At Teacher's Convention this year among the crazy marketplace in the Shaw Conference Centre that would put the Roman Agora to shame, I happened to chance upon a booth that I had missed the years previous. It was a Prolife booth. I was glad to see them there as I remember quite vividly the year before there being a Planned Parenthood booth. As part of their sales pitch to teachers, life-sized models of 3 month old fetal babies were being handed out for free.
The idea behind this would be for teachers to use these models to start a conversation with their students during health class about the way babies develop in the womb. This, I think, would be a pretty effective strategy if you look at the history of abortion law in North America.
It is interesting to note that many abortion doctors abandoned their ‘practice’ once the ultrasound was invented. Even Roe in the famous Roe vs. Wade court case reversed her opinion, repented and converted (Glory be to God!) The over all impression I got when receiving this little model person was one of awe and wonder, and I kept thinking to myself how 'cute' the little baby was.
My son on the other hand LOVES that baby. He beams with joy when he finds it, shows it off proudly, screams in delight and lastly tries to eat it. We had to hide it from him in the fear that he would bite large chunks out of it and I would not be able to use it in my classroom. The joy on his face when he found it once again was indescribable. In his simple and loving attitude he speaks volumes about what it truly means to be pro-life.
Recently, abortion advocates have begun labelling 'pro-lifers' as 'anti-abortionists,' this being in response to prolifers labelling abortion advocates as 'anti-life.' Through all this name calling and mudslinging however, I can't help but wonder if maybe they have a point. Have we become so reactionary against abortion that we have forgotten to be Pro-life?
Abortion is an atrocity, an act of evil which is best summed up by Blessed Mother Teresa:”But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love and we remind ourselves that love means willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even His life to love us. So, the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love, that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts.
Although this battle is a battle to the bitter end, sometimes I do find that we must remember our method of fighting should not be fire with fire, but as Professor Peter Kreeft assures us in his talk about how to win the culture war (click here) we must remember to fight fire with water. Are we merely reactionary to what abortion advocates think and do? Are we constantly following behind them trying to say that they are wrong, or are we exemplifying that which is true? Do we in our actions, words and deeds foster a love of life in what we do, showing forth the respect and love for beings created in the image of God?
Abortion demands an answer, we must continue to say it is wrong and refuse to compromise on our position in this matter, but we must never stop there. Blessed Mother Teresa's answer was simple, direct, and loving: "Give him to me."
We have to move past simply reacting to evil and continue further in genuine love for unborn children, their parents and all of us sinners. My son has taught me to pray with Catherine Doherty when she prayed “Lord, give me the heart of a child, and the awesome courage to live it out as an adult.”
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