What a sight!
Over 25 times from the top of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., I have seen a sea of people marching to proclaim the dignity of unborn human life, and how death-dealing abortion sends the unholy message that some human beings are disposable.
And the latest March for Life (Jan. 27) was equally inspiring. It’s always a moral and spiritual shot-in-the-arm for me.
But good as they are, the Washington “March for Life,” the “Walk for Life West Coast,” the “Midwest March for Life” (Feb. 4), and dozens of similar events at state capitols throughout the U.S., they simply are not enough.
While significant progress has been made to lessen the number of abortions, nonetheless, according to the National Right to Life Committee over 1 million unborn brothers and sisters are brutally dismembered by abortion each year.
And according to the World Health Organization over 55 million unborn babies worldwide are aborted every year.
Throughout the entire year believers in the God of life need to pray, educate, peacefully protest at abortion facilities, donate and lobby on behalf of the unborn – the unborn can’t do it for themselves.
It is important for us to remember what St. Mother Teresa said about abortion: “I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself … We must not be surprised when we hear of murders, of killings, of wars, of hatred. If a mother can kill her own child, what is left but for us to kill each other.”
How can any person who truly respects life support abortion – the barbaric dismembering of tiny innocent unborn babies (see: http://www.abortionno.org). There simply is no morally acceptable reason to perform an abortion.
The developing human being in utero is nothing short of miraculous!
Watch this fascinating video produced by Alexander Tsiaras, mathematician and former chief of scientific visualization at Yale University’s Department of Medicine (see: http://bit.ly/1XezTp2). And after watching it ask yourself, “How is it possible that anyone could destroy such a marvelous work of God.”
A civilized nation does not kill babies waiting to be born. And if we dare carry this life-affirming perspective to its logical moral conclusion, we must also declare that a civilized society does not kill anyone, for any reason, period.
That was the life-affirming perspective of the early church. In their theology no blood could be spilled – no abortion, no capital punishment, no war.
It was a Gospel-centered theology based on the unconditional love of God towards every person, as best exemplified by Jesus.
We would do well to walk in the footsteps of the nonviolent Master and his early followers, proclaiming in word and deed that no life is disposable, and that every person is a beloved child of the God of life!
- Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings about Catholic social teaching. His keynote address, “Advancing the Kingdom of God in the 21st Century,” has been well received by diocesan and parish gatherings from Santa Clara, Calif. to Baltimore, Md. Tony can be reached at tmag@zoominternet.net