Ultimately, Roe has to end in the way that Alito envisions, i.e., a return to the states. The Supreme Court had and has no business dictating abortion policy for a country of 300 million. Its pretensions of having such power were anti-democratic, unconstitutional and ahistorical. It will be fascinating to see how the Church reacts to the post-Roe landscape. Sadly, in much of the country, Catholic priests and bishops have been reluctant to condemn abortion, and the result has been widespread ignorance of Catholic teaching on the issue, particularly among the young. I was discussing the issue with a young family member on the way to school this morning, and she told me that most of her Catholic school classmates were "pro choice" and some of them would be genuinely surprised to hear that the Catholic Church opposes abortion as no teacher has ever mentioned the issue and the kids get their opinions from TikTok.
Pope Francis has compared abortion to "hiring a hit man for every unborn baby". That's a strong condemnation of the evil of abortion. Look to the Pope on this one.
Definitely not a good message! There are many things that I don't agree with Pope Francis on. However, I thought that comparing abortion to murder by a hit man was a good analogy.
The horror of all this is the lack of support for women and children in poverty. In addition to medical issues abortions are often because of lack of resources by often single mothers. Any woman with resources will simply go to where abortions are legal. A woman without resources will often resort to dangerous procedures that can end her life. Pro-life to me means really supporting children like those at the border who are fleeing violence and starvation. Where are they in all of this. I don't see "Pro-Life" protestors with the same passion for needy children who are already in this world.
Is that the horror of all this? Or is it, for example, partial birth abortion in the late stages of pregnancy, where birth is induced, the baby's skull is crushed and then the body suctioned out and thrown in the trash.
Plenty of pro-lifers, myself included, have the same passion for needy children as we do for unborn children and reflect this in our charitable giving and activities, so please don't lecture us about the horror of all this.
You are correct that, sometimes, providing people with information about how to access existing resources does save lives. There is help in my area that people don't know about and so the chief role on the sidewalk (we have a training program for this) is actually to "make connections" and give women more options than they knew they had in terms of material assistance, medical help, counseling/shelters for those who are in abusive relationships, etc. Sometimes that is the deciding factor. We also hand out brochures to interested passersby because you do not know who else might know someone who needs clothing, diapers, food, a place to stay.
Sometimes people have made up their minds already and it's got nothing to do with money; sometimes you hear a woman (who is on her way in to a clinic) say that she does not want another child right now and that she will not consider adoption because it would be too hard emotionally to give up a child after carrying the child to term and giving birth. This is a curious tension between wanting and not wanting a child, for which I do not have a mathematical solution (such as: add resources). St. John of the Cross wrote that where there is no love, put love, and you will draw out love; I have puzzled over these words for some time: what does it look like to do that? I don't know and yet that is what is needed.
Why is unreasonable to expect women to refrain from sexual activity if they cannot bear the cost (in any form) of child birth or child rearing? If I went to Las Vegas and lost $150,000 playing blackjack, would you allow me to kill someone to cover that debt? in what other situation do we allow the irresponsible and immoral to alleviate their responsibility by killing another human being? Pro-life means not killing innocent children because they are inconvenient. Anything short of that and you are simply rationalizing murder. Period.
According to a Guttmacher Institute study that I read _on their website_ several years ago (last time I checked, I couldn't find it, but it may still be there), somewhere over 40% of abortions were performed on women who had them under duress, because of pressure from partners, family (often in-laws as I recall), employers, … . And that's what Guttmacher was willing to admit. Maybe at least some women will be protected from the horror of being forced to kill their own children.
God is the CREATOR, no human beings have right to kill an innocent baby in his/her mother's womb even the mother herself. She has no right to kill a baby in her womb. She needs to straighten up or get help. Abortion is a crime that called up the Heaven for vengeance. The USA will be burnt alive if you stupid ignorant Sadistic people keep on killing babies.
Will the comments today of "devout Catholic" Joe Biden finally spur the Gregory/Cupich/McElroy/Tobin cabal and their supporters to acknowledge--publicly!--that Joe Biden and others senior Democrat politicians are apostates? Seriously, how can any Catholic, much less our most senior prelates, maintain that these individuals are somehow still worthy to receive communion despite their enthusiastic embrace of abortion on demand? This is a horrific scandal and the silence of these prelates in the face of unambiguous statements by these politicians is an embarrassment. Sadly, I expect crickets not only from the cathedrals but, worst of all, from the Vatican. St. Joseph, Pray for Us!!
"A friend suggested that everyone who works to end legal protection for abortion might also set up a recurring online donation to a crisis pregnancy center[.]"
This is a good idea. If your parish doesn't have a "baby bottle drive" for the same, urge your pastor to have them. It will help if you have all the information ready for him. And in my experience, the crisis pregnancy center will be more than happy to help.
Ultimately, Roe has to end in the way that Alito envisions, i.e., a return to the states. The Supreme Court had and has no business dictating abortion policy for a country of 300 million. Its pretensions of having such power were anti-democratic, unconstitutional and ahistorical. It will be fascinating to see how the Church reacts to the post-Roe landscape. Sadly, in much of the country, Catholic priests and bishops have been reluctant to condemn abortion, and the result has been widespread ignorance of Catholic teaching on the issue, particularly among the young. I was discussing the issue with a young family member on the way to school this morning, and she told me that most of her Catholic school classmates were "pro choice" and some of them would be genuinely surprised to hear that the Catholic Church opposes abortion as no teacher has ever mentioned the issue and the kids get their opinions from TikTok.
Pope Francis has compared abortion to "hiring a hit man for every unborn baby". That's a strong condemnation of the evil of abortion. Look to the Pope on this one.
And yet it's all smiles and rainbows and hugs and kisses when pro-abortion extremists like Pelosi and Biden turn up at the Vatican.
Definitely not a good message! There are many things that I don't agree with Pope Francis on. However, I thought that comparing abortion to murder by a hit man was a good analogy.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day!
The horror of all this is the lack of support for women and children in poverty. In addition to medical issues abortions are often because of lack of resources by often single mothers. Any woman with resources will simply go to where abortions are legal. A woman without resources will often resort to dangerous procedures that can end her life. Pro-life to me means really supporting children like those at the border who are fleeing violence and starvation. Where are they in all of this. I don't see "Pro-Life" protestors with the same passion for needy children who are already in this world.
Is that the horror of all this? Or is it, for example, partial birth abortion in the late stages of pregnancy, where birth is induced, the baby's skull is crushed and then the body suctioned out and thrown in the trash.
Plenty of pro-lifers, myself included, have the same passion for needy children as we do for unborn children and reflect this in our charitable giving and activities, so please don't lecture us about the horror of all this.
so you're against ending abortion because of childhood poverty?
You are correct that, sometimes, providing people with information about how to access existing resources does save lives. There is help in my area that people don't know about and so the chief role on the sidewalk (we have a training program for this) is actually to "make connections" and give women more options than they knew they had in terms of material assistance, medical help, counseling/shelters for those who are in abusive relationships, etc. Sometimes that is the deciding factor. We also hand out brochures to interested passersby because you do not know who else might know someone who needs clothing, diapers, food, a place to stay.
Sometimes people have made up their minds already and it's got nothing to do with money; sometimes you hear a woman (who is on her way in to a clinic) say that she does not want another child right now and that she will not consider adoption because it would be too hard emotionally to give up a child after carrying the child to term and giving birth. This is a curious tension between wanting and not wanting a child, for which I do not have a mathematical solution (such as: add resources). St. John of the Cross wrote that where there is no love, put love, and you will draw out love; I have puzzled over these words for some time: what does it look like to do that? I don't know and yet that is what is needed.
Why is unreasonable to expect women to refrain from sexual activity if they cannot bear the cost (in any form) of child birth or child rearing? If I went to Las Vegas and lost $150,000 playing blackjack, would you allow me to kill someone to cover that debt? in what other situation do we allow the irresponsible and immoral to alleviate their responsibility by killing another human being? Pro-life means not killing innocent children because they are inconvenient. Anything short of that and you are simply rationalizing murder. Period.
According to a Guttmacher Institute study that I read _on their website_ several years ago (last time I checked, I couldn't find it, but it may still be there), somewhere over 40% of abortions were performed on women who had them under duress, because of pressure from partners, family (often in-laws as I recall), employers, … . And that's what Guttmacher was willing to admit. Maybe at least some women will be protected from the horror of being forced to kill their own children.
God is the CREATOR, no human beings have right to kill an innocent baby in his/her mother's womb even the mother herself. She has no right to kill a baby in her womb. She needs to straighten up or get help. Abortion is a crime that called up the Heaven for vengeance. The USA will be burnt alive if you stupid ignorant Sadistic people keep on killing babies.
Answers like this are counterproductive and do not reflect our need to act as Jesus did. Please comment civilly in the future.
I like to laugh and imagine, since you commented after JD, that you were replying to his reply :-) Like, dang JD, being counterproductive...
Oops!
I would offer the reminder that The Pillar's comment policy is Christian charity.
We need to pray for the FATHERS also.
Let's not all order diapers for pregnancy centers through Amazon, who is offering U.S. employees $4,000 to travel to different states for medical procedures, including abortion and transgender care. https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/amazon-will-offer-4000-per-year-to-us-employees-who-need-to-travel-to-different-states-for-medical-procedures-including-abortion/ar-AAWQ7hc
Perhaps, maybe, a bishop or the Pope could comment and reaffirm the Catholic churches standing on abortion and comment on this. Nay, probably not.
Will the comments today of "devout Catholic" Joe Biden finally spur the Gregory/Cupich/McElroy/Tobin cabal and their supporters to acknowledge--publicly!--that Joe Biden and others senior Democrat politicians are apostates? Seriously, how can any Catholic, much less our most senior prelates, maintain that these individuals are somehow still worthy to receive communion despite their enthusiastic embrace of abortion on demand? This is a horrific scandal and the silence of these prelates in the face of unambiguous statements by these politicians is an embarrassment. Sadly, I expect crickets not only from the cathedrals but, worst of all, from the Vatican. St. Joseph, Pray for Us!!
"A friend suggested that everyone who works to end legal protection for abortion might also set up a recurring online donation to a crisis pregnancy center[.]"
This is a good idea. If your parish doesn't have a "baby bottle drive" for the same, urge your pastor to have them. It will help if you have all the information ready for him. And in my experience, the crisis pregnancy center will be more than happy to help.
Deirdre McQuade was one of those people who didn’t live to see it; her funeral was today: https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/05/r-i-p-deirdre-mcquade-catholic-advocate-for-life/