Catholic Medical Quarterly Volume 75(2) May 2025
Editorials
Dr Pravin Thevathasan
JD Vance on free speech in Europe
Was
JD Vance right to criticise Europe for its increasing disregard for the
right to free speech (15 February, 2025, BBC News)? The pro-life activist
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was targeted again by police for her presence near
an abortion facility. Her presence was considered "harassment, alarm, and
distress" as she was within a buffer zone around an abortion facility. It
would appear that Isabel Vaughan-Spruce had not been denied her right of
free speech as she was not saying anything. Instead, she has been accused
of thought crimes.
Perhaps, JD Vance did not go far enough.
The Ordo Amoris
This has been in the news, thanks to US Vice-President Vance. In my opinion, Vance has got it right. The Catholic Church has always taught that while we are called to love all people including our enemies, there is a hierarchy of responsibilities: married persons are called to love their families, their neighbour, their country, and the world. In that order. It was Charles Dickens who caricatured a person who was doing great work in foreign lands while neglecting her own family. Let us suppose that a person were to put his life in danger by rushing into a building on fire. He sees many unconscious people inside, and one of them is his own son. But his son, although alive, is badly injured and he can only be dragged out on his own. The others can be dragged out in twos. Would he be doing anything wrong by rescuing his son first? Does he not have certain obligations to do so?
In her still helpful book Life and Death in Healthcare Ethics, Dr Helen Watt notes that in consequentialism, it is not permitted to refrain from doing what will maximise good: the difference between what is praiseworthy and what is morally required has no place in this approach.