Friday, January 27, 2012

Somebody Your Own Size: Why the Abortion Issue Matters

There are so many people who do not seem to consider the Presidential candidates' stand on the abortion issue as important.  I know that people warn against voting solely on the basis of one issue.  Even people who consider themselves pro-life seem to give the abortion issue a back seat to the economy & to foreign policy or allow themselves to be deceived by smooth rhetoric and empty promises.  Of course, the economy is important, especially when so many Americans are out of work & some have even lost their homes to foreclosure due to joy layoffs & the difficulty of finding another job.  Of course, foreign policy is important because we need to be protected from the threat of terrorism, have a leader who knows how to deal with this threat & with our relationships with the rest of the world & we hope that we will be able to live in peace, security & freedom.  But the number of unborn babies who have already lost their lives to abortion & the ongoing acceptance, enabling & even promotion of abortion in our country is no small matter.  As a nation we have been guilty of a terrible sin, & our attitude toward abortion & to the larger issues of the sanctity of human life in general (e.g. the unborn, children with special needs, the elderly, people with disabilities, people who are seriously ill, conscience rights) says a lot about who we are as a people.  It has been pointed out that the greatness and the morality of a nation is best judged by how we treat those who are most vulnerable, and I believe that this is true.  We need to respect and value the lives of all people, but especially those who are most vulnerable.  I believe that this is very much a part of what it means to be Christian, to be Catholic, and to be American, and our respect for the life and the freedom of others is an essential part of the founding principles of America.  


I'm in my late 50's now, and that means I grew up in the late 1950's, the 1960's and the early 1970's.  My "baby boomer" generation is probably the first to grow up watching television.  One scene that seemed to recur in children's programs and cartoons was the scene in which a bigger kid was starting to pick on a little kid.  An even bigger kid would then come along, stare at the bully and bark, "Why don't you pick on somebody your own size!" and the bully would run away.  This was very much what the America I grew up with was all about.  For better or worse, America was a country where the "little kids" who were being bullied could find a safe haven, where our soldiers rushed to the aid the little countries that were being bullied by the Nazis and the communists, and where the lives of the most vulnerable were protected.  Well, for many years now the lives of the most vulnerable in America have become "at risk".  Unborn babies who are "inconvenient" or who have disabilities, risks and health concerns are considered disposable at the will of their mothers (often due to pressure from others and desperation) and are discarded and even used for experimentation!  Where is the conscience of America?  Should not Americans once again be concerned for the lives of the most vulnerable?  And who is more vulnerable than an innocent, helpless unborn baby? I think it is time for Americans to stand up to the abortionists and to those who enable and promote abortion and demand, "WHY DON'T YOU PICK ON SOMEBODY YOUR OWN SIZE!!"  

5 comments:

  1. Great post, congratulations on the blog! It looks great. I have had that same thought about bullying before too. We are supposed to care for helpless, not treat them like criminals. So sad. God have mercy.

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  2. Thanks, Stacy. I noticed that I can list other blogs that I recommend. If it's OK, and if I can figure out how to do it, I'd like to recommend your Accepting Abundance blog. Please confirm how it is supposed to be listed.

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  3. Good post! Being 64, I remember those times, too, and after watching the clip from The View, where Barbara Walters was bemoaning the TX ruling for women to have a ultrasound before the abortion, that goes double to her, about picking on someone your own size. It is beyond me how a person, like her, can talk about heartbeat, and forcing women to look and see, when she has made a hard decision about this child "she does not want", can not realize that it is murder she is saying is okay....

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  4. Thanks,Judy!! I'm glad you remember the days of "Why don't you pick on somebody your own size"! So many of the people who call themselves "pro choice" focus only the plight of the woman but forget that this is a BABY, a HUMAN LIFE, and they also don't think of the reprecussions of abortion that post-abortive women may very well suffer, even if they don't have a religious background. That is why I am glad that there are a lot of Catholics and other Christians who work to help women in crisis pregnancies to choose life. We can't merely say "don't abort" or vote and lobby against abortion--as urgent and important as these things are--we need to show that we are the ones with the true compassion--not the "misguided compassion" of those who are pro-choice--by providing them with spiritual, psychological, physical and material help. That is why one of my favorite charities is GOOD COUNSEL HOMES, and I'm thinking of joining a friend who volunteers at BRIDGE TO LIFE. The "heartbreak" of seeing on an ultrasound that this is indeed a living, moving, thumb-sucking baby can lead to a more important "change of heart" from a decision to abort to a decision to choose life, thus saving the life of the baby and saving the soul from the "heartbreak" of the reprecussions of abortion.

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  5. Thank God for Texas!

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