I was reminded recently that March 25 is the Day of the Unborn
Child.
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The Day of the Unborn Child has been officially
established in many nations, in some cases by the Church and in other cases by
the civil government. The celebration was first recognized in El Salvador in
1993 and has grown rapidly. In 2003, the first Provida International Congress
in Madrid with representation from over 20 countries in Europe and the Americas
institutionalized March 25th as International Day of Life. Since then, the day
has grown in popularity, in some places recognized as the Day of the Conceived
Child. This year, the Day of the Unborn Child is recognized in Argentina,
Guatemala, Chile, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Dominican Republic,
Uruguay, Panama, Peru, Slovakia, Cuba, Austria, Philippines, Romania and
more.
Events in 2022 will take place internationally in places
such as Sydney, Australia and Romania.
Elsewhere, the day is observed by individuals, families,
and organizations.
In the United States, there has not been any official
Church or government declarations in regard to this day. However, the pro-life
movement has begun to give attention to it. In various years, pro-life
organizations have issued joint statements and conducted joint projects in
observance of this special day, such as in 2019 when the Day of the Unborn
Child initiated a nine-month educational project about the development of
the baby in the womb.
This year, gathered at Priests for Life headquarters in
February 2022, national pro-life leaders issued a joint statement declaring
their support for celebrating the Day of the Unborn Child. You can see
resources and a special prayer at www.DayOfTheUnborn.com.
The day also marks the anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s
1995 encyclical “The Gospel of Life,” giving pro-lifers and all people of faith
an opportunity every year to read the inspiring words and renew their
commitment to finding an end to abortion. See more at www.GospelOfLife.org.
I encourage you to hold an event and/or approach your
pastors to have special events at the church.
Here are some ideas for individuals and churches to
celebrate this day:
·
Spiritually adopt an unborn child and pray for him and his
mother for nine months.
·
Organize local Marches for Life or Rosary processions to abortion
clinics or government buildings.
·
Hold a fundraiser for pro-life groups or crisis pregnancy
centers.
·
Offer a Mass, Holy Hour or a prayer vigil for life.
·
Organize a Life Chain in your town.
·
Pray outside an abortion clinic. The 40 Days for Life Campaign is
a good way to get involved this way.
·
Host a pro-life movie night.
·
Pass out pro-life literature at your church.
·
Set up a “cemetery of the innocents” somewhere in your community
to witness to all the lives lost because of abortion.
·
Follow the development of the unborn child at www.BabyChris.org
·
Organize a Church study group to read “The Gospel of Life.” The
text of the encyclical and a study guide prepared by Priests for Life, can be
found at www.GospelOfLife.org.
·
Join me on March 25th for Mass and special
broadcasts at www.EndAbortion.TV and on the
platforms linked from there!
Priests for Life
PO Box 236695
Cocoa, FL 32923
Phone: 321-500-1000
Toll Free: 888-735-3448
Email: mail@priestsforlife.org
www.EndAbortion.US
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The paradox of the
abortion debate is that both conservatives and liberals want the same thing,
fewer abortions - but differ on how they get there.
The first
state to legalize abortion had a Republic governor. His name was Ronald
Reagan.
After Roe V. Wade,
there was an INCREASE in the number of abortions for a few years, but they have
been on a steady decline for more than 40 years. The last time that the number
of abortions increased was in 2006, when a Republican was president.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_statistics_in_the_United_States
There is
nothing wrong with the solutions that Father Pavone recommend - but
they are not the best way to reduce abortions.
The surest ways to
reduce abortions are (1) comprehensive sex education in schools and (2) easy
access to contraceptives.
A few weeks ago,
I noticed a poster in a classroom that provided information on a variety of
sexual related services that were offered by Pima County.
The services available
are extensive, and include things like the morning after pill, condom supplies,
IUD’s etc.
https://webcms.pima.gov/health/preventive_health/teen_health/
These services
would be unthinkable in the more conservative states in the country, where
“just say no” is the only form of sex education that is permitted.
What I found
interesting is that fewer teens are having sexual experiences compared to
students from 30 years ago. Although slightly under 40% of today’s teens had
sex before high school graduation, that total was 55% in the 1990’s.
https://webcms.pima.gov/health/preventive_health/teen_health/
The states that
have the highest teen birth rates are all Bible Belt states, and the states
with the lowest rates are in better educated states, primarily in the
Northeast.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/teen-pregnancy-rates-by-state
The teen
pregnancy rate in the United States has been declining in the
past 20 years. In 2018, the United States teen birth rate was 17.4 births per
1,000 females between the ages 15 and 19. In 2019, it decreased to 16.9.
Despite these lower rates, the U.S. continues to have the highest
teen pregnancy rate of all developed nations.
Teen pregnancy
has substantial health, economic, and social costs. Pregnant teenagers are more
likely to experience miscarriages, maternal illness (preeclampsia,
hypertension, etc.), stillbirth, and neonatal death. Teenage mothers are also
more likely to drop out of school and never return to raise a child. Teen
mothers, therefore, often lack a high school diploma, let alone a college
degree, and will likely face unemployment and poverty. Children of teen
pregnancies are sometimes forced into foster care if the mother cannot care for
them, where teenage females are twice as likely to become pregnant, creating a
cycle.
One of the best
ways to prevent teen pregnancies is using birth control methods, such
as condoms or oral contraceptives, and providing easy access to such
things. Comprehensive sex education in and outside of schools has been
proven to be very effective, and sex education courses must be given to all
genders. Additionally, mentorship from peers or older teens tends to
be more comfortable and impactful than from parents. Some communities have set
up mentorship programs to help encourage healthy sexuality discussions among
teens.
Starting in 2010,
Colorado offered free birth control (in the form of long-acting birth control).
Over the course of 5 years, teen pregnancies declined by 40%, and abortions declined
by 42%.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/colorado-birth-control-facts/
Research suggests that “U.S states
whose residents have more conservative religious beliefs on average tend to
have higher rates of teenagers giving birth.” Of the ten most
conservatively religious states in the
United States, eight are among the states with the highest teen birth rates.
Logically, you
would think that religious states would have fewer teen pregnancies, but the
opposite is true.
The 10 states
that are the least religious have lower teen pregnancy rates than other states.
If a young girl or woman is not pregnant, she won't want (or need) an abortion.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/least-religious-states
Pro-life, of course, has different meanings.
This what sister Joan Chittester had to say:
Her comments were published in a Catholic newspaper in May of
2019.
In 1968, the Catholic church came out firmly against both
birth control and abortions. In my opinion, the Catholic church should never be
in favor of abortion, and the church will also never condone any birth control
methods other that the rhythm method.
Humane Vitae – July 25, 1968
Unlawful Birth Control Methods
14. Therefore We base Our words on the first
principles of a human and Christian doctrine of marriage when We are obliged
once more to declare that the direct interruption of the generative process
already begun and, above all, all direct abortion, even for therapeutic
reasons, are to be absolutely excluded as lawful means of regulating the number
of children. (14) Equally to be condemned, as the magisterium of the Church has
affirmed on many
https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae.html
However, here are a few harsh realities:
(1)
I’ve seen various
statements from the Guttmacher people about the religions of women getting
abortions, which claim that Catholic women get abortions more frequently than
Protestant women. Where do the Guttmacher people get their information? Do
clinics supplying abortions ask their clients what their religious beliefs are?
Are there people with clipboards asking women leaving the clinic about their
religious beliefs?
The survey, the
latest conducted by the Alan
Guttmacher Institute, was completed by more than 10,000 women.
Staffers in hospitals, clinics and physicians’ offices where abortions are
performed distributed the questionnaire. The Guttmacher Institute, which
researches sexual and reproductive health worldwide, says it used the survey
data along with data on the number of abortions performed nationally to
estimate abortion rates and the size of certain demographic groups. The institute
found that more Protestant women obtained abortions than Catholics: Forty-three
percent of women over age 17 in the 2000-2001 survey said they were Protestant,
while 27 percent said they were Catholic. But Catholics were more
likely to get an abortion: The abortion rate for Catholic women was 22 per
1,000 women; the rate for Protestants was 18 per 1,000 women, according to
study author Rachel K. Jones.
Overall, 78 percent of women said they had a
religious affiliation. (Besides those who marked that they were “Catholic” and
“Protestant,” 8 percent said they belonged to “other” religions.) And the
remaining 22 percent said they had no religious affiliation. Guttmacher also
reported that 13 percent said they were evangelical or “born-again,” and
three-fourths of those had identified themselves as Protestant. Those who said
they were Jewish were too small in number for analysis and were grouped with
the “other” category, Jones says.
The groups that were the most likely to have
an abortion were those affiliated with “other” religions or no religion at all,
with abortion rates of 31 and 30 per 1,000 women, respectively.
https://www.factcheck.org/2007/12/abortions-comparing-catholic-and-protestant-women/
(2)
In the United States 98% of sexually active women have used
birth control at some point in time, and 62% of those of reproductive age are
currently using birth control. The two most common methods are the pill
(11 million) and sterilization (10 million) Despite the
availability of highly effective contraceptives, about half of US pregnancies
are unintended. In the United States, contraceptive use saves about $19
billion in direct medical costs each year. Usage of the IUD has more than
tripled between 2002 and 2011 in the United States. In 2011, IUDs made up 10%
of all birth control methods, with women increasingly viewing the IUD as the
most convenient, safe, and effective yet reversible form of contraception.
Ever since Roe v. Wade was passed in 1973, it has been under
attack.
Texas recently passed a law banning abortion after six weeks,
which is utterly stupid because most women do not even know they are pregnant
at that point.
Currently, the Supreme Court is hearing a case in Mississippi (Dobbs
v. Jackson women’s Health Organization) that attempts to make illegal any
abortion after 15 weeks.
Governor Ducey just signed legislation in Arizona that mimics
the law that was passed in Mississippi, effectively ended abortions after 15
weeks, with no exceptions for rape or incest. If the Supreme Court rejects the
challenge to Roe v. Wade, Arizona’s law would not be valid, and neither would Mississippi’s.
In theory, that would also kill the law in Texas.
In 2020, 636 women
obtained abortions in Arizona after 15 weeks of
pregnancy, according to state Department of Health Services records. Over
12,500 women sought abortions prior to 15 weeks, the records
show.
Sine the majority of the abortions in Arizona occur before 15
weeks, you might think the law is reasonable.
It is not.
If you read Jodi Picoult’s “A Spark of Light” or Jennifer Haigh’s
“Mercy Street”, you’ll discover that there ARE situations where the 15-week limitation
is simply wrong.
It’s impossible to discuss abortion without getting tangled up n
a lot of emotional debates. If you would like to read an IMPARTIAL discussion
of the topic, you need to read Katie Watson’s book, “Scarlet A”.
The Warren Court was the period in the history of the Supreme Court of the United States during which Earl Warren served as Chief Justice. Warren replaced the deceased Fred M. Vinson as Chief Justice in 1953,
and Warren remained in office until he retired in 1969. Warren was succeeded as Chief Justice by Warren Burger.
During this time period, the
Supreme Court became more liberal.
Brown v. The Board of Education
in 1954 was one of the first examples of that new approach.
In 1957, “Loving v. Virginia”,
inter-racial marriage was made legal. The underlying logic of that case (as
well as in Roe v. Wade) is that the government had no business interfering in
people’ private lives.
The 1964 Civil Rights Act, and the 1965 Voting Rights Bill,
also benefited from a more liberal viewpoint.
In 1965, the Supreme Court made it legal for married women to get birth control.
After Warren retired, the Supreme Court got more
conservatives.
In the 1980’s “Bowers v. Hardwick” case, the Supreme Court
failed to repeal sodomy laws, which still exist today in 15 states. So much for
the idea that government should not be involved in people’s personal lives.
However, the 2015 case of Obergefell v Hodges ended sodomy laws
throughout the country.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_legislation_in_the_United_States
Ever since 1973, I was firmly opposed to abortion, but when one
of our daughter’s high school friends got pregnant was 19, I got roped into
taking her to a clinic for her “procedure”. At some point after that, I came to
recognize that there was a better way to prevent abortions, and it wasn’t
simply firm opposition. Ironically, the best way to reduce abortions is to INCREASE
funding for Planned Parenthood. Since Planned Parenthood prevents far more abortions
than they provide (due to the fact that they provided family planning and contraceptives)
funding of the organization would be far more effective than the suggestions of
Father Pavone.
That’s precisely why Mackenzie Scott just gave them $275
million.
https://www.npr.org/2022/03/23/1088390733/mackenzie-scott-donation-planned-parenthood
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