I thought maybe I’d get by this election season without posting something political on here, but alas, here I am and I can’t keep my mouth shut.

One of the biggest issues during this election in my mind is our freedom of religion. Recently, I shared an article from Little Catholic Bubble that sparked some good discussions. Click here to read the whole article.

My favorite lines:

“I am sick of being told that the right to shred and dismember my own offspring is important — no essential — to me as a woman… How dare Obama keep up the sick line that I can only have a “fair shot” as a woman if I am chemically sterilized, surgically neutered, or the contents of my uterus aborted. What kind of anti-female garbage is that?”

Of course, this stirred up a lot of feelings among my friends (as it should!), and a few different opinions were expressed.

I’ve talked about the issue of the HHS mandate that under Obamacare, employers must provide insurance that covers artificial contraception, abortion inducing drugs, and sterilization, which are things I and many others conscientiously object. I wrote about it earlier this year here and here.

The Myth of “The Pill”

Let’s talk about artificial contraception, specifically, oral contraceptives or “The Pill.” So you believe that life starts at conception right? That’s awesome! But you have no qualms with the pill because after all, not everybody wants or can afford to have children all the time, and that’s your only option, plus they are perfectly safe, right? Read on.

Lots and LOTS of Catholics are or have used this form of birth control because we’ve been told that it prevents us from ovulating, so no harm done to a potential fetus because one can’t exist without an egg, right? WRONG! The main purpose* of “the Pill” is to thin out the lining of the uterus each month (making for lighter periods) but also making a totally inhospitable environment for a fertilized egg. YES, a fertilized egg, A.K.A. a tiny human being. So that means it’s possible, while on the pill, to conceive and miscarry every single month.

I had no idea when I was first married and got on the pill that this is what it does. I wonder how many children my husband and I conceived and then miscarried without even knowing it. It makes me sick to my stomach to think about what I was doing to my body and the lives of my children.

In addition, oral contraceptives also mess with a woman’s normal hormones and can greatly increase risk of breast cancer. And the Komen Foundation supports Planned Parenthood, the largest distributor of oral contraceptives in our country? Hmmm. It boggles my mind that the same women who are so worried about hormones in their milk and other dairy products, the same women who buy only organic produce are so quick to fill their bodies with artificial hormones that have tons of negative side effects.

Really, help me understand, comment below with your opinions so we can get some discussion on this going.

What is healthcare, really?

Romney wants to repeal Obamacare, which will be a good thing for those who will be deprived of religious freedom under the new mandates. People will again be able to make their own healthcare decisions. I realize that our healthcare system is far from perfect, and that changes definitely need to be made, but Obamacare is not the way to go to protect our religious freedom and control of our own healthcare.

“But Bryn,” you say, “the conservative right wants to take away our rights to abortions, so the government is making healthcare decisions for women.” My answer:

Healthcare is something that prolongs or improves the quality of life, and abortion does neither for the unborn child.

While I feel for women who feel they don’t have any other choice, abortion (murder) is not a justification for an inconvenient child. “But Bryn, a fetus that’s not viable outside of the womb isn’t yet really a child.” Baloney. If you take anything outside its natural environment, of course it will fail to survive. Adult human beings can’t survive alone on Mars. Science proved many years ago that a new life is created with its own DNA at conception, and taking it out of its natural environment and letting it die doesn’t make it any less human.

This is all my own opinion of course and is heavily influenced my belief that God is the creator of all things and creates an immortal soul at the time of conception – both of which cannot be proven scientifically, but are real nonetheless.

So what’s the answer?

In our experience, the metanoia of loving has meant seeing orphans not as problems to be solved, but as beloved children who will gladden adoptive parents. If you are pro-choice, or if you are someone who has had an abortion, perhaps it may help to imagine what gives fire to the pro-life movement. Each pregnancy we see as a new opportunity for love, an irreplaceable gift that challenges us to love anew. We see abortion as an interruption of the potential for love, the opportunity for love, and so we hope to build a society in which those opportunities are welcomed. Our hope is both simple and profound: to treat human beings through the lens of love, rather than primarily through the lens of reason.

In the big picture, love is the far more powerful way of looking at the world. Love is the game-changer. People die for love; they stretch their energies and resources for love. They move to the farthest ends of the earth for love. They take on the greatest challenges for love. They fast, tighten their belts, work extra jobs, lose sleep for love. They imagine new possibilities. Reason is often a wet blanket: it tells us why we can’t do something (it’s too expensive; it will require too much work; it’s too hard…). Love, on the other hand, moves us to find the ways we can do something. It is the most deeply human dimension of our lives, because it is at the same time the most deeply rooted in the divine.

Are either of the candidates the perfect choice?

Of course not, but only one of them voted FOUR TIMES to deny basic healthcare to infants who are born alive during botched abortions.

Only one had the gall to replace the blue field of stars on our American flag with his own logo and then sold it for $35 on his website.

Only one of them wants to greatly increase the power of the federal government while decreasing the power of the private sector and of the states.

Only one of them sees us women only as vaginas that need to be maintained by government funding.

Only one of them claims to be a champion of religious freedom while implementing laws that infringe upon it.

Only one is absolutely unfit to be President of the United States.

Will you take sides?

Some have expressed the opinion that, “Well, even if I believe abortion or contraception is wrong, that doesn’t mean I can impose my beliefs on other people, so these services should still be free and available to women if they choose that.” or “The government shouldn’t be able to make decisions on women’s healthcare. Women need to have a choice.”

As a very good friend of mine commented recently, “The woman in the womb gets no choice… We need to lift these women up; death shouldn’t be an option.”

These are human lives we are talking about here–it’s not “imposing beliefs” to want to save lives. This quote sums up what I really think about this whole situation.

“The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil. The Tragedy of our time is that those who still believe in honesty lack fire and conviction, while those who believe in dishonesty are full of passionate conviction.” — Archbishop Fulton Sheen