When we see a large corporation in the news for supporting Planned Parenthood, it makes you wonder: if I purchase from such a company, am I supporting Planned Parenthood too? The question we should be asking ourselves is, “What is my intention in purchasing goods from this company?” Am I purchasing from this company because I want to support Planned Parenthood? If the answer is yes, then this is morally wrong (this is a grave mortal sin) and we call this formal cooperation. Formal cooperation is fully using your will to cooperate with evil. Formal cooperation is never licit. We do need to clarify that certain actions are intrinsically immoral. For example, regardless of your intention, it is always wrong to abort a child, commit adultery, steal, or lie. There is a built-in intentionality in these actions that renders them wrong in and of themselves (St. John Paul II, Encyclical Veritatis Splendor #80).
If you have no intention of supporting abortion, then this would be an example of material cooperation. There are two types of material cooperation: immediate and mediate. Immediate material cooperation is if you are not intending to do evil, but you are so closely involved in the evil act that you cannot really separate your action from the evil action in a meaningful way. Mediate material cooperation can be proximate or remote: proximate is where you are closer to the evil act, remote is where your action is further removed from the evil act. The important thing to understand is that those engaged in material cooperation are not choosing evil.
For example, I do not intend to support companies that also support abortion and Planned Parenthood, but I also need food so I shop at companies that support abortion. Or I need a phone to communicate, so we support a company that does less than praiseworthy things. If we take the approach that we can’t purchase or associate ourselves with these companies, then it becomes much more difficult to eat, clothe ourselves, or even put gas in our cars!
To sum it up, because shopping at such a company is remote, material cooperation in evil and because my intention is not to support abortion but to provide for my family, my action of shopping from these companies is morally licit. I shop at such places because it is best for my family. That is not to say that we don’t support local businesses, Catholic sellers, our Church, and other Catholic organizations, because we do.
Deciding which businesses to support or not to support takes prayer and discernment. However, if remotely cooperating with a particular company goes against your conscience, you must follow your conscience (CCC 1782).
