By Judie Brown
We defenders of life are a resilient team. We pull no punches in our commitment to defend and protect the vulnerable. So why is it that not everyone sees the truth of the battle as clearly as we do? There are perhaps as many reasons for this as there are people involved, and yet an objective analysis of a few things clarifies why you and I remain undeterred.
A prelate from Illinois before he became pope, the holy father said of Governor J. B. Pritzker’s support for assisted suicide, “I spoke very explicitly with Gov. Pritzker about that (bill). We were very clear about the necessity to respect the sacredness of life from the very beginning to the very end. And unfortunately, for different reasons, he decided to sign that bill. I’m very disappointed about that.”
We wonder why there were no front-page exclamations from the then cardinal pronouncing moral outrage regarding a governor who has no apparent concern for those who seek to hasten their own death or the ability to take a loved one’s life. The very idea of assisted suicide being affirmed in state law is in direct conflict with moral law. Disappointment is hardly adequate in such a case.
Illinois, like other states, has now run the total anti-life gamut from abortion to euthanasia. Clearly this new year beckons us to speak louder and act with courage as we rage against the death machine in our midst.
But Illinois is not the only place where we see moral dissonance.
The civil code of the territory of Puerto Rico now includes the preborn as persons, but the territory still allows the killing of these babies. According to a LifeNews article, “SB 504 amends the Civil Code to recognize the preborn child as a natural person from the moment of conception. While the law does not alter Puerto Rico’s current abortion statutes, it establishes an important legal and moral precedent by embedding recognition of the unborn child within the territory’s legal framework.”
Gobbledygook!
The problem with such civil law machinations is that they ignore the humanity of the preborn child. Defining preborn babies as members of society, as people from their beginning, and then protecting them without compromise and without exception would bring clarity to the status of these children. Clearly such an action would take courage. And we know that is in very short supply these days.
This is why pro-life people must press forward in our quest to acquire total protection for every person from her first cell onward. If the reality of human personhood were understood, perhaps lawmakers, clergymen, and even politicians would behave differently.
For example, think about the Trump administration, which is reported to have ended abortion counseling and abortion surgery through the Veterans Administration unless there is a threat to the life of the mother. Of interest is the obvious disconnect between what abortion is and where it can be committed.
Splitting hairs over which babies can be killed and under which aegis their lives are taken totally misses the point. But frankly we think that is the point. Can you spell coward?
Taking the easy road may sound like a fine idea until we push away the weeds and realize that what is happening in our nation is the deconstruction of the very biological facts that result in the creation of a human being. While lawmakers and others would prefer to ignore or defy them, science does not lie.
Regardless of location, municipality, or manmade laws, the fundamental truth is that when a male sperm unites with a female ovum, a unique human being comes into existence.
All the words and all the bullying and slipshod half measures aside, even Horton the Elephant knew that a person is a person no matter how small. This is the undeniable fact.
So while such legal machinations may please incrementalists, the truth remains that until the preborn child is recognized as a person in a constitutional and legally binding sense, the killing will remain in place. It will continue to spread, to metastasize, and to overwhelm the nation as it sinks into the crevasse created by deception.
Let us commit to stand firm in our battle stations and insist on the single most vital, foundational fact of our struggle: Human personhood for every person from her beginning as a single cell onward is the only genuine pro-life goal worthy of our pursuit.