A Seamless Garment for the Right?

In 1983, Cardinal Joseph Bernadin proposed the image of a seamless garment for a Catholic approach to what has been termed “the life issues.” In a widely quoted sentence, Bernadin argued that “the spectrum of life cuts across the issues of genetics, abortion, capital punishment, modern warfare and the care of the terminally ill.” While the original speech was nuanced, the seamless garment now symbolizes equating the fight against abortion, an intrinsic evil, with other moral issues that are not as cut and dry.