At the time of writing, the NSW Parliament is rushing to judgement on legislation that will make abortion legal up until birth.
Thankfully people are coming together to protest, to keep vigil, to fast and to pray that this legislation is rejected. May God hear us, and change hearts, minds and votes.
Of course, abortion is touted as being about a woman's right to choose.
That’s just the issue, choice.
No one makes a choice in a vacuum.
From the many stories I have read online this past 12 months, the theme has been how frequently a woman is coerced by boyfriend, family and others into the abortion procedure, because it is much easier for everyone else if it all just goes away. I have seen figures that place this coercive pressure at 70% of all abortions.
Often the coercion comes in the form of ‘it is either me or the child, you can only have one, if you have the child I will leave you, if you get rid of the child I will stay’ and then in the aftermath, the boyfriend leaves anyway.
Or the coercion comes in the form of 'you won't be welcome here anymore if you have this child' or 'don't expect any help from us if you make this selfish choice' or 'if it is a girl get rid of it, I only want to father sons'.
And the coercion becomes in some cases life threatening if the powers that be want abortions to cover up rape, incest, child sexual abuse, sex trafficking, and to enable the cash flow to continue with prostitution. Abortion actually enables many of these crimes.
That is not choice.
Another thing that has come to light in recent years is just how much money is involved in abortion, and this isn't only the pressure to schedule as many abortions as possible, but also the sale of aborted babies bodies and body parts to medical research facilities and drug companies.
We have to remember that this 'big business' side of it has a vested interest in abortion, and in coercing and pressuring legislators to be pro-abortion.
We have to remember that this 'big business; side of it has a vested interest in late term abortions: they cost more money, they produce more useful body parts, they require Gosnell-like serial killers to perform them.
For so many women the pressure to abort is phenomenal, at every step choice is removed. Firstly the rejection by family and friends; then the legislation that prevents pregnancy counselling services from advertising if they don't refer for abortions, and removing funding from any pregnancy help service that doesn't refer for abortions, to preventing pregnant women seeing ultrasound images, and the various sales tactics once a pregnant woman talks to an abortion provider or referring agency; and the removal of pro-life presences outside abortion clinics.
Each of those practices is about removing any choice but the choice to abort.
If we were really about providing choice, there would be a Bill before Parliament
•to increase the number of Pregnancy Help centres,
•to increase the places a woman can stay safely while she has her child,
•to provide for those women who need financial and moral support with the courageous decision to go through with the pregnancy even if they have been thrown out of their living situation,
•to increase the funding for adoption centres and adoption counselling services
•to increase the funding for domestic violence refuges.
That would be providing for real choice.
Our choices affect others.
An abortion involves nurses and doctors, and this proposed legislation gives none of them an option to conscientiously object.
No one should be forced to act contrary to his or her conscience, especially someone who has vowed to protect and serve life through the Hippocratic Oath.
That isn't choice either.
If you have believed some of the rhetoric about how abortion should be permitted in cases of rape, then I challenge you to read stories from the #unplanned hashtag, read the stories of so many women who found themselves pregnant and in difficult circumstances, yet decided for the life of their unborn children, and how these unplanned children proved to be the greatest joy of their mothers.
If you have believed some of the rhetoric about how abortion doesn't have consequences for the mother, I challenge you to go and talk to psychologists. They will tell you that many cycles of destructive behaviour in women have a timeline for inception that coincides with an abortion experience.
If you have believed some of the rhetoric that an abortion procedure is anything but violent, I challenge you to watch this short YouTube clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=33&v=CFZDhM5Gwhk
May God grant the legislators of NSW (and throughout the world) a change of heart and mind and vote on this important issue. May they vote for a culture of life, and not for the culture of death that abortion is a lynch-pin of.
Our Lady, Help of Christians, pray for us.
Thankfully people are coming together to protest, to keep vigil, to fast and to pray that this legislation is rejected. May God hear us, and change hearts, minds and votes.
Of course, abortion is touted as being about a woman's right to choose.
That’s just the issue, choice.
No one makes a choice in a vacuum.
From the many stories I have read online this past 12 months, the theme has been how frequently a woman is coerced by boyfriend, family and others into the abortion procedure, because it is much easier for everyone else if it all just goes away. I have seen figures that place this coercive pressure at 70% of all abortions.
Often the coercion comes in the form of ‘it is either me or the child, you can only have one, if you have the child I will leave you, if you get rid of the child I will stay’ and then in the aftermath, the boyfriend leaves anyway.
Or the coercion comes in the form of 'you won't be welcome here anymore if you have this child' or 'don't expect any help from us if you make this selfish choice' or 'if it is a girl get rid of it, I only want to father sons'.
And the coercion becomes in some cases life threatening if the powers that be want abortions to cover up rape, incest, child sexual abuse, sex trafficking, and to enable the cash flow to continue with prostitution. Abortion actually enables many of these crimes.
That is not choice.
Another thing that has come to light in recent years is just how much money is involved in abortion, and this isn't only the pressure to schedule as many abortions as possible, but also the sale of aborted babies bodies and body parts to medical research facilities and drug companies.
We have to remember that this 'big business' side of it has a vested interest in abortion, and in coercing and pressuring legislators to be pro-abortion.
We have to remember that this 'big business; side of it has a vested interest in late term abortions: they cost more money, they produce more useful body parts, they require Gosnell-like serial killers to perform them.
For so many women the pressure to abort is phenomenal, at every step choice is removed. Firstly the rejection by family and friends; then the legislation that prevents pregnancy counselling services from advertising if they don't refer for abortions, and removing funding from any pregnancy help service that doesn't refer for abortions, to preventing pregnant women seeing ultrasound images, and the various sales tactics once a pregnant woman talks to an abortion provider or referring agency; and the removal of pro-life presences outside abortion clinics.
Each of those practices is about removing any choice but the choice to abort.
If we were really about providing choice, there would be a Bill before Parliament
•to increase the number of Pregnancy Help centres,
•to increase the places a woman can stay safely while she has her child,
•to provide for those women who need financial and moral support with the courageous decision to go through with the pregnancy even if they have been thrown out of their living situation,
•to increase the funding for adoption centres and adoption counselling services
•to increase the funding for domestic violence refuges.
That would be providing for real choice.
Our choices affect others.
An abortion involves nurses and doctors, and this proposed legislation gives none of them an option to conscientiously object.
No one should be forced to act contrary to his or her conscience, especially someone who has vowed to protect and serve life through the Hippocratic Oath.
That isn't choice either.
If you have believed some of the rhetoric about how abortion should be permitted in cases of rape, then I challenge you to read stories from the #unplanned hashtag, read the stories of so many women who found themselves pregnant and in difficult circumstances, yet decided for the life of their unborn children, and how these unplanned children proved to be the greatest joy of their mothers.
If you have believed some of the rhetoric about how abortion doesn't have consequences for the mother, I challenge you to go and talk to psychologists. They will tell you that many cycles of destructive behaviour in women have a timeline for inception that coincides with an abortion experience.
If you have believed some of the rhetoric that an abortion procedure is anything but violent, I challenge you to watch this short YouTube clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=33&v=CFZDhM5Gwhk
May God grant the legislators of NSW (and throughout the world) a change of heart and mind and vote on this important issue. May they vote for a culture of life, and not for the culture of death that abortion is a lynch-pin of.
Our Lady, Help of Christians, pray for us.