The Real Tragedy of Abortion
Those of us who struggle, work, and pray to end the self-genocide of abortion must not forget that pro-choice proponents do identify legitimate problems. They are not all raging, hate-filled, self-absorbed, hedonists. They have rightly identified that irresponsible fatherhood condemns untold numbers of women to financial hardship, destroys their aspirations, and would cause the death of tens of thousands desperate enough to seek illegal abortions where legal abortion is not available.
Irresponsible Fatherhood
Irresponsible fatherhood is a loathsome and oppressive form of discrimination against women which is why abortion, the proposed solution to irresponsible fatherhood, is so frequently framed as a women's rights issue. Irresponsible fatherhood is a women's rights issue and a real one. It is the disgusting financial, temporal, and bodily oppression of women by men solely because they are women - because their bodies are blessed with a womb. As is so common with humanity, a correct identification of a real problem is followed by a solution which makes matters far worse.
Instead of promoting chastity and then enforcing responsible fatherhood for those who do make a mistake (yes, sex outside the context of family is a mistake - otherwise know as a sin), we say the response to an irresponsible act (or sometimes, sadly, a truly heinous act) is to kill the inconvenient life which results from such acts.
The children are in the hand of God
This makes me wonder who are the greatest victims of abortion. I do not think it is the children. Indeed they are victims; I do not mean they are not. However, they are in the hand of God. He is quite well able to care for the victims of this slaughter as He is of every other destructive oppression we humans inflict upon our own brothers and sisters. No, it is the living who are the greatest victims of their own crimes. Simultaneous victims and perpetrators.
What kind of society have we become where we are willing to take life simply because it is inconvenient? This is not to say inconvenient is trivial - perhaps it is too light a word. This inconvenience could be truly life shattering and scarring or it could indeed be trivial. But the point is, an innocent life is in the way of something we want or something we want to avoid. And because this gentle, benign baby is in our way, we are willing to kill it.
We rail against greedy corporations who step on human life for corporate profits. We detest violent drug lords who do not hesitate to trample on lives to preserve their dominion. Yet we ourselves are willing to burn and dismember babies who stand in our way (no, not stand, they cannot even do that - they just lie in our wombs waiting to gaze into our eyes and be cradled lovingly in our arms). What kind of damage are we doing to our souls? Who have we allowed ourselves to become that we even need a law against abortion. What civil society would devour its own children because they are in the way? Yet that's what we want to do. If we need a law against abortion, then we may eventually win the battle (to protect the innocent) but have lost the war (to be a loving and just society).
Love's pain
I think of Jesus while meditating upon the third sorrowful mystery of the Rosary. As the soldiers beat Him mercilessly, what would they have seen if they looked into His eyes? Hatred? Defiance? I think they would have seen love's pain. Not His own pain. Pain for what they themselves were doing to themselves in their raging, selfish, cruelty.
Our struggle for life is not just for the unborn children. Indeed we must strive for them more fervently than we did to end slavery and discrimination. But our struggle is not for them alone but also for those who destroy their own selves through abortion - those who promote, provide, and procure it. We must love them, too. They are our brothers and sisters - made for life and salvation. May they look into our eyes and not see defiance, hatred, or disdain but rather love's pain. Love's pain for their own souls and that of all humanity. Yes, the salvation of souls is the ultimately victory over abortion and the damage to our souls its real tragedy.
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