No, Pro-Life Doesn’t Just Mean “Pro-Birth”

January 27th, 2017 | Posted by Bryn in Catholic | Faith | Kids - (Comments Off on No, Pro-Life Doesn’t Just Mean “Pro-Birth”)

The actual women’s march was today – the March for Life. You didn’t hear about it on the Today Show, but it’s actually much bigger than any of the Women’s Marches this past weekend.

Feminists claim to support all women, to be marching for the rights of all women, especially those on the fringes of society. The problem many of us have with feminism is that it’s being shoved down our throats that we’re being treated unfairly even though this is THE best time in history to be a woman, in the country where we enjoy the most rights. Everyone has struggles and may experience discrimination in some ways, but are these struggles occurring SOLELY because we’re women? Highly unlikely.

The most frequent puzzling thing I’ve read in the comments sections of these pro-life vs. feminist articles is the claim that pro-life people aren’t really pro-life, they’re just “pro-birth” and don’t care what happens to babies after they’re born or to the women affected, and that pro-lifers want to force women to have babies, etc.

My first thought is, where did they come up with this claim? Where are their statistics to back them up? In an online conversation with a self-proclaimed “feminist”, I asked her those exact questions when she made the above accusation. And her response was that pro-life supporters are opponents of Planned Parenthood, so they’re inherently unsupportive of women and their babies.

What?!

Planned Parenthood doesn’t actually provide prenatal care, and NOT supporting Planned Parenthood has nothing to do with supporting women and their babies. Being in favor of defunding Planned Parenthood means that we would love for more babies to be saved from this abortion factory. I’ve heard many claims that Planned Parenthood is the only place for low-income women to receive healthcare, but again, where are the statistics on that? There are thousands of other real health facilities all over the country to provide basic healthcare for men, women, and children.

When pro-choice people say that we’re only pro-birth, they fail to take into account the thousands of Christians that adopt and foster children in their own homes, volunteer their time at soup kitchens and food pantries, donate clothing, toys, household items, and more to charitable organizations that give these things away for free to the needy, and donate BILLIONS of dollars per year in this country alone to help the poor with housing, healthcare, childcare, etc. The Catholic Church and other Christian organizations have done more for the poor in the history of the world than any other organization. For example, Catholic Charities USA (just one of the many, many Christian charitable organizations in the United States alone) was #9 on the Forbes list of 100 Largest US Charities last year. So how does this make us “only pro-birth”?

As pro-life supporters, we are called to a higher form of social justice. When we see that the dignity of the human person is threatened (in any situation, not just abortion), we have no choice but to speak up. We are called to be active in our communities and to help the poor and marginalized in our society. Which is why hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children marched today.

I saw many photos of people and their pro-life signs today, and one sign said, “1/3 of my generation is missing.”

Photo Credit: March for Life Facebook page

One third. This is completely heartbreaking when you really think about it. I was born a little more than 10 years after abortion was legalized in the United States, so I wonder how many people were missing from my kindergarten class, from my high school graduation, from my life.

The genocide that is abortion needs to stop. We need to be part of the culture of life that supports women in need, supports children and their parents, and truly believes that life is sacred from conception until natural death. It’s our duty and our responsibility as pro-life supporters to show others that this kind of world is possible. What will you do today to show that you’re truly pro-life?

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The Horror of our Generation

September 29th, 2011 | Posted by Bryn in Faith | Kids - (Comments Off on The Horror of our Generation)

Recently, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a mandate that nearly all private business who offer health insurance to their employees will have to include coverage for sterilization and contraceptives, including those that cause early abortions.

As a Christian, there is no way I personally can approve of this by sitting back and doing nothing. Yesterday, I visited the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website and wrote an email to the Department of Health and Human Services recommending that they do not enact this mandate. It violates my freedom of religion by forcing me to pay for a practice my church and I personally condemn.

Pro-choicers claim that it’s the woman’s right to do what she wants with her body. I totally agree with them on that. A woman can either choose to be abstinent if she doesn’t want to get pregnant, nearly unheard of in this era of sexual debauchery. However, once she’s pregnant, it’s not just her body. Every human being’s life begins at conception. Modern medical science has proven that a baby has 46 of its own unique chromosomes at conception. There is another human being growing and living, and its heart is beating.

As Dr. Suess says in Horton Hears a Who, “A person’s a person, no matter how small.”

I also can’t imagine the longterm effects an abortion has on the mother-physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

I am currently attending a weekly bible study on the book of Exodus. Click here to read a summary on the story of Exodus. A few weeks ago, we discussed that there are three times in human history when major infanticide* has occurred.

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14

  1. In the book of Exodus, when Pharaoh orders the death of all male Hebrew babies.
  2. In the Gospel stories, when Herod orders the death of all males under the age of two shortly after the birth of Christ.
  3. Now.
It is an absolute horror that the practice of abortion is so accepted in our society.
We have been accepting the normalcy of abortion for far too long, nearly 40 years in the United States.
And now, if this law passes, we will be forced to spend our money on the murder of our children. We need to cherish the lives of our children, not destroy them.
So what can we do? Several things –
1. Visit the US Conference of Catholic Bishops website and write to HHS opposing their recent preventive services mandate. Here is what the default email says, it is clear and succinct.

“Pregnancy is not a disease, and drugs and surgeries to prevent it are not basic health care that the government should require all Americans to purchase. Please remove sterilization and prescription contraceptives from the list of ‘preventive services’ the federal government is mandating in private health plans. It is especially important to exclude any drug that may cause an early abortion, and to fully respect religious freedom as other federal laws do. The narrow religious exemption in HHS’s new rule protects almost no one. I urge you to allow all organizations and individuals to offer, sponsor and obtain health coverage that does not violate their moral and religious convictions.”

We only have until September 30th (TOMORROW!) to write to HHS, so get a move on! Do it now, it only takes a minute or two.

2. Write to Congress supporting the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (HR-1179).

3. Spread the word. Get everyone you know to bombard the HHS and Congress with emails opposing the preventive services mandate. As Christians, we are called to show love for others at all times. If someone disagrees with you, act graciously and show them love.

4. Attend pro-life events. The National Life Chain event will take place this Sunday, October 2, 2011, at 2:00PM CST. Locally, pro-life supporters will be standing at the corner of 48th and Broadway holding signs** and praying in silence from 2:30-3:30PM. LifeChain.net describes the Life Chain event like this:

LIFE CHAIN is a peaceful and prayerful public witness of pro-life individuals standing for 90 minutes praying for our nation and for an end to abortion.  It is a visual statement of solidarity by the Christian community that abortion kills children and that the Church supports the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception until natural death.

5. Pray. Pray for an end to abortion. Pray for the children lost. Pray for all pregnant women. Pray for the parents and doctors of aborted children that their hearts will be changed. God still works miracles. He listens to our prayers. If you don’t do anything else, please just pray.

*Infanticide is defined as the practice in some societies of killing unwanted children soon after birth 

**The approved Life Chain signs wills say 

  • ABORTION KILLS CHILDREN
  • JESUS FORGIVES AND HEALS
  • ADOPTION: THE LOVING OPTION
  • LORD, FORGIVE US AND OUR NATION
  • ABORTION HURTS WOMEN
  • PRAY TO END ABORTION
  • LIFE—THE FIRST INALIENABLE RIGHT

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