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Have you ever seen a speaker weep when giving a talk on abortion? I have.
When I taught high school religion, a pro-life doctor gave a talk to my classes. As he described the tragedy of aborted babies, he wept.
Never before or since have I seen anyone weep while talking about aborted unborn babies. His tears convinced me that he truly believed that unborn babies were human persons and aborting them destroyed human life.
There were trails of tears in the hearts and eyes of committed pro-lifers when on January 22, 1973, in the Roe v. Wade decision when the Supreme Court legalized abortion. Their ruling made it legal for the mother, sometimes encouraged by the father, to abort their unborn baby
Right to life
In No. 2270, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, “From the first moment of existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person . . . among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.”
The Church’s teaching, which recognizes the individual as human from conception until death, is supported by natural law.
In 2013, Pope Francis met with over three million youth and young adults in Rio de Janeiro to celebrate the 28th World Youth Day. During his final Mass, Pope Francis requested that the parents of a baby born with anencephaly participate in the Mass.
As they presented the gifts during the Offertory, they carried with them their precious daughter, showing the world their love for the gift of her life. Although the couple had been pressured by doctors to abort their little girl before she was born, they welcomed her as a gift from God.
Rape victim has baby
Deacon Greg Kandra of the Diocese of Brooklyn encountered a young mother with similar Christ-like courage and love. After she filled out the forms to have her baby baptized, he noticed that she’d left several spaces blank. “You forgot to fill in the father’s name and religion,” he told the mother.
After a painful pause, she said quietly, “I don’t know who the father is. I was raped.” The deacon apologized and said that what she did took heroic courage.
“Well,” she replied, “It’s life. You do what you have to do.”
At the Baptism, the mother held her baby with tenderness that shouted her deep love for her baby. She welcomed and loved her child because she recognized and cherished the precious gift of human life.
Battle for life
In our culture there is often a battle between objective and subjective morality. This clash doesn’t occur on battlefields, but in legislatures, courtrooms, schools, churches, work places, neighborhoods, and consciences.
We can support life in this battle by urging elected representatives to support legislation that protects the unborn and by supporting a human life amendment.
We can tell others about ministries that work with expectant mothers considering abortion and encourage them to choose life.
We can tell women who grieve because of an abortion about Project Rachel, which helps them to heal through counseling, prayer, and Christ-like forgiveness.
We can participate in Vigil for Life or spiritually adopt unborn babies. We can encourage monuments for the unborn in parish cemeteries. The Knights of Columbus and other pro-lifers support this project.
Since the unborn can’t speak for themselves, we must defend their God-given right to be born. We can continue and even intensify our efforts to educate Catholics and others on abortion’s evils.
The battle for the rights of the unborn will be long, hard, and tearful. Let’s pray daily for the grace of perseverance to continue to choose and respect life.
Fr. Donald Lange is a pastor emeritus in the Diocese of Madison.