops on the matter of abortion and their silence on the question of Vietnam have been as striking as that of one priest of the archdiocese of New York. After reading from the pulpit Cardinal Cooke's pastoral letter marking Right-to-Life Sunday and preaching on its contents, the priest added that ‘respect for life in one direction demands respect for life in another.’ He reread the letter with only slight modifications such as those below. He made no other remarks, nor were any necessary.”
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