Nikki Haley --- "and then there was one"

www.npr.org/2024/03/06/1228580178/nikki-haley-drops-out-presidential-campaign-trump-biden

I only file this under "Catholic News" because the beginning of human life that merits protection, is ultimately a Catholic issue.  Much, possibly most, of the rest of the world has a "blind spot" about the humanity of the newly-fertilized ovum (for one thing, that would rule out contraceptives that are at least potentially abortifacients, and couples would then be left only with condoms, the disgusting practice of coitus interruptus which is very ineffective to boot, and NFP, which requires often considerable sacrifice and ultimately openness to life if Our Lord should will a conception in spite of a couple's wishes and best efforts), and the moral non-liciety of producing life outside of nature and of the womb, and truth be told, at that point it becomes much more a theological issue than anything else.  I don't see us ever being able to outlaw abortion from the moment of conception, unless the US electorate would convert en masse to orthodox Catholicism, or at least those Christian bodies who also believe that human life begins at conception, and is worthy of legal protection as robust as you would give to children already born.  X-number of weeks' cutoffs may be the best we can do until then.  Better to save some than none.

Haley lost me the other morning when she came out firmly in favor of IVF on Meet The Press.  She and her husband conceived their children using IVF.   Look, I get it, people want a child but can't make it happen in the natural way.  For some time I was concerned myself, that my wife and I might not be able to conceive naturally, and we had at least one miscarriage (probably more than that).  I also had a health scare a couple of decades back, and thought I might have testicular cancer and might not be able to father children after the surgery.  (As it turned out, the lump was just a hydrocele that disappeared naturally.)  I stayed up all night agonizing, studying Jone (yes, Jone), trying to see if there would be any morally licit way for me to have my gametes stored before my manhood was excised (as Celine Dion and René Angélil did), to be able to father a child via IVF or artificial insemination, but there is not.  I stared into the abyss and found only the Divine Will.  Sobering.  (Les Angélil, both Catholics, followed the world rather than the Church.  Sad.)

One of the beautiful aspects of our Catholic Faith is that you can want, want, want, but at the end of the day, all of the "want" in the world cannot trump (no pun intended) unchangeable moral laws.  The world always seeks a way to get what it wants.  The hard truth is, if a couple cannot conceive naturally, they will not be able to have children unless they adopt, and there is a crying need for children who don't meet demographic standards of idealness to be adopted.  For couples in that situation, God's Will is looking them right in the eye.  Only the Catholic Faith provides sure guidance to moral dilemmas in every situation.  Everything else falls short.  (I once took it on the ear, on another forum, for saying that non-Catholics make imperfect moral decisions, but they do.  I don't mean they're not good people, or that they don't do the best they can with what they have, but they don't have the complete package.  If you think there are only nine commandments, not ten --- pick any one --- sooner or later you're going to make a bad moral decision, out of sheer ignorance if nothing else.)

I can think of many, many other people I'd like to see be elected President than Donald Trump --- I generally like his policies, but his lack of erudition and simple-minded personality and mode of expression is appalling to me (he's very intelligent in terms of business savvy and ability to sway the masses) --- but it looks like he's the best we've got.  Sad but true.  With considerable reluctance, I'll be voting for him in November.