Tuesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children

Lectionary: 312

We earnestly desire each of you to demonstrate the same eagerness
for the fulfillment of hope until the end,
so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who,
through faith and patience, are inheriting the promises.

Recently, Time Magazine reported that the pro-abortion movement has not done well since its signal victory on this day, forty years ago. Although Roe v Wade has not been overturned and probably will not be in the near future, Americans have demonstrated distaste for the whole business. They don’t want the federal government to pay for abortions; they don’t want abortion clinics in their neighborhoods; they don’t believe abortion should be provided to just anyone at anytime.

No one wants abortion. Little girls don’t dream of the day when they might have their first abortions. Sexually active women, married and unmarried, regardless of their politics, don't look forward to having one. They see it as a necessary evil. We don't. 

When the economy is good, abortions decline. When people feel desperate about their financial future, abortions increase. Predictably, they occur more often among the poor. 

Not many medical people choose that narrow specialty to practice their people-oriented profession. Everyone has seen the images and pictures of unborn babies; many have heard their heartbeats and felt their kicks; we know they’re our children. 

Time Magazine reports that the pro-life movement – they do not call it “anti-abortion” – has learned to manage public opinion and the legislative process, to appeal to parental instincts, and the taxpayer’s reluctance. They are slowly strangling the abortion industry. It is far from dead but it is not thriving. Time Magazine wonders if we will see a resurgence of the movement soon, especially as Obamacare offers to pay for abortions. 

Abortion is deeply rooted in our culture. We have peculiar notions of freedom, especially individual liberties; and we sincerely believe that a consumer should be able to buy whatever she wants, regardless of its moral or social costs. We have deep sympathies for the integrity of the human body as the seat of one’s identity. No one wants to be owned or occupied by another human being unless she has freely chosen to do so. 

We also have a deep investment in sexual freedom. Abortion is rooted not only in consumerism but also in the so-called right to enjoy sexual activity. If I am my body and my body is mine, then I can do with it as I please, giving myself sexually to whomever I choose. That freedom of sexual expression is tangled with the right to privacy, a peculiar invention of the late 20th century which is found in neither the American Constitution nor the Bible. 

Forty years after Roe v Wade I wonder how many millions of today’s adults heard as children, “I should have aborted you!” Children have an instinct for discovering the emotional and moral limits of their parents. Even their small size invites violence upon themselves. And it is there in abundance. How many children live under the threat of violence? 

During the last thirty years children have learned of a bizarre ritual in which a parent kills his children, his spouse and himself. They are familiar with human sacrifice and they wonder who will be the next victims. How does a devoted parent assure a child that will never happen in their home, especially if she has been driven to distraction by her foolish children? 

Our bishops have pleaded with the American people to abjure the culture of death. Suicide, murder, abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, drone strikes of enemy soldiers: they do not protect us. They only make matters worse. 

Only God offers us the true freedom of living in this world, free to love, laugh, grieve, give and receive with the Holy Spirit as our daily guide. It’s not nearly as difficult as pro-abortionists might think.