Culture of Life - United States Politics

United States Politics

Following the promulgation of the Pope's encyclical, advocates of a culture of life founded Culture of Life Foundation and Institute in the United States to promote the concepts behind the Evangelium Vitae. Pope John Paul II recognized and blessed the foundation in 1997.

The "culture of life" entered the mainstream of United States politics on 3 October 2000, during the U.S. presidential election campaign. Texas Governor George W. Bush cited the term during a televised debate against Vice President Al Gore; Bush expressed concerns that Mifepristone, then newly approved as an abortifacient pill, would cause more women to abort their pregnancies, whereas his goal was to make abortions more rare and to "promote a culture of life." Bush said:

Surely this nation can come together to promote the value of life. Surely we can fight off these laws that will encourage doctors or allow doctors to take the lives of our seniors. Sure, we can work together to create a culture of life so some of these youngsters who feel like they can take a neighbor's life with a gun will understand that that's not the way America is meant to be.

As the media then noted, Governor Bush directly borrowed this language from Pope John Paul II. They saw his invocation of the phrase as an attempt to gain support of "moderate" Catholics who dislike abortion, while not coming out so strongly against the practice that it would alienate voters. Some Catholics, however, criticized Bush for apparent inconsistency between his support of a "culture of life" and his strong support for the death penalty, which Catholic social doctrine does not forbid categorically. As Governor of Texas, Bush repeatedly authorized executions of convicted murderers. He returned to the same theme on a number of other occasions during his campaign, stating, "I think the next president must talk about a culture of life."

George W. Bush narrowly won that election for President of the United States and took office on 20 January 2001. During his eight-year Presidency, politicians repeatedly invoked the "culture of life." Notable instances included:

• The summer of 2001, when a political controversy occurred over the position of the federal government on stem cell research, and President Bush faced accusations of backtracking on his earlier "culture of life" rhetoric;
• March 2003, when the United States Congress passed a bill prohibiting partial-birth abortion, which proponents cited as advancing the "culture of life";
• The Unborn Victims of Violence Act in April 2004, which defined a violent attack on a pregnant women as two distinct crimes: one against the woman, and the other against her fetus. Politicians promoted this act as improving the rights of the "unborn", hence advancing the culture of life;
• The US presidential election, 2004, when the Republican Party incorporated the phrase into its official platform, referring to the opposition of the Party against abortion, stem cell research involving the destruction of human embryos, and euthanasia.
• The Terri Schiavo controversy of March 2005, when the phrase was used in support of legislative and legal efforts to prolong the life of a brain-damaged woman in an alleged persistent vegetative state.