Beatus Vir

For Pro-Lifers, A New Day By John Jay Hughes

The above article appeared last week over at First Things. I think this quote sums it up:

"Beyond replacing political naivete with political savvy, the task before pro-life people now is to concentrate on the only task that will bring success in the fight for life: changing hearts and minds."

John Jay Hughes makes many cogent points in this aricle. Yet I cannot help but think that, as a whole, it is just more "quitter talk." New day, maybe, but same old sh...tuff.

It is certainly true that the illegalization of abortion will not bring an end to all abortions. Forty years ago my mother struggled with the idea of "terminating" her unwanted pregnancy, facing pressure by "sympathetic" friends and loved ones, and the encourage by her pastor in the American Lutheran Church (now ELCA) who stated that the Lutheran Church is not opposed to abortion. Those who do the math will note that this took place before the legalization of abortion in America. She could, indeed, have gotten an abortion, but only illegally.

She kept her baby, largely due to being won over "in heart and mind" by the display of fetal development at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, which convinced her that her "fetus" was a "baby", but also because, in America, abortion was illegal.

I was that baby who was allowed to live. And I can tell you with no equivocation, I am thankful that the law was on my side.

Pop quiz:
An murderer hold a gun to the head of your three year old daughter, and you possessed the strength and occasion to either subdue the man or wisk your daughter to safety, would you A) do so or B) try to "win" the man's "heart and mind" though persuasive argumentation?

As the father of eight children, I can tell you that I would take away the gun, and I would care little or nothing at all whether the gunman agreed with my reasons for doing so.

Such an argument may seem simplistic. But don't confuse simplistic with simple. The simple truth is that if we want to save the unborn, we have to make abortion unlawful. We have to take away the abortionist's weapon, legalized abortion.

When I consider arguments as those referenced above, as well as those of many of my fellow Catholics, I frankly see nothing other than a flimsy attempt to justify the support of a political leader who views and activism for abortion-rights could morally justify his being imprisoned for the rest of his natural life for crimes against humanity rather than spending the next 4 years in the While House. (And make no mistake, abortion is a crime against humanity.)

I do understand the frustration of Catholics. The Republican Party does little more than talk a good talk, against abortion while shifting the blame to the lack of pro-life judges. Out of the other side of their mouth they claim they do not want judges "who legislate from the bench." If this isn't political double-speak, I don't know what is.

What Catholics and other pro-life Americans don't realize is that they have the muscle to bring about a difference. If each pro-life American only supports pro-life candidates, I assure you that the Democratic party would have to re-evaluate it's advocacy of legal abortion, as they had to re-evaluate their advocacy of slavery more than a century ago. Republican lawmakers will see that we are going to hold them accountable. Imagine all the major political parties standing up for the fundamental civil rights of the unborn. It's easy if you try.

Yet, while the illegalization of abortion be set on the proverbial back burner "until we win hearts and minds." We do need to win hearts and minds as well. And we need to stand by the promise made by bishops, and organizations like the Gabriel Project to support pregnant women so that they need not abort their babies. But that is not enough. As Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia and Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., said,

"Providing support for pregnant women so they choose to have their babies is a necessary but not sufficient response to abortion. Similarly, reversal of Roe is a necessary but not sufficient condition for restoring an order of justice in our society's treatment of defenseless human life."

In short, if we truly want a "new day," A day that sees the end of abortion, our goals must be to make abortion unnecessary, unthinkable, and unlawful. But we must end the "quitter talk" of yesterday. American Catholics, together with all other pro-life Americans, do have the strength and occasion to end abortion. The question is, "Will we ever use it?"

Posted by Dan Woodring at 2:21 PM |  

Labels: Abortion