Cardinal bernardin seamless garment

Ideology opposing abortion, capital punishment, assisted suicide, euthanasia, and some or all wars

The consistent life ethic (CLE), also known as the consistent ethic of life or whole life ethic, is an ideology that opposes abortion, capital punishment, assisted suicide, and euthanasia.

Adherents oppose war, or at the very least unjust war; some adherents go as far as full pacifism and so oppose all war.^[1] Many authors have understood the ethic to be relevant to a broad variety of areas of public policy as well as social justice issues.^[2] The term was popularized in 1983 by the Catholic prelate Joseph Bernardin in the United States to express an ideology based on the premise that all human life is sacred and should be protected by law.^[3] While there are many adherents, CLE is not exclusively but primarily a Catholic doctrine and/or associated with the Catholic Church.^[4]

History

The phrase "consistent