Respect Life Sunday

10-06-2024Weekly ReflectionJen Arnold, M.A.

Editor’s Note: This piece discusses abortion — a topic that can bring up many emotions for people. No matter what your story is or where you are in your journey, we want you to know that God loves you and the Church loves you. If you are dealing with anger, sadness, shame, fear— or are hurting in any way — resulting from a connection to abortion, Jesus desires healing, wholeness, and restoration for you. If you or someone you know needs help finding healing and hope after an abortion, please contact Rachel's Vineyard at 877-467-3463 or the National Hotline for Abortion Recovery at 866-482-5433. Additional information is available at rachelsvineyard.org.

“I would like to say a special word to women who have had an abortion. The Church is aware of the many factors which may have influenced your decision, and she does not doubt that in many cases it was a painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your heart may not yet have healed...do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope.”

- St. John Paul II, EVANGELIUM VITAE, 99

October has been designated as Respect Life Month by the Catholic Church in the United States and the first Sunday of the month is Respect Life Sunday. Our parish will be celebrating a Memorial Mass for Babies Lost to Stillbirth, Miscarriage, and Abortion on October 16^th at 6:30pm. I have therefore aligned my focus with the Church on this day to speak with the utmost urgency on the topic of abortion.

The Catechism places the issue of abortion under the section that deals with the Fifth Commandment: “You shall not kill.”

Human life must be respected and protected from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person – among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life…Since the first century, the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law… - CCC #2270-2271

At the moment of conception, when the egg is fertilized within the mother’s body, a human being is formed and infused with its own soul by God. This individual, while inside of and dependent on his or her mother, is a unique person that immediately begins to grow and change through the stages of human development in accordance with the laws of science. Once conceived, there’s not an ambiguous point later in one’s development when someone then suddenly becomes a human being. Consider this: You were once an infant. Then, you grew into a child. Later, you became the person you are now, and so on. At each of these stages, your body grows or changes in function and skill. Your body is not the same as it was ten years ago, nor will it be the same ten years from now. That process began at the moment you were conceived and not when someone decided you were a human being. First, you were a zygote, then an embryo, then a fetus, and so on, with the essentials of human development occurring at every stage over time, culminating in you, sitting there today.

With the understanding that human life begins at conception, and looking back at what the catechism states, any child in utero clearly possesses the same inherent rights as a person that you and I have. The problem with abortion is that it takes the lives of the weakest, most innocent, and most vulnerable human beings of all — the human beings who have done nothing to deserve it and have no say in whether they live or die. This is why the Church affirms abortion as the greatest evil of our time.

Briefly, I would like to address a few common arguments in favor of abortion:

Rape and Incest: No doubt these are terrible realities. While acknowledging the trauma of sexual violence, the Church maintains that abortion is not a morally acceptable solution, as it would punish the innocent child for the crimes of another. In fact, killing the child actually perpetuates the cycle of violence the rapist began, adds to the trauma of the victim, and creates another victim in the innocent child.

Fetal Abnormalities: The Church teaches that all human life, regardless of disability or projected lifespan, has inherent dignity and worth. Therefore, abortion based on fetal abnormalities is not considered morally justifiable. I am sure most of us know or have at least heard about people with disabilities who have gone on to do great things or even served as a source of great joy in others' lives. Similarly, if your child in a different stage of development, say 10-15 years old, were to become disabled in a tragic accident, would murder then become a justifiable option, or would you not encourage them to overcome their disability to live a fulfilling life and help them to do it?

Miscarriage: For some inexplicable reason, miscarriage has found its way into the rhetoric of the abortion conversation. Suppose a child dies naturally in his or her mother's womb but then is not expelled from the body. In that case, no medical professional or facility would refuse the necessary procedure to remove the deceased child, and the Church, likewise, allows for it. In fact, the Church encourages mothers and fathers to hold special ceremonies and burials for the children who have tragically lost their lives too soon in this way. 

We Cannot (or Should Not) Dictate What Women do with Their Bodies: Again, scientifically speaking, the child within the mother's womb is an autonomous human being with its own body, regardless of its stage of development. Yes, it relies on his or her mother at this stage for survival, just as it will for a long while after birth, but that does not negate the fact that it is a separate human being, wholly unto itself, inside of the mother's body and, therefore, entitled to its own right to life. One individual’s rights do not supersede another individual’s right to live.

In his great encyclical, Evangelium Vitae: The Gospel of Life, Pope St. John Paul II addresses the sanctity and inviolability of human life, offering a powerful defense of life from conception to natural death. While abortion is a topic that is undoubtedly at the forefront, it is merely a symptom of a much more significant sickness in our society. John Paul describes the “culture of death” that has permeated our society, saying:

This culture is actively fostered by powerful cultural, economic, and political currents which encourage an idea of society excessively concerned with efficiency. Looking at the situation from this point of view, it is possible to speak in a certain sense of a war of the powerful against the weak: a life which would require greater acceptance, love, and care is considered useless, or held to be an intolerable burden, and is therefore rejected in one way or another. A person who, because of illness, handicap, or, more simply, just by existing, compromises the well-being or life-style of those who are more favored tends to be looked upon as an enemy to be resisted or eliminated. -EV #12

The cure to this sickness is for each of us to be aware of the culture of death around us and respond by actively and intentionally creating a “culture of life" according to our gifts and talents and our state in life. We are all called to build up a culture that respects the inherent dignity of every human life from conception to natural death and not to view other human beings as utilitarian objects or to put our own needs above the needs of others.

This situation, with its lights and shadows, ought to make us all fully aware that we are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil, death and life, the “culture of death” and the "culture of life". We find ourselves not only “faced with” but necessarily “in the midst of” this conflict: we are all involved and we all share in it, with the inescapable responsibility of choosing to be unconditionally pro-life. – EV #28