Catholic Ramblings

Much of the commentary on the upcoming election focuses on the question of whether Catholics may in good conscious vote for Obama or Clinton (or as seems likely now, Obama). Pragmatically, questions of Roe surface, especially in the context of appointment of Supreme Court justices likely to overturn Roe. This question has acquired special significance in considering the ages of the justices, and the likelihood that at least two will retire during the term of the next president.

However, I would suggest that there is another problem for Catholics when considering whether they may in good conscious vote for Obama or Clinton. This involves preemption doctrine, and is derived from the supremacy clause of the Constitution, which states in relevant part that the “Constitution and the laws of the United States…shall be the supreme law of the land…anything in the constitutions or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.”

In the words of Pennsylvania v. Nelson, the question that arises when looking at Federal laws and potentially conflicting state laws is whether “they evince a congressional plan which makes it reasonable to determine that no room has been left for the States to supplement it” or in a classic phrase, the question is whether Congress has “occupied the field.”

Both Obama and Clinton have promised to make national health-care plans a cornerstone of their administration. It is not unlikely, and is indeed reasonable to assume, that contraception and abortion would both be funded in whatever health-care plan they put forward, given the support both have given to pro-choice ideologies. It is worthwhile to remember that even if Roeis overturned, that act does not make abortion illegal, but simply returns the decision to it’s pre-Roe status - that is, to the individual states to decide upon. However, if a national health care plan were to specifically provide for payment for abortion and contraception, could any individual state regulate and prevent doctors from providing either when Federal law specifically allowed for it?

-j.

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