Prolife Apologist

Testimony of Deborah Henry, former Abortion Provider, in:  http://exposeabortion.com/

From:

Landrum B. Shettles “Rites of Life: The Scientific Evidence for Life Before Birth” Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1983 p 40 

In:

40 quotes from medical experts and textbooks that prove human life begins at conception

Sorry for taking so long to reply to this (it’s been a few days, I guess). I am a graduate student so my time isn’t as free as I’d like it to be. Most of my posts are on a queue. 

Also, I feel this bears a more serious, thought-out response, so here we go. Forgive me if it sounds too much like an essay, I am taking a break from a 2500 word paper about the Mystical Body of Christ & the Church as bride. So. Yeah. 

First of all, I really question your understanding of Catholicism. Being “pro-choice”, or rather, pro-abortion or “reproductive rights” is definitively anti-Catholic and anti-Christian. If you would like me to cite this, I am more than happy to. 

I expect the reason why you’ve hidden behind the anonymous option is because you feel a twinge of guilt for the beliefs you have. Fair enough, I’m not going to judge you as a person, you might be entirely delightful. However, I am going to propose a few things to you that I hope you take to heart (and everyone reading this takes to heart, honestly). 

Secondly, I’d like you to think about what selfishness is. Let’s have a looksee at the definition here for a moment. 

Now, I can imagine where you get the notion that, on behalf of a pro-lifer, it is selfish. The pro-lifer wants some other person who doesn’t share the same values as them to conform to those values! How awful! I wouldn’t want anyone making me conform to their values, especially if I disagree with them. I don’t want someone to force me to wear a hijab, I don’t want someone to tell me that I can never eat meat again, I don’t want someone telling me that I have to believe in the pagan gods of Rome. Fair enough. 

But consider this: pro-lifers aren’t imposing their beliefs on another person to “limit their freedoms”. They’re not imposing their beliefs at all, really (more about that at the end). They’re trying to save a life, hence the name of the movement. As soon as sperm meets egg, a new life form is created. Yes, it’s tiny and yes it’s not viable on its own, but it is a new life form, with its own DNA, own body (though still developing), and own soul (it’s a fact whether you believe in it or not). What is selfish, however, is deciding that just because you don’t want to accept the consequences of your own action, you decide to punish that tiny life. 

We’re all horrified to see stories on the news of mothers starving their babies or drowning them in bathtubs or abusing them in any way. Why is it any less when they are broken apart and sucked out of their mother’s womb? 

But, I hear the crowd yelling in the background, what about those poor souls who are raped and conceive a child as a result? Why would you make that poor girl suffer and bear that child of hatred? 

My answer to that is this: 

Why punish the child for the crime of their father? North Korea does that, and not only one is punished, but the whole family. It’s a larger scale, sure, but it still disgusts everyone internationally. Why would you want people to sink to that level? Okay, the poor woman isn’t ready, but there is such a thing as adoption. There are so many couples out there who, due to health issues, cannot have children of their own. Why deny them the possibility of having a family? 

One of my closest friends was adopted, and though she wonders about her birth-mother, she is still very happy to be alive and her adoptive parents love her. Actually, she has this sweet mug that says “life is lovely” and she tries to live it every day. She’s one of the most caring and loving people I’ve ever met in my life and I don’t know what my life would be like had she never had the chance to live. I also know a couple who has two girls, both adopted, who are the sweetest and happiest little things. One of the girls has down syndrome, actually, and she is just the bubbliest little thing (though she and her sister pretty much only speak Danish and German haha). 

And as to the “it’s between you and God” comment, yes. I agree. My relationship with God is mine. Pro-lifers aren’t trying to make every single pregnant woman go to mass or convert to Catholicism/Christianity. I’m sure many would be happy if everyone did, but I don’t know anyone in the pro-life movement who does that…and bear in mind I’ve been an active member of the pro-life movement for over ten years now. I know plenty of pro-life atheists, as well, so it’s not exactly a religious movement on its own. One of my favorite sights to see at the March for Life in DC were those “atheists for life” posters. Yes, they exist, they’re not an anomaly. 

One last thought that I’m happy to provide sitations for is that abortion is actually incredibly harmful to a woman’s body. It’s unnatural and invasive and dehumanizing. It makes her body seem like a machine that has to have a process halted and reversed. There is nothing healthy about an abortion. Nothing. It’s something that exists to eliminate a person’s responsibility for their actions and to end a life. There is no such thing as a safe abortion.

I hope this answers your question and gives you something to think about, if not I’m sorry and I’ll pray for you. If I can’t help, then hopefully our Lord can. 

So, dear Anon, here we are at last. I’m procrastinating on my paper once more! 

It’s a very difficult situation, to say the least. A harrowing example of this exact situation is St. Gianna Molla, who refused a very vital surgery so her baby could live. It’s an incredible story (click her name for a link to it), but it’s not the usual situation (though I hope in that situation I would also be able to give my life for my child). 

I think what should be done in those instances is do everything to save both mother and child, but if the child dies of natural causes, then it happens. It’s very sad, but it does happen (it happened to a very very close relative of mine, actually). However, what should be done in those instances is to figure out which party, the mother or infant, has a higher chance of surviving, and then proceed. For instance, if the mother needs a surgery but the infant will die (as is the case of St. Gianna), then it would not be an abortion. The mother, in that instance, can have the surgery or whatever she needs to sustain her life, and it would not be an abortion. 

I do and cannot ever condone a viable child being murdered in their mother’s womb. If the child happens to die from other complications, as tragic as it may be, then it happens and it’s devastating, but it is not an abortion. Any procedure done without the intention to “terminate the pregnancy”, as they say, is not an abortion. Any procedure done with the direct and explicit intention of killing the child, however, is an abortion and is something I am not okay with at all. 

I believe, as well, that this is the typical stance of the Church in these situations. Since I really should be writing that paper, I can’t look it up at the moment, but if you would like me to provide material on this, shoot me another message and I’ll give it to you by Tuesday. 

It’s on Friday, January 19 this year. The media will make it out to be a far smaller deal than it actually is. Hundreds of thousands of people peacefully walking the streets of the nation’s capitol will be downplayed, ignored, and berated. But we will still be there. 

We march because we believe the world can do better.

We march because we believe nobody should be seen as a waste of space.

We march because our children are being killed.

We march because our sick are being mistreated.

We march because our elderly are being ignored.

We march because our youth are being exploited.

We march because our humanity is being commodified. 

We march because nobody is past hope.

We march for the unborn, yes. 

But we march for their mothers.

We march for their fathers.

We march for their brothers and sisters.

We march for those who love us.

We march for those who hate us.

We are young. We are old. We are Red, and Blue, and Centrists. We wave banners of every color and acronym imaginable. But despite all our differences, we agree on this.

The world can do better.

Yes, and Planned Parenthood’s statistics are totally unbiased. Just like only 3% of their services are definitely only abortion. Just take away the abortion services if the percentage is that low, and see if Planned Parenthood prospers just as much.

Patricia Heaton: “I find it impossible to subscribe to a philosophy that believes that the destruction of human life is a legitimate solution to a problem that is mostly social, economic and psychological. In reality, most women ‘choose’ abortion because they believe they have no other choice.”