One of the gravest sins of our times here in America and around the world is abortion. It is also one of the greatest debates in our country with very divisive sides. First, we must realize that both sides (pro-life and pro-choice) are for the safety and welfare of the women. We must also realize that abortion is about babies and mothers and we as pro-lifers care about both.
VIDEO – “No Room” by Remnant (Spoken Word) – March for Life 2012
Babies are real, not some type of tissue,
Some people want to side step the issue
We need to show and tell We’re talking heaven; hell.
What side will you be on?
Pharaoh on a rampage, Began to slaughter
Every Jewish son or daughter, Threw them in the Nile
No room for a rival. What side will you be on?
Herod was threated by rival king, A jealously the world had never seen
Holy Innocents, we’re talking common sense. What side will you be on?
Mary and Joseph from home to home, The little baby Jesus was left alone
Born and a stable, But God was still able. To let His love be know
Pregnant and confused, in a world of lies
You will fooling around, And you got surprised
One wrong choice, And a baby dies. What side will you be on?
The world will say, O how inconvenient
We’re here to say it’s a baby, keep it, Hands, feet and nose
Inside a baby grows. What side will you be on?
Three times and history dignity has been attacked
Blacks 3/5 a person, what's up with that,
Why does it take us so long to realize right from wrong,
What side will you be on?
One crazy man has some serious issues,
needed someone to blame so he chose the Jew's,
how many did he kill, before we said it's real. What side will you be on?
Roe vs Wade in 1973, stole a generation from you and me,
we got to make some noise, they need to hear our voice.
What side will you be on?
ACTIVITY – The Other Side
How can we say that people on the Pro-Abortion (Pro-Choice) side are for women? Click on the Link “The Other Side” on the main page of the pro-life packet and read online or print the first chapter of Abby Johnson’s book “Unplanned”. Abby was a Planned Parenthood director that became pro-life primarily because of the truth and charity shown to her by pro-lifers.
The act of an abortion is wrong and will always be wrong. Is saying abortion wrong the same as saying a woman is bad or evil, and therefore going to hell? With any action we look at three things: the action itself, the intention of the one committing the action, and the knowledge of the person committing the action. The action of abortion is always wrong, in every case. It is always a grave or serious matter. When a woman commits an abortion it is a sin and we can rightly say that. We can judge the action. What we do not know or cannot judge is her intention and her knowledge. What if she has been told that she has a “blob of tissue” in her body and that it can be simply removed? If she has been told this and honestly believes it, she is ignorant and makes a sinful choice, out of ignorance. Even though the woman has sinned, she is held as accountable due to her ignorance. We can also look at her intention. If the woman believes in the lie that the baby is just a blob of tissue and this blob of tissue will ruin her life, she can be easily persuaded to have an abortion. God is the only one who can judge intention and knowledge, because He sees the heart of each person. We can continue to educate people (helping them have knowledge of the truth) and continue to pray and support people (helping them to have good intentions and not be afraid).
SHORT FILM – “180” Movie
***VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED*** This video deals with the Holocaust and abortion. Some images and scenes may be too intense for younger viewers. Also you can omit the ending, which has an evangelical twist.
The video shows a person asking various people in public questions about Hitler and the Holocaust. It then turns into a conversation about abortion and shows the parallels between the two. The video does a great job of cutting through the grey and not getting muddied up with wording. He sticks with the truth, and the clear message of why abortion is wrong. It shows the necessity of educating the public on the sin of abortion, and how if we can have simple, straightforward, and truthful dialogue with people, we can change their hearts and mind on abortion just like the video did, and just like Abby Johnson experienced.
Sadly, since abortion was legalized, it has become the norm and is looked upon as a “grey” issue. The Church, spearheaded by our Holy Fathers, helps us realize this is not a “grey” issue. Blessed Pope John Paul II wrote a powerful encyclical Evangelium Vitae, which navigates us through the Gospel of Life
“But today in many people’s consciences the perception of its gravity has become progressively obscured. The acceptance of abortion in the popular mind, in behavior and even in law itself, is a telling sign of an extremely dangerous crisis of the moral sense, which is becoming more and more incapable of distinguishing between good and evil, even when the fundamental right to life is at stake. Given such a grave situation, we need now more than ever to have the courage to look the truth in the eye and to call things by their proper name, without yielding to convenient compromises or to the temptation of self-deception. In this regard the reproach of the Prophet is extremely straightforward: ‘Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, put darkness for light and light for darkness’[i]. Especially in the case of abortion there is a widespread use of ambiguous terminology, such as ‘interruption of pregnancy,’ which tends to hide abortion’s true nature and to attenuate its seriousness in public opinion.”[ii]