Pro-Life and Proud

JMJ. Too much of a liberal bent has been printed in the media concerning the pro-life movement--most of it distorted or just plain false. I'd like to take a few moments to clear up some of these points. They deserve clearing up because, regardless of which side of the aisle one sits on, God is pro-life. The question is whether we agree with God or oppose Him.

Pro-choice (or pro-abortion) is the direct antithesis of being pro-life. But life involves more than just the unborn. It embraces the entire spectrum of our existence from conception to a natural death. So often the liberals accuse us in the pro-life movement of protecting the unborn but not the innocent children in war-torn areas who are killed by bombs and such-like. Nothing could be further from the truth. I know of none who support the former who do not advocate protection for all of God's children regardless of where they might be!

Another unfounded accusation slung at us who are pro-life is that we should be anti-death penalty, too. The answer to this is "yes and no." The Catholic Church teaches that capital punishment is acceptable in certain circumstances. The crux here is that the condemned is presumed to be guilty. The unborn child, of course, is always innocent regardless of how he is conceived whether lovingly or as the result of indifference, rape, or incest. The late Holy Father, Pope John Paul II declared that the use of capital punishment should be seldom due to advances in the incarceration of the guilty and the ever-present possiblity that one was convicted unjustly. Most of us who consider ourselves pro-life are also in favour of abolishing the death penalty.

Why is all this important? As I said recently to one who argued in favour of abortion, if we allow the murder of the unborn for our convenience, where will the murder stop? It is but a small step to the murder of young children, unwanted or disabled. How about the mentally-ill or the terminally-ill? Are they fair game? And the elderly? If one has out-lived one's up-keep should we be put out of someone else's misery? At what point will the murder stop? For whom will it stop or not stop? Why not just agree with God and let all live until He calls them home?