WHAT IF . . . Pro-Choicers Worked In Crisis Pregnancy Centers?

[3DOCTORS]

Lest you think I’ve completely lost my marbles, think about it.

So many women have abortions because they really think that’s the best solution. They are often desperate, pressured by family, boyfriend, friends. So there is actually a subtle (or not-so-subtle) form of coercion going on. These women need for help fto get through their pregnancies and to provide for their babies.

What if there were a challenge to “pro-choice” women to do things to help the women in crisis pregnancies - things that are ideologically neutral, such as providing formula, diapers, and other baby supplies, making baby clothes, providing a place for a pregnant woman to stay, helping them in some kind of charitable way?

The only restriction on this would be that they couldn’t proselytize for abortion or artificial birth control - but they wouldn’t be forced to, say, help with bulk mailings to raise money for the pro-life organization itself if they didn’t share its mission 100%.

It would be an opportunity to put their money where their mouth is when they say “I don’t believe in abortion but I can’t impose my morality” - all they would be doing would be practically helping a woman to have a “choice” to keep (or give for adoption) her child.

It would also be good for those on both sides of the issue to be able to work together on what they can agree would be beneficial to people.

Maybe there’d be few takers - but wouldn’t it be interesting to issue the challenge and see?

 

[edwest2]

The 'pro-choice" side would rather that the baby be aborted. They would have no need to provide diapers or a place to stay for the young lady. And we have to clearly understand all of the reasons for a woman to seek an abortion:

Poverty
Told by husband or boyfriend, “I’ll leave you if you have this baby.”
Told by mother or father that they would abandon their daughter if she did not abort her baby.
Accidental pregnancy where the couple agrees that having another child would not be possible due to economic or other factors. (Yes, no form of artificial birth control is 100% effective.)

I’m sure there are some “pro-choicers” that are willing to provide some support, but their message appears to be, the right to have an abortion is the primary issue. Planned Parenthood certainly thinks abortion availability is the primary issue.

catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=40397

Of course, we can try to work together, but we must always remember that the choice to end a life is not a good choice.

Peace,
Ed

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

Do not call abortion-supporters ‘pro-choicers.’

What ‘choice’ does the baby have? Where in the dictionary does the definition of ‘choice’ say that it means ‘abortion?’

 

[3DOCTORS]

Do not call abortion-supporters ‘pro-choicers.’

What ‘choice’ does the baby have? Where in the dictionary does the definition of ‘choice’ say that it means ‘abortion?’

Agree with you, Sailor, and I usually do qualify my use of the term. In my OP, you’ll notice I did put it in quotation marks and in the 3rd to the last paragraph described the kind of “pro-choicer” I was referring to.

Which brings up an interesting point - I’m sure the radical feminist types wouldn’t even consider such a challenge - I’m thinking rather of the people who consider themselves moderate on the issue, or even “pro-life but I can’t tell others what to do” - that section of the spectrum of beliefs.

I just wonder, if presented with an opportunity, and given the truth about how a pregnant woman’s desperate circumstances can make her think the choice of abortion is the best choice, maybe some of these people would consider what I’ve suggested. Even Blessed Pope John Paul II in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae, makes reference to how women have been swayed in the direction of abortion:

Decisions that go against life sometimes arise from difficult or even tragic situations of profound suffering, loneliness, a total lack of economic prospects, depression and anxiety about the future. Such circumstances can mitigate even to a notable degree subjective responsibility and the consequent culpability of those who make these choices which in themselves are evil. (from Chapter I, 18, 2nd paragraph)

It is true that the decision to have an abortion is often tragic and painful for the mother, insofar as the decision to rid herself of the fruit of conception is not made for purely selfish reasons or out of convenience, but out of a desire to protect certain important values such as her own health or a decent standard of living for the other members of the family. Sometimes it is feared that the child to be born would live in such conditions that it would be better if the birth did not take place. Nevertheless, these reasons and others like them, however serious and tragic, can never justify the deliberate killing of an innocent human being.

1. As well as the mother, there are often other people too who decide upon the death of the child in the womb. In the first place, the father of the child may be to blame, not only when he directly pressures the woman to have an abortion, but also when he indirectly encourages such a decision on her part by leaving her alone to face the problems of pregnancy: 55 in this way the family is thus mortally wounded and profaned in its nature as a community of love and in its vocation to be the “sanctuary of life”. Nor can one overlook the pressures which sometimes come from the wider family circle and from friends. Sometimes the woman is subjected to such strong pressure that she feels psychologically forced to have an abortion: certainly in this case moral responsibility lies particularly with those who have directly or indirectly obliged her to have an abortion. (Chapter III, 58-59)

I would now like to say a special word to women who have had an abortion. The Church is aware of the many factors which may have influenced your decision, and she does not doubt that in many cases it was a painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your heart may not yet have healed. Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, give yourselves over with humility and trust to repentance. The Father of mercies is ready to give you his forgiveness and his peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. To the same Father and his mercy you can with sure hope entrust your child. With the friendly and expert help and advice of other people, and as a result of your own painful experience, you can be among the most eloquent defenders of everyone’s right to life. Through your commitment to life, whether by accepting the birth of other children or by welcoming and caring for those most in need of someone to be close to them, you will become promoters of a new way of looking at human life. (Chapter IV, 99)

 

[3DOCTORS]

Question - has anyone personally known a person who was “pro-choice” (whether a little or a lot) who helped a woman in a crisis pregnancy to be empowered to keep her baby?