In the Issues statement of Family Planning and Reproductive Choice, the National Association of Social Workers endorses abortion, stating:
[…]Social workers […] have a professional obligation to work […] to establish, secure funding for, and safeguard family planning and reproductive health programs, including abortion services[.]
If a social worker doesn’t want to promote, secure funding for, or “safeguard” abortion in America, NASW claims that he or she don’t have to, but such objectors must then tell clients that they offer “limited” services and then find clients someone who will offer to connect them with abortion services.
Because of the NASW’s strong, unwavering support of abortion, the Catholic University School of Social Work has severed ties with the group. Will Rainford, named dean of the National Catholic School of Social Service just this year, told students about this decision via an e-mail. In that e-mail he writes that “such a concrete and public declaration by an institution is completely incongruent with Catholic Tradition and this renders the organization out of bounds for the school as an institution.”
As a Catholic school, Catholic University should in no way be affiliated with any group who supports the killing of millions of innocent people, just because it isn’t currently against the law. NASW doesn’t just tell social workers that they must support abortion; the group works hard to support it in any way possible. According to Chronicles of Social Change, NASW members pay $190 a year, and undergrads and Master’s students pay $48 a year, in dues. NASW has spent money to co-sponsor the March for Women’s Lives, a rally in support of abortion as “reproductive freedom,” and put their support behind the abortion-expanding Reproductive Health and Privacy Protection Act in New York.
According to Social Work Helper, not all students support Rainford’s decision, and one particular student, Andy Bowen, has organized a group of social work students into action to try to get this decision reversed. The group, calling itself NCSSS, wants students and faculty to be able to vote on the issue.
Rainford, however, is completely committed to his decision. In a recent tweet, he says, “It’s amazing the way people will spin & twist your words when you make an unpopular decision. The truth will set you free!”
