Pro-Life, Feminism, Socialism and Human Rights are all connected

[DL82]

For the vast majority of history, birth was the one area beyond the power of men. What happened in a locked bedroom between a pregnant woman and a midwife was a kind of secret bond that priests, politicians and lawyers had no say over.

The realities of that period, how many ‘still births’ were really strangled, how many abortions took place, are not even known to the mothers themselves. The whole of human history, not just the past few decades, is stained with the blood of these Holy Innocents.

What drove these women to do such things? Living in the world made by these men, the world in which the disabled were treated as a burden, the world in which people starved for lack of work, the world that didn’t care about an unmarried mother or her offspring.

Now, we are faced with two truths:

1. The rule of law does extend to pregnancy and birth, through healthcare, easy recourse to the courts and a concern for human rights.
2. The makers of the laws are women as well as men, women have the vote, sit in Congress and as lawyers and judges.

A third truth:
3) The Church believes in the sanctity of all life from conception to natural death, as much now as it always has, as a command from God.

So, it is up to us, men and women together, to make a world for our children where their rights are given real value, regardless of their economic productivity, where there are real rights for the disabled, for working mothers, where every child gets a fair chance in life and nobody is left to starve, a world as free of war, poverty, disease and hate as we can make it. In short, a world where all mothers will be pleased to bring their children into the world to share in its’ joy and work together for its’ future.

True feminism, the recognition of the female contribution as female, as distinct from women pretending to be the same as men, and true socialism, which is about building a society where the dignity of all people is respected, human rights, including the rights of the unborn, are all connected.

Now if only we could get those on the socialist/liberal left to stop their idolatry of the dead doctrine of Marxist materialism and start caring about the rights of the human beings of the future and of the present…

 

[Tim_Kirchoff]

Karl Marx: Religion will disappear.

God: Karl Marx disappeared.

 

[athansor]

I think that’s a good and thoughtful post. I am drawn to the ideas of socialism and the idea that everyone has a right to a basic standard of living. I think that there are good points of socialism that can co-exist with a Catholic faith and a pro-life attidude. In my opinion, folks like Dorothy Day really paved the way in this regard.

 

[rlg94086]

I think that’s a good and thoughtful post. I am drawn to the ideas of socialism and the idea that everyone has a right to a basic standard of living. I think that there are good points of socialism that can co-exist with a Catholic faith and a pro-life attidude. In my opinion, folks like Dorothy Day really paved the way in this regard.

Catholicism can co-exist in a complete Socialist system (as long as freedom of religion is maintained) or a complete, laissez-faire, Capitalist system. The real key is the change of heart of the believers.

The reason I don’t like a complete Socialist system is that it limits free will. I do think some socialist structures need to be in place in a Capitalist system - safety nets, for example, as we have in the US. However, IMO the social principles of the Church should primarily be manifest in the actions of individuals doing good works. The State should not take over the charitable obligations of indivuals.

 

[Contarini]

For the vast majority of history, birth was the one area beyond the power of men. What happened in a locked bedroom between a pregnant woman and a midwife was a kind of secret bond that priests, politicians and lawyers had no say over.

The realities of that period, how many ‘still births’ were really strangled, how many abortions took place, are not even known to the mothers themselves. The whole of human history, not just the past few decades, is stained with the blood of these Holy Innocents.

What drove these women to do such things? Living in the world made by these men, the world in which the disabled were treated as a burden, the world in which people starved for lack of work, the world that didn’t care about an unmarried mother or her offspring.

Now, we are faced with two truths:

1. The rule of law does extend to pregnancy and birth, through healthcare, easy recourse to the courts and a concern for human rights.
2. The makers of the laws are women as well as men, women have the vote, sit in Congress and as lawyers and judges.

A third truth:
3) The Church believes in the sanctity of all life from conception to natural death, as much now as it always has, as a command from God.

So, it is up to us, men and women together, to make a world for our children where their rights are given real value, regardless of their economic productivity, where there are real rights for the disabled, for working mothers, where every child gets a fair chance in life and nobody is left to starve, a world as free of war, poverty, disease and hate as we can make it. In short, a world where all mothers will be pleased to bring their children into the world to share in its’ joy and work together for its’ future.

True feminism, the recognition of the female contribution as female, as distinct from women pretending to be the same as men, and true socialism, which is about building a society where the dignity of all people is respected, human rights, including the rights of the unborn, are all connected.

I agree entirely up to this point. I think your closing flourish is a bit inaccurate, since by and large the “leftists” I know (and I’m an academic, so I’ve known quite a lot) don’t seem to be real Marxists.

Edwin

 

[DL82]

I agree entirely up to this point. I think your closing flourish is a bit inaccurate, since by and large the “leftists” I know (and I’m an academic, so I’ve known quite a lot) don’t seem to be real Marxists.

Edwin

Edwin, most leftists aren’t marxists anymore, but the impetus for the pro-choice movement comes from a materialist underpinning that says that a human being isn’t a human being until it’s able to influence things independently, i.e. at birth or some time after. That’s the thing people need to abandon if we’re to create a society that truely values everyone, and not just that values the people who fit into the box it’s trying to create.

 

[Contarini]

Edwin, most leftists aren’t marxists anymore, but the impetus for the pro-choice movement comes from a materialist underpinning that says that a human being isn’t a human being until it’s able to influence things independently, i.e. at birth or some time after. That’s the thing people need to abandon if we’re to create a society that truely values everyone, and not just that values the people who fit into the box it’s trying to create.

I entirely agree, but I don’t think that has anything to do with what I was disagreeing with in the OP. If anything, the view you describe is more representative of capitalism run wild than of Marxism. (Not that I’m any friend of Marxism, I just don’t think it’s the threat right now.)

Edwin

 

[edwest2]

“beyond the power of men”? Once again, these women did not get pregnant on their own. Why are the men who got these women pregnant not part of the picture? They are the fathers or soon to be fathers.

God bless,
Ed