Why the focus on abortion?

[Tis_Bearself]

I also grew up in the 70s/80s. My sense is that it was simply not discussed, same as with any other matters of sex and sexuality. Sexual morality was enforced by ignoring the existence of sex.
We had a new priest in the late 70s who used THAT WORD in a homily once or twice and it caused an uncomfortable stir in the parish.

It was discussed here. When Roe v. Wade came down, we had multiple homilies on it from the pulpit. I was 9 years old at the time and I remember them to this day, partly because my favorite homilist at the time out of our parish priests gave one of the homilies. “If Joanie Nurse decides she doesn’t want to assist with an abortion at the hospital” blahblahblah.

When the abortion episode of the TV show “Maude” came out, we also had the bishop and our pastor in the pulpit telling us not to watch it and not to watch the show and in no uncertain terms why we shouldn’t support the show.

One thought that was always in my mind when I was a teenager was that if I should somehow get accidentally pregnant, I could NOT just “fix my mistake” by having an abortion. I would have to tell my parents, carry the baby, and have it. This was terrifying, but at the same time I couldn’t imagine burning the skin off a baby with saline any more than I could see myself killing a puppy. It was a huge deterrent to having teenage sex, that’s for sure.

 

[virgo]

I so appreciate all of the thought provoking responses. Thank you all for keeping things civil. I still feel that Catholic media overdoes it with the abortion talk, and I’d love to hear other topics discussed: Spirituality, lives of the saints, personal prayer life, etc. I guess I should clarify that it’s not that I don’t see the egregiousness of abortion, but I am starting to question it’s heavy presence across Catholic media (social media included). I would love some diversity of discussion, that’s all.

 

[Brendan_64]

Yes, and that is my point. Why the focus on abortion and not other forms of genocide?

Because abortion kills around 40 to 50 million children worldwide every year. 40 to 50 million children killed every single year. Name me any other cause on our planet that kills innocent children on that scale. And it’s legal!

 

[Azaryahtt]

I agree so much with you, I understand that is an important Topic, but at times I feel is so hypocritical How Many not want babies have been given up to nuns homes , just to have a miserable life in there , how about that for social injustice?

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I still feel that Catholic media overdoes it with the abortion talk

Oh well, media, that’s another thing. “Catholic Media” has about top three songs they play over and over: abortion, gays, and Problems with the Pope. Because that’s what sells.

I have said this before, but I pretty much confine myself to WAOB Radio run by the Benedictines. Masses, the Angelus, prayers, rebroadcasts of Papal homilies from different Popes, and bishops explaining Scripture. I like it much better than lay people going on about politics or anything else.

EWTN TV also has some nice programs: saints, rosaries, reruns of Fulton Sheen.

Don’t have much time in my life for Catholic “talk radio” and I limit my dosage of the online bloggers and such.

 

[1ke]

How Many not want babies have been given up to nuns homes , just to have a miserable life in there , how about that for social injustice?

Very few.

Firstly, most babies are adopted very quickly when they are legally adoptable.

Secondly, those who are not able to be adopted, because they are not legally free for adoption or other situations, and live in foster homes, which despite the portrayal in TV and movies are NOT horrible places. And most orphanages are also not like TV and movies. We support an orphan in Peru, and our diocese runs the orphanage. It’s a wonderful place, not a terrible place. They don’t live “miserable lives”.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Unfortunately, the media never covers children who had a good life in a home or a foster situation. We only hear the horror stories.
I know some people who are foster parents and they are very happy. They’d like to adopt the child but there are legal complications.

 

[virgo]

I will look those up stat, thanks!

And yes, I am mostly referring to media—both public media and social media (Catholics I know posting prolife memes every 15 minutes or so)

 

[Thomasbradley312]

Sounds like you are about the same as the majority of Germans during the Nazi regime.
You know it’s wrong but oh well not your fight. History never looks good on those people.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I only know a handful of Catholics as friends in RL, and most of them are not observant, and the ones who are observant are mostly in irregular situations.
None of us post pro-life memes. It would be pot stirring since we already know the vast majority of our friends are “pro-choice”. It would accomplish nothing but turmoil.

When I want to go do something pro-life, I go march in person, or pray.

 

[Azaryahtt]

Still , I feel he’s got a point, the church’s in shreds, and.it’s not me saying it , you just got to look around .it’s just a matter of priorities

 

[on_the_hill]

It was discussed here. When Roe v. Wade came down, we had multiple homilies on it from the pulpit. I was 9 years old at the time and I remember them to this day, partly because my favorite homilist at the time out of our parish priests gave one of the homilies. “If Joanie Nurse decides she doesn’t want to assist with an abortion at the hospital” blahblahblah.

When the abortion episode of the TV show “Maude” came out, we also had the bishop and our pastor in the pulpit telling us not to watch it and not to watch the show and in no uncertain terms why we shouldn’t support the show.

Wow. There was nary a word about it where I was. And I only recently became aware of the Maude episode. It wasn’t a show we watched much, and a few months ago when I read about Maude’s abortion episode, I had a vague recollection that my mother took a dim view of the series. Maybe that’s why.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

We were pretty much told not to watch it under pain of sin. This sparked many playground arguments between those of us whose parents followed the pastor’s directive and didn’t watch it, and those whose parents liked the show and watched it anyway. Lots of “Oh yeah? Well MY mother said…”

 

[Padres1969]

More like 1700 per day but who is counting…

 

[stpurl]

Because the right to life is the basis from which all those other topics ‘flow’, if you understand me.

Because genocide is not something legalized. Because starvation is not something legalized. Because where those practices are de facto encouraged, winked at, or 'couched in other terminology in other places, there ARE Christians out there fighting to help. You don’t 'see it"? Perhaps because in some places it is downright dangerous for John or Jane Catholic/other Christian to be talking about their work, lest it bring down retaliation and cause the help to cease. Perhaps because most media know gosh darn well how to convey their slant and bias. So easy to pound out and edit sound bytes and make it appear that 'all Catholic anti-abortion people are bigoted, screaming fanatics who care nothing except about punishing women and then ignoring children or needy who are actually ‘here’.

Honestly, to assume that "Catholics only focus on abortion’, "Catholics don’t focus on other worthwhile topics’, and the other kind of 'comments made based on what the ‘narrative of the modern media’ has presented shows more that somebody has ‘swallowed the propaganda’. It’s hard NOT to in this society, but hopefully a search off the beaten path and a good hard (if somewhat jaundiced) look at how media is trying to paint one picture and what is actually truly ‘behind’ it will help.

 

[blackforest]

So—why the almost fanatical obsession in our faith community? Maybe I’m just imagining it?

I’ve explained this in other threads of this same topic, but am happy to repeat it because it’s a salient point.

Abortion is unique among human rights issues in the level of sheer denial surrounding it. You don’t hear things like:

“Don’t like LGBTQ people getting beaten up? Then don’t beat one up. But stop imposing your morality on bigots!”

“It’s not fair to call them ‘child’ soldiers. They’re not real children until they have Feature X or have reached Milestone Y.”

“You’re such a hypocrite. Unless you adopt children being trafficked, you’re not REALLY against child trafficking!”`

By contrast, abortion happens every day, right under our noses, with unthinkable levels of denial about it.

Maybe I’m just imagining it?

A little. You need to poke around CAF more. Those immigration threads get at least as much attention as abortion. If anything, they’re uglier because they show a lot of Catholics in brutal disagreement.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Honestly, to assume that "Catholics only focus on abortion’, "Catholics don’t focus on other worthwhile topics’, and the other kind of 'comments made based on what the ‘narrative of the modern media’ has presented shows more that somebody has ‘swallowed the propaganda’. It’s hard NOT to in this society, but hopefully a search off the beaten path and a good hard (if somewhat jaundiced) look at how media is trying to paint one picture and what is actually truly ‘behind’ it will help.

We also need to remind people who say things like “The Church doesn’t care about children after they are born” (including at least one of the Catholics in this thread, which is just sad) that caring for children after they are born is charity, and Catholics often don’t talk about their charity. I’m not going to pop on here every time I make a donation to a charity that helps babies after they are born and go, “Hey, I just donated X dollars today!” It’s supposed to be between me and God. Same for food drives, volunteering or anything else that people try to do to help kids and moms in need. Virtually every parish I visit has food drives, charity drives, baby formula drives, something, going on at all times. People are giving (I see the food being dropped off and so forth). They just don’t announce it and the Church isn’t making a big speech about the fact that it helps, and has always helped, poor people.
One can also find all kinds of charity initiatives run by the Catholic Church online to donate to if you want to help kids in other countries, and people donate to those as well.

We’re more vocal about abortion because it’s a political issue; we have to make our voices heard. We can’t make abortion go away through secret acts of charity, although many pro-life people do refer the pregnant women to resources for help.

Somehow the propaganda machine translates this into, “The Church doesn’t care about babies after they are born.” When I see people believing this, it just makes me feel sick. Sometimes it’s coming from some person who felt they weren’t “helped” enough when they were in need; it’s one of those “disgruntled Catholic” stories. But other times it just seems to come from somebody who wants to believe propaganda. I don’t get it unless they are trying to self-justify abortion.

 

[Kathrynlv]

“Yes, and that is my point. Why the focus on abortion and not other forms of genocide?”

Other forms of genocide are not legal and accepted as normal in our society. It also does not recognize the humanity of the person in the womb, only the right to the “privacy” of the mother to decide such matters. This form of genocide is legal.

“Is it permissible to contract a hitman to solve a problem?” Pope Francis

 

[Shasta-Rose]

Yes, I see what you mean. Thanks, KMC.

 

[undead_rat]

In my opinion, nuclear weapons are the real problem, and the focus on abortion serves to deflect attention from this issue for those who do not want to face up to it.