Pro-Life Resources

Today marks the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. It also marks the annual March for Life in Washington D.C. and across the United States. I don't have a lot to add to the commentary offered up by better advocates than me. I've listed a few resources on the subject to help you better understand Church teaching and how to communicate to your family and friends, both Catholic and non-Catholic.

BOOKS

Recall Abortion, Janet Morana which will be released in a couple of days. Morana is the Executive Director of Priests for Life, co-founder of Silent No More and co-hosts Catholic View for Women on EWTN. This is what the notes from the publisher say:

Abortion Harms Women. Bad products are recalled every day: the Ford Pinto, faulty tires, dangerous prescription pills, contaminated lettuce. If a product is found to pose even a modest risk to those who use it, you can bet it will soon be pulled from the market . . .

Unless that product is abortion.

Every abortion kills an unborn child. But more, abortion harms women - risking the health and well-being of those who all too often are conned and coerced into making this terrible choice. If it were any other product, abortion would have been removed from the market long ago.

In RECALL ABORTION, author Janet Morana exposes the myriad ways abortion exploits women, and calls for a national recall of this deadly procedure. She documents the way abortion risks and degrades women's health. And she exposes the false promises and lies by which it is pushed and sold.

Morana also investigates abortion's debilitating after-effects, and gives a voice to those women who have chosen abortion and have regretted it. These testimonies (so often silenced by the abortion industry) are a powerful and sometimes heartbreaking glimpse into the real suffering abortion causes, including deep depression and lasting physical and emotional scars.

Abortion does not empower women. It is not health care. It harms women severely.

Isn't it time we recalled abortion?

Peter Kreeft offers a logical, pragmatic approach in his book Three Approaches to Abortion: A Thoughtful Compassionate Guide to Today's Most Controversial Issue. Kreeft is a philosophy professor at Boston College and a prolific writer. You can find most of his books at Ignatius Press, which should tell you something about the quality and authentic nature of his work. Here is an excerpt from his book:

Abortion is the single most divisive public issue of our time, as slavery was for the nineteenth century, or as prohibition was for the 1920's. Intelligent, committed pro-lifers will not be satisfied in principle with anything less than the legal prohibition, or abolition, of all abortion (though most pro-lifers are pragmatic enough to accept partial abolitions as incremental steps toward that goal). And intelligent, committed pro-choicers understand this and resist, also in principle, any of these incremental steps. Pro-lifers find it intolerable that the most innocent and vulnerable members of our society and our species are legally slaughtered. Pro-choicers find it intolerable that women be forced by law to bear unwanted children against their will. Neither side can or will budge, in principle. [NOTE: For an extended preview go to the Inside Scoop.]

ONLINE RESOURCES

• USCCB - Collection of Articles on Church Teaching on Abortion
• Peter Kreeft - The Apple Argument Against Abortion,  A non-religious approach to the debate
• Priests for Life - A comprehensive website with media and articles for pro-life activism.
• Rachel's Vineyard - Ministry designed to aid families heal from the suffering from the aftermath of abortion. Provides retreats and resources.
• Silent No More - Campaign to bring true awareness to the issue of abortion through real life testimonies of people who participated in abortions.

VATICAN DOCUMENTS

• Humanae vitae - Pope Paul VI's encyclical which prophesied the culture of death.
• Gaudium et spes - Vatican II document on the Church in the modern world. It goes into great detail in explaining and outlining the dignity of man and how it must be respected and preserved.

Feast of the Holy Innocentsand Modern Massacre of Innocents

Navez,  Massacre of the Innocents

Today the Church celebrates the memory of the Holy Innocents. King Herod feared the birth of the new "king of the Jews" so he "ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi" (Matt 2:16).

Rather than focus on the theological implications of the feast day (others have done a great job of that already), I'd like to propose we use this day to reflect on the modern massacre of the innocents - abortion.

Modern Massacre of Innocents
Over 40 Million innocent babies have been killed in the United States since 1973 when Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in this country. These numbers do not even reflect the U.S. government's efforts to export abortion to other countries. In January 2009, President Obama overturned the Mexico City policy which had prohibited U.S. funding of international groups that provided abortions. The Obama administration has implemented a systematic, anti-life agenda which it continues to pursue including the HHS Mandate that requires employers who  provide healthcare to employees now must include coverage for contraception, sterilization and abortifacients in the healthcare plans they offer.

Our Lady of Guadalupe
It's not enough to just say we are pro-life, we have to act. First, we must pray. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of unborn children. We should ask for her intercession and offer up Holy Hours before the Blessed Sacrament for an end to abortion. Furthermore, we can ask our parishes to make sure that pro-life prayers are incorporated into the Prayers of the Faithful.

Humanae Vitae
Next, we need to get formed and informed. We need to form our consciences in conformity with the teachings of Christ handed down by the Church. This begins by learning what the Church teaches on these matters of life. Two very good resources are Humanae Vitae and the Catechism.

Taking Action
It's not enough for us to form our consciences, we need to act on them. In this recent presidential election too many people, Catholics included, voted with their pocket books and left their consciences at home. In addition to voting with our consciences we should support the efforts of organizations like 40 Days for Life, Priests for Life, Rachel's Vineyard and Pro Life Across America.

Culture of Life
We need to attack the culture of death with a culture of authentic love. We don't pass judgement, we provide compassion. We don't reject, we comfort. We don't take, we give. We don't lie, we share the Truth.

PRAYER

God of power and mercy,
you blessed the Americas at Tepeyac
with the presence of the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe.
May her prayers help all men and women
to accept each other as brothers and sisters.
Through your justice present in our hearts
may your peace reign in the world.
O Lady of Guadalupe, pray for the Church in America
and walk with us in the third millennium of faith.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.
Amen.