How are Catholics authentically pro-life?

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Rob2

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I have recently sent letters to the Prime Minister and to my Member of Parliament to express my opposition to legal changes being proposed which may make abortion easier .

For some Catholics this would approvingly merit me a pro-life medal .

But how genuinely pro-life does it make me ?

There is something counterfeit about the whole thing .

Why ?

Because I read what is written below , and similar teaching in other sources , put as bluntly , but which I hear little of in Catholic circles .

" This Sacred Council urges all, both individuals and governments, to remember the aphorism of the Fathers, “Feed the man dying of hunger, because if you have not fed him, you have killed him” "(Gaudium et Spes)

And because I know that this poster below is pretty near the mark and that the Church’s teaching is true , I am not authentically pro-life by a long , long way .

Plus I am worse than the vulture in the photograph . The vulture will scavenge on the dead body of the child . I will have contributed to the death of the child because I prefer my cosy , agreeable , self-centred Western lifestyle .

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Pro-life in the common sense isn’t about anything other than stopping abortion. This is a trap that many try to lead those who are pro-life into, but don’t let that argument distract you from the main focus of the movement as a whole.
 
Do you never donate to any charity that provides food, water and shelter to people in your own country or in the world?

I try to make regular donations to different places that help people with their basic needs. Included among my donations are places that provide shelter or other assistance for pregnant women in my area. I also give to missions and shelters and food banks and Ronald McDonald house and individual gofundmes and disaster relief and so on.

Sure, we could always do more. I believe, having read up on this long ago, that “We could always do more” is a thinking trap and is not productive, because we can look at anything we’ve done in our life and say “I could have done more” and just beat ourselves up because it’s never going to be enough with work, prayer, donations, anything. But God calls us to live simply. He calls some people to give up even more. He doesn’t call every person to live an ascetic lifestyle, and us doing so would likely not help those people get food. There is enough food in the world and when people aren’t getting it, it’s almost always due to some other issue, such as politics, or another outside factor, that is not letting the food or other aid get where it’s needed, rather than the fact that people are not willing to help or share. I donate to food banks in my area and we have a social safety net but people are still going to go hungry and a large reason why is that they or their caregivers are addicted, or their caregivers are neglectful and don’t bother to make sure they get food, or there’s some other problem.

Also, “pro-life” is also anti-euthanasia and, if you want to get right down to business, anti-death penalty. It’s not just anti-abortion. I personally don’t have a problem being anti-euthanasia or anti-death penalty. Perhaps others might.

I was actually at a Holy Hour for Life the other night that used one of the “Rosaries for Life” developed by the USCCB and provided on their website. The rosary had a different intention for every Hail Mary. Some of the intentions, I would say less than 10 out of 50 Hail Marys, had to do with abortion (in some cases in a really peripheral way, like prayers for those who make laws and for judges without mentioning abortion specifically).
On the one hand it was a little annoying because I felt like the USCCB was almost afraid to say “abortion” out loud for fear of upsetting someone.
On the other hand, all the things mentioned in the rosary were aspects of “pro-life” even if I personally thought they talked about cancer too much, abortion not enough, and the death penalty little or not at all.
 
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Indeed life at every age and stage is precious, but there is nothing wrong with prioritizing our efforts by various criteria:
  • Of all humans, which are the least able to care for themselves? The embryo or fetus.
  • How many different people are capable of saving the life of the one in need? The embryo or fetus can only be kept alive by the mother. No one else.
  • Of those humans who are in need, who are accessible to us geographically and politically? The ones in our own country.
This is a short list because I’m in a hurry. For these and other reasons, it is morally acceptable to focus on abortion rather than global hunger. Keep up the good work. Do both if you can.
 
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Exactly.
There’s also this kind of annoying stereotype that everybody who’s anti-abortion never does anything for pregnant mothers, or for children after they arrive, or for starving children elsewhere, and that they’re all pro-death penalty. It’s simply not true. People who are anti-abortion are all over the map and quite a few of them are also doing things to help humanity in a positive way and I don’t mean they just sit around and crochet “prayer shawls”.

There are all kinds of charity appeals at the churches I attend for helping with baby needs for poor moms, like with diapers and with formula and such, and there are also groups that fix food for poor, elderly and homebound who can’t get it otherwise, and people who visit nursing homes and all sorts of stuff.
 
I agree. I also recognize that each individual and human being is limited in resources and must necessarily focus. I’m not going to lecture the Audubon Society for “not really caring” about all animals. Their focus is on birds. I’d still hope that members will occasionally contact elected officials about issues affecting, say, orca whales.

So I respect the Respect Life Catholics as much as I respect the Catholics focused on prison ministry and prison reform, humane immigration policies, etc. We each have our focus-niche, but can spare a little of ourselves for other causes, too.
 
I know people actively trying to adopt babies who cannot do so because of our legal system. Some of them adopted babies from outside USA because they couldn’t find one here in US to adopt. Another couple I know is fighting the legal system to try to adopt a foster child and in the meantime are spending as much time with her as they can.

I’ve adopted a number of cats and believe me if one could adopt a baby like you could just go get a cat or a dog, I’d probably have taken a couple of them in already. In the old days the baby would be placed on a doorstep. Those days are gone, you couldn’t keep a baby even if somebody placed it on your doorstep. The legal red tape in USA makes adoption this side of impossible unless the baby is already your family member, for example you married the baby’s mom or the baby is your grandchild or niece who you’re already caring for because the parents have disappeared, are on drugs, are in prison, or otherwise not able to care for their kid.
 
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Ad hominem arguments are by nature asinine. Apparently none of us can speak out against cruelty to animals unless we adopt animals, domestic violence unless we shelter battered women in our homes, or dictatorships across the world unless we travel there and arm ourselves against them.

Even if someone is a complete hypocrite, a hypocrite can speak the truth about an issue, even if his/her practices aren’t in alignment.
 
I will not stop my efforts in the pro-life arena because there are hungry children. I will not stop my efforts in providing care for abandoned animals because there are men and women who suffer from Alzheimer’s. I will not stop in my efforts to support the right to free speech because other people are homeless. If Jesus could turn to Judas and tell him “The poor will always be with you” when Judas attempted to rebuke the woman who washed His feet, then we need to put our efforts where we can, with the talents and the means we’re given, not ignore other needs because one looms large.

That’s how I look at it, anyway, because the number of needs and the amount of need is easily overwhelming.
 
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