There's a difference in policy debates as well

If Dems were pushing to replace the death penalty to life without parole in a manner that could be stomached by those concerned with heinous criminals walking the streets again, I think Catholics in good conscience would have to take those proposals seriously. Alas, I'm not aware of that being a significant part of any current policy debate.

Catholics should rejoice when there are fewer babies aborted however that occurs whether its through education, crisis pregancy centers, policies that support mothers facing violence, etc. The same can be true for the death penalty, which has been relegated to an extremely unlikely to be used tool. Catholics should also be worried about policy blow back. If they were able to successfully get rid of legal abortion or death penalty in all circumstances, isn't it quite possible that the rope gets pulled back too strongly in the other policy direction? That should be considered.