Being "Pro-Life" Towards Quality of Life

Being "pro-life" in the Catholic understanding does not stop after birth. Of course, allowing innocent children to be born is most definitely classified under the pro-life banner, but respecting the sanctity of life continues until natural death. Unfortunately, in today's society, quality of life, or ensuring that a child's life is respected after birth, is considered less important than the quantity of life, or the number of children that are born at all. The Church recognizes that protecting peoples' quality of life is just as integral to giving God glory as protecting their right to life. For this reason, the Church endorses welfare for the poor. This teaching is inscribed in Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum, where he states that:

“[W]hen there is question of defending the rights of individuals, the poor and badly off have a claim to especial consideration. The richer class have many ways of shielding themselves, and stand less in need of help from the State; whereas the mass of the poor have no resources of their own to fall back upon, and must chiefly depend upon the assistance of the State. And it is for this reason that wage-earners, since they mostly belong in the mass of the needy, should be specially cared for and protected by the government."

In addition to endorsing welfare for the less fortunate, the Catholic church also expresses support for workers' rights. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops website affirms that:

"The economy must serve the people, not the other way around. Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of the continuing participation in God's creation. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers must be respected-- the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to the organization and joining of unions, to private property, and to economic initiative."

Above all, in the realm of governmental participation and human dignity, the Church recognizes that humans are communal beings; we constantly influence and rely upon each other for assistance. The common good is the most important goal towards which one can strive.