Colorado’s Abortion Defeat and the Crisis of Natural Law
The Catholic News Agency portal reports on three recent developments in the United States’ abortion landscape: Colorado’s $5.4 million penalty for banning abortion pill reversal, South Dakota’s legal battle with a chemical abortion promoter, and Wyoming’s Supreme Court striking down a state abortion ban. These events reveal a systemic rejection of divine law in favor of what Pius XI condemned as “the cult of man” (Encyclical Quas Primas, §18).
Judicial Usurpation of Divine Law
The Wyoming Supreme Court’s declaration that abortion constitutes “a fundamental right” represents a direct assault on the natural law. The court’s majority opinion claims that “a woman has a fundamental right to make her own health care decisions, including the decision to have an abortion.” This false autonomy principle contradicts the Church’s immutable teaching that “the civil power…has not the right to sanction anything opposed to the natural or divine law” (Pius IX, Syllabus of Errors, §55).
Justice Kari Jo Gray’s dissent inadvertently exposes the theological bankruptcy of “exceptions-based” abortion regulations. Her argument that the ban allowed abortions to “save the mother’s life” ignores the Church’s absolute prohibition: “Never and in no case has the Church taught that the life of the child must be preferred to that of the mother… It is not for any human reason… that the life of an innocent can be taken” (Holy Office Decree, 1884). The very attempt to regulate abortion through secular exceptions constitutes what Leo XIII called “shameful equally and to be condemned, whether it be practiced by the people or their rulers” (Encyclical Inscrutabili, §13).
Colorado’s Anti-Life Overreach
The $5.4 million penalty against Colorado demonstrates the inherent totalitarianism of the abortion regime. The state’s attempt to ban progesterone treatments—which reverse chemical abortions—constitutes medical coercion condemned by Pius XII: “The patient…has the right to freedom in the choice of the doctor… No human law can deprive the individual of his natural personal right” (Address to Medical Congress, 1944).
Bella Health and Wellness’ victory reveals the paradox of appealing to religious freedom to defend natural law. While the court protected the clinic’s right to administer progesterone, it implicitly endorsed the broader abortion license by treating abortion reversal as a religious rather than scientific imperative. This reduces the defense of life to a sectarian concern rather than universal truth, echoing the Modernist error that “dogmas are not immutable but changeable” (Pius X, Lamentabili Sane, §22).
The Anti-Life Agenda’s Legal Contradictions
Mayday Health’s lawsuit against South Dakota exposes the logical inconsistency of abortion absolutism. The organization claims First Amendment protection for advertising illegal chemical abortions while simultaneously instructing women “to not seek medical care” after taking the pills. This deadly combination of free speech absolutism and medical negligence demonstrates what Pius XI identified as the modern state’s “false principles of liberalism” (Encyclical Divini Redemptoris, §34).
The group’s assertion that “pro-abortion pill speech is protected by the First Amendment” ignores Catholicism’s doctrinal condemnation of false “rights”: “Liberty of thinking, and of publishing, whatsoever each one likes, such as is underhand excitements… are no true rights” (Gregory XVI, Encyclical Mirari Vos, §14). Mayday’s vow to “continue [its] mission” of chemical abortion promotion fulfills Pius XI’s prophecy that society “will become a vile machine… which leaves nothing sacred” (Encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, §136).
Conclusion: The Kingship of Christ as Sole Remedy
These legal battles demonstrate the futility of seeking justice from civil authorities who reject divine sovereignty. As Pius XI taught in Quas Primas, “Nations will be reminded by the annual celebration of this feast that not only private individuals but also rulers and princes are bound to give public honor and obedience to Christ” (§32). Until civil laws acknowledge Christ’s reign, no court decision—whether favorable or hostile to life—can establish true justice. The only solution remains the Church’s perennial demand: “Public homage must be paid to Christ the King by the State as well as by the Church” (Pius XI, Quas Primas, §35).
Source:
Colorado to pay out $5.4 million after court strikes down abortion pill reversal ban (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 09.01.2026