Friday, November 7, 2008

Where Does the Pro-Life Movement Go From Here?

A lot of us are disappointed over the outcome of the election. This country elected the most pro-abortion president in its history at the worst possible time for that to happen. With one more pro-life Supreme Court justice, Roe vs. Wade could have been overturned. Now, since it is likely that at least two justices will retire over the next four years, the people that the new President will choose to replace them with will assuredly not be pro-life. This is a devastating blow to the pro-life community; now it could be another generation before Roe vs. Wade is overturned.
Any hopes of advancing pro-life principles through legislation will have to be put on hold, too. Nancy Pelosi, who has distorted Church teaching on abortion, is unlikely to change her tune. During the Bush administration progress was made, but if Obama keeps his campaign promise of signing into law the Freedom of Choice Act all restrictions on abortion would be overturned. What are we to do?
It is NOT the time to give up. The pro-life community needs to step up its efforts more than ever. As it says in the John Paul II movie, we must "meet this abyss of hate with an abyss of love." We need to step up efforts in any way we can. When women are faced with fear because of an unwanted pregnancy, let our love guide them to embrace life rather than our indifference guiding them to the abortion clinic. We are not defeated, because Christ has conquered death!
Here's Father Pavone's take on the election results:

What do you feel are some ways in which the pro-life community can respond to this election?

2 comments:

Brianofthemarsh said...

We can start by facing a hard truth that is far more depressing than an Obama presidency - that Catholics are getting abortions at pretty much the same rate as other Americans. As the visible community of God, we're supposed to be leaven. What can local parishes and other organizations do to foster a culture of life to counter trends in society.

Anonymous said...

That's a good point; I think a lot of it has to do with a certain level of the moral relativism in our society creeping into churches. Our culture balks at the notion of absolute truth, so when the Church says abortion is intrinsically evil, a lot of people have trouble accepting that. Also, a lot of priests either are afraid of what will happen if they say something controversial or have simply become moral relativists themselves. This is a sad situation. Jesus is THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE (John 14:6); but nowadays we want to reduce that to "One of many ways", "what some people perceive to be true, although others' truth might be different", and "whatever makes me happy." I think we as Catholics need to reject the "dictatorship of relativism", as Pope Benedict put it. We have to learn to be fearless and unequivocal about what we believe, and practice what we preach.