What should I do in this scenario?

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JD27076

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Scenario:

So your [A Catholic] driving down the road and you see a lady and an older man on the side of a road with a flat tire. Because your so kind to people, you stop over and going to help them and get them back on the road. As you start to get out your equipment you start to be kindly and have small talk and you ask them where they are heading. The father says to the abortion clinic to see if we can get rid of this baby in my daughter…Of course, as a good moral Catholic, you will look very surprised, but also a little angry.

What do we do? Do we just gather our stuff and drive on without helping them since it would be a mortal sin to aid people to get an abortion…Or do we be good motor operators and help them back on the road? You never know, someone else could help and be a murderer, rapist, or God knows what!! 😦

So in this scenario, what do we do?
 
JD27076 said:
Scenario:

So your [A Catholic] driving down the road and you see a lady and an older man on the side of a road with a flat tire. Because your so kind to people, you stop over and going to help them and get them back on the road. As you start to get out your equipment you start to be kindly and have small talk and you ask them where they are heading. The father says to the abortion clinic to see if we can get rid of this baby in my daughter…Of course, as a good moral Catholic, you will look very surprised, but also a little angry.

What do we do? Do we just gather our stuff and drive on without helping them since it would be a mortal sin to aid people to get an abortion…Or do we be good motor operators and help them back on the road? You never know, someone else could help and be a murderer, rapist, or God knows what!! 😦

So in this scenario, what do we do?
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You help them. First of all, you assist them with their car troubles, all the while using this as a huge opportunity to witness to the both of them, gently educating them on the lesser known facts about abortion and make sure they are aware of all the crisis pregnancy resources out there available for the daughter. (Just like the sidewalk counselors do). Why not make sure you have business cards with those resources listed on them with you in your wallet or car? And also have resource cards for referring a homeless person to the local shelter or a hungry person to the food pantry.
 
LightBound said:
You help them. First of all, you assist them with their car troubles, all the while using this as a huge opportunity to witness to the both of them, gently educating them on the lesser known facts about abortion and make sure they are aware of all the crisis pregnancy resources out there available for the daughter. (Just like the sidewalk counselors do). Why not make sure you have business cards with those resources listed on them with you in your wallet or car? And also have resource cards for referring a homeless person to the local shelter or a hungry person to the food pantry.
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Help them very slowly making sure that the clinic they are going to is closed.
 
JD27076 said:
Scenario:

So your [A Catholic] driving down the road and you see a lady and an older man on the side of a road with a flat tire. Because your so kind to people, you stop over and going to help them and get them back on the road. As you start to get out your equipment you start to be kindly and have small talk and you ask them where they are heading. The father says to the abortion clinic to see if we can get rid of this baby in my daughter…Of course, as a good moral Catholic, you will look very surprised, but also a little angry.

What do we do? Do we just gather our stuff and drive on without helping them since it would be a mortal sin to aid people to get an abortion…Or do we be good motor operators and help them back on the road? You never know, someone else could help and be a murderer, rapist, or God knows what!! 😦

So in this scenario, what do we do?
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This is one of the more interesting questions I’ve ever seen asked on these forums. Really makes you think.

After getting over my initial anger and calming down a bit, I’d help with the car but I’d tell them that I am very against abortion and give my precise, logical reasons why. I’d point out that there are crisis pregnancy centers always available to help and adoption is always an option. And I’d give the facts. I’d explain why I think abortion is murder.

That said, while these people are going to kill a child they’re not bad people. Abortion is unique to other types of murders in that it’s very hard to feel like you’re killing a child because you can’t see the child or really interact with them at all.

More than that we have a culture that is actively trying to convince them that the fetus is not a child. Is it really a surprise that a young girl or woman is so scared by an unexpected pregnancy that they rationalize to themselves that the fetus is not a human.

So I think we should be focusing on winning souls through love. Leaving them on the side of the road once we learn they’re pro-choice won’t stop them from getting the abortion (they won’t be stuck there forever) and it will give them a lower opinion of pro-lifers. A lose-lose.

Let’s explain our position, give them advice, and pray for them, then send them on their way. Now we’ve at least made them believe that hey, maybe pro-lifers aren’t so extremist after all. Maybe they have something worth saying.
 
You know all those people Jesus cured? Each and every one was a sinner. Did they keep sinning even after Jesus cured them? Almost certainly. Mortal sins? Serious ones? Almost certainly, at least some of them.

Did He say ‘well, if I help this leper/paralytic/blind man it’s only going to enable him to keep on sinning in all these horrible ways. So I think I won’t bother’? Never once.
 
And if the father had said, “Thanks for stopping. We’re on our way to rob a bank.” Would you help?

And if the father had said, “Thanks for stopping. We’re on our way to kill a 45 yr old man.” Would you help?

Just because the man doesn’t think he’s doing anything wrong does not change the fact that he is. Helping someone procure an abortion is a mortal sin and I’ll pass, thanks.
 
Phaedra777 said:
And if the father had said, “Thanks for stopping. We’re on our way to rob a bank.” Would you help?

And if the father had said, “Thanks for stopping. We’re on our way to kill a 45 yr old man.” Would you help?

Just because the man doesn’t think he’s doing anything wrong does not change the fact that he is. Helping someone procure an abortion is a mortal sin and I’ll pass, thanks.
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Graphic language alert …

Yes, but you don’t know if they mean what they say.

You also don’t know that they’re not going to come across someone passed out by the side of the road 100 metres in front of the clinic, and stop to help that person, who would die without them being there - and hence die without you helping fix the car. And miss the appointment and change their minds anyway.

And you equally don’t know that if they miss the appointment because of you that the girl won’t go straight home and use a coathanger or knitting needle on herself (or her father use it on her), botch it and kill herself as well as the baby. In which case you have not only not prevented the abortion but contributed to killing the mother as well as the baby.

There is a very limited extent to which we are responsible for the moral choices of autonomous adults who are strangers to us. Not that there aren’t some occasions on which we are, but I don’t think this is proximate enough to be one of them.
 
And you don’t know that God didn’t act to stop them from getting there.

Bottom line: You either consider helping them with the car as helping them procure an abortion or you don’t. Which is why I asked the bank robbery/murder question. Would you help fix a car no matter what the people said they were going to do or would you not help in certain situations? And if not, why would you help in the abortion case?
 
Phaedra777 said:
Just because the man doesn’t think he’s doing anything wrong does not change the fact that he is. Helping someone procure an abortion is a mortal sin and I’ll pass, thanks.
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You’re missing important facts here:
  1. Robbing a bank is illegal. Thus, we could call the police and they would stop it.
  2. Killing a 45 year old man is illegal. Thus, we could call the police and they would put a stop to it.
  3. Abortion is NOT illegal, so there’s much less we can do to stop it. Leaving them at the side of the road won’t stop them from getting an abortion. It will get these people to lose respect for pro-lifers, brand us as extremists, and ultimately hurt the cause.
We should win back souls through love.
 
Marc_Anthony said:
  1. Abortion is NOT illegal, so there’s much less we can do to stop it.
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Not helping them get to the abortion mill is something that can be done.

Adultery is not illegal either but I’m not going to enable that either.

Anyway, this thread could have been a poll and obviously my answer is: No help because I consider it helping to procure an abortion.
 
Phaedra777 said:
Just because the man doesn’t think he’s doing anything wrong does not change the fact that he is. Helping someone procure an abortion is a mortal sin and I’ll pass, thanks.
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The sole purpose of fixing their car is not that they get an abortion, but that they are not stranded. It is also an excellent chance to attempt to change their mind. If your state has a Safe Haven law, that’s a decent place to start
 
Phaedra777 said:
Not helping them get to the abortion mill is something that can be done.
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True, that can be done. It would give us a missed chance at evangelization, but it can be done.
Phaedra777 said:
Adultery is not illegal either but I’m not going to enable that either.
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  1. If you read my post I said that I consider helping them to be the best way to prevent abortions. I explained above, but to recap:
If we leave them there, they have a negative opinion of pro-lifers. We get branded as extremists and blocked out of discussions. They get the abortion anyway. Losses all around.

If we help them we prove that pro-lifers are not extremists. We tell them of other options. We explain our views. And we leave them with a good impression of pro-lifers. Then maybe they’ll think we’re not so bad after all. It may plant the seeds in their heart to convert more hearts.
  1. In the adultery example the main difference is that I know of very, very few people who consider adultery morally acceptable-actually, come to think of it, I don’t know ANYBODY who finds adultery morally acceptable. So there’s no chance of “winning a soul” here-if this person doesn’t know why adultery is wrong or why people think adultery is wrong, he/she’s delusional.
 
Phaedra777 said:
Not helping them get to the abortion mill is something that can be done.

Adultery is not illegal either but I’m not going to enable that either.

Anyway, this thread could have been a poll and obviously my answer is: No help because I consider it helping to procure an abortion.
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And leaving them stranded by the side of the road could quite possibly procure them being murdered or violently mugged (depending on where they were).

Bottom line for me is that someone who is determined to get an abortion will get it. Trying to persuade them out of it is one thing. Physically preventing them is another - their attitude is still one of sin, and since it was not their choice to not get the abortion their guilt will be no less.

Helping them - as in driving them to the abortion clinic yourself or keeping silent about it - is one thing. Merely fixing their car is another.

You should familiarise yourself with the difference between indirect and direct, material and remote co-operation with evil. And equally importantly with the principle of double effect.

Heck, the girl can even have that baby removed from her body whilst it is still alive, with no chance of it surviving, provided that she is doing so for therapeutic reasons - ie as a consequence of an ectopic pregnancy, or in the course of being treated for cancer of the reproductive organs or the like.

I suppose you WILL be sufficiently morally aware to stop in the middle of all your huffing and puffing about the evils of abortion to ask her or her father whether she is in fact being treated for a medical condition in this manner rather than merely removing the baby because she doesn’t want it? Laypeople aren’t always sophisticated enough to understand the finer points y’know. And so may think of any ‘women’s health’ clinic, many of which offer therapeutic as well as contraceptive services or abortions, as an abortion clinic. And any therapeutic service as an abortion.

Another factor - if you voice your disapproval whilst fixing their car for them you are much more likely to be listened to and taken seriously. Refusing to extend the common courtesy that you should to any stranded motorist will just turn them off anything you have to say about the matter.
 
Offer to drive them and get lost.

I would say help them and talk to them about your beliefs about abortion. I don’t need o recap some of the good posts above.
 
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