Fundamentals

In 1916, Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, opened her first birth control clinic. In her Autobiography, she says she told clients that “abortion was the wrong way… no matter how early it was performed… it was taking life.”   (New York: Dover Publications, 1938, p. 217)

In 1933, Dr. Alan Guttmacher, who later became president of Planned Parenthood, wrote in his book Life in the Making: The Story of Human Procreation: “…man starts life as an embryo within the body of the female; …the embryo is formed from the union of two single cells, the ovum and the sperm.   This all seems so simple and evident that it is difficult to picture a time when it was not part of the common knowledge.” (New York: Viking Press, p. 3)

Similarly, in the September 1970 issue of California Medicine, an editorial titled “A New Ethic for Medicine and Society” and arguing for the legalization of abortion, noted “…a curious avoidance of the scientific fact, which everyone really knows, that human life begins at conception… considerable semantic gymnastics are required to rationalize abortion as anything but taking a human life.”   

In 1973, the case of Roe v. Wade--- the decision of whether or not to legalize “taking a human life”--- came before the Supreme Court.  Justice Blackmun, in his opinion, avoided “the scientific fact… that human life begins at conception.”  He wrote, “We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins…” and voted to legalize abortion.  He did, however, note one potential flaw in his judgment.  A clause in the Fourteenth Amendment says "…nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” He wrote, “…the appellee and certain amici argue that the fetus is a ‘person’ within the language and meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment… If this suggestion of personhood is established… the fetus’ right to life would be guaranteed specifically by the Amendment.”  But of course, since he couldn’t “resolve the ‘difficult’ question of when life begins,” he couldn’t very well find that a fetus is a “person” protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.

This dissimulation on the part of Court justices continues.  The Dobbs decision didn’t answer these questions, but simply threw them back to the states.  When Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson was asked in 2022 when human life begins, she responded, “I don’t know.”  This spells trouble: for the unborn, the long born, the Terri Schiavos, the physically and mentally handicapped, for lab engineered chimeras: the net will widen.  If our Constitution and its Amendments use the words “life” and “person” and our justices can’t say when human life begins or ends, or when a human is a person, our laws will be fashioned by the subjective opinions of those on the Supreme Court at that time.

Bishop Sheen commented on this trend in 1936.  He said: “If the world continues to get so far away from fundamentals, a day may yet come when the Church will go out to battle in defense of the truth that two and two make four, that grass is green in summer, and that snow is white. The excommunications of the future will not be against those who deny that there are Three Persons in One God, but against those who deny that every citizen in a State is a person.”

Unborn people are unique persons who should be protected by the 14th Amendment!  When difficult pregnancies occur, the goal should be to protect both the mother and her unborn child, and intentionally take the life of neither. But what about rape? The late Msgr. William Smith explained by analogy: If someone steals your ladder, you have a right to get it back. But if the thief sells the ladder to an unsuspecting neighbor, you can’t take it back while this innocent third party is standing on the rungs 40 feet up. The unborn child is that innocent third party.

Our job is to pray, to act, and to speak the truth about abortion with charity and compassion. This means charitably bringing up this topic with our friends and co-workers, perhaps volunteering with a prolife organization, and praying: the Rosary, the Angelus, the Liturgy of the Hours, daily Mass, before the Blessed Sacrament, etc.

We can help women and men who desire post abortion healing by directing them to resources available. Locally, this includes: Rich in Mercy, contact Denise at (763) 560-8383, or www.richinmercy.org; Rachel’s Vineyard Twin Cities (763) 250-9313, www.rvineyardmn.org ; and Project Rachel Sonya at (651) 291-4515, respectlife@archspm.org.

In the words of the Benedictines: “Ora et Labora.” Pray and work.

Please continue to support this apostolate through your prayers, by telling others, and if possible, a financial contribution. We need volunteers, especially those with filming, editing, and digitizing media skills. We have the equipment, but we need people. We would like more involvement by young Catholics.