In a brief exchange via social media this evening, I was reminded why it is so important for those of us in the pro-life movement to keep a bigger picture mentality when looking at abortion and how to change a society that accepts and supports this horrendous practice as a “right”.  I read a post on a pro-life educators Facebook page about how the movement must unite and not be bogged down by side-conversations that are of little value to reaching the ultimate goal of ending abortion. I whole-heartedly agreed with that statement. We need to work together to end this problem as its too big for any one of us to beat alone.
But in the comments that followed I began to notice problems with this single-minded logic; we have much too small of a view of what it means to be pro-life.
Some of the follow-up comments that caught my attention were about not caring whether or not other people vaccinate their kids, or if they wear pink in support of the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation. While I agree that these things don’t immediately appear to be linked to abortion, with further investigation we can see that they are indeed part of that bigger picture view of a society that supports and loves abortion. Although many people are completely unaware of this fact, some vaccinations were created using cell lines from aborted babies, thus making their use highly questionable and unethical. Check out Children of God For Life for more information about this fact.  Also last year alone Susan. G. Komen  gave $700,000 to Planned Parenthood, our nation’s largest abortion provider. So in this case, yes, wearing pink is a pro-life issue. By ignoring practices and companies that support abortion, we unintentionally end up voting with our money to continue the violence of abortion in our land.  While these are really not the worst examples of supporting a pro-choice agenda, they make clear the descent down the ladder that ends with having no guide to defend life other than opposing abortion alone. As Cardinal Bernardin once said, we are called to make our pro-life stance a “seamless garment of life”. It should apply to our everyday lives and extend beyond abortion to other issues that destroy human dignity.
Being pro-life cannot simply be relegated to the single issue of abortion and making it illegal. This ignores all the other injustices demanding our attention and effort; but mostly because it does nothing to address what Susan B. Anthony called the “root causes” of abortion. In an editorial by Anthony printed in her
publication, Revolution in 1869 she states,
“Much as I deplore the horrible crime of child-murder, earnestly as I desire its suppression, I cannot believe … that such a law would have the desired effect. It seems to me to be only mowing off the top of the noxious weed, while the root remains. We want prevention, not merely punishment. We must reach the root of the evil, and destroy it. To my certain knowledge this crime is not confined to those whose love of ease, amusement and fashionable life leads them to desire immunity from the cares of children: but is practiced by those whose inmost souls revolt from the dreadful deed, and in whose hearts the maternal feeling is pure and undying. What, then has driven these women to the desperation necessary to force them to commit such a deed? This question being answered, I believe, we shall have such an insight into the matter as to be able to talk more clearly of a remedy.”
Clearly what Anthony was calling for in better support for women has been achieved by the amazing crisis pregnancy centers we see all around our nation. But while we have worked hard to address this need and have been able to provide pretty much any pregnant woman seeking support the help she needs; we still have abortions happening every day. Why? Because as I have said before, crisis pregnancy and abortion are not the only issues needing to be addressed in creating a Culture of Life. To end abortion we need a much bigger movement.
We need “specialists” (like the crisis pregnancy centers and pro-life educators) in several areas of societal struggle to all be working together to reach the end goal. We need sex educators, fertility instructors, childbirth educators, doctors, midwives, lactation consultants, post abortion therapists, marriage counselors, hospice programs, and basically anyone with pro-life convictions to bring their specialty to the forefront of the pro-life battle. This is a fight we must all fight in our everyday lives with the degrees and careers that we have. We need to work united with one another to strengthen our movement and to highlight that it is much bigger than just fighting abortion. We are fighting for a way of looking at humanity. We are fighting for a Culture of Life that recognizes everyone as irreplaceable and precious. We can all do that in how we execute our professions and vocations.
So to not make this any longer than it already is….yes, we need to unite. Let’s be lovers and not haters. We need to share our expertise and build upon one another to create a culture that supports life. But we need to stop and recognize that abortion is not the only battle to be won, and that by aligning the strengths of many forces the war will come much more quickly to an end. We pray for the wisdom to accept a guiding set of principles that will make this sort of cooperation possible in our nation.