3rd Sunday after Epiphany
Christ came to our world that we might not be overcome by evil but freed from our slavery to sin. By His Cross He destroyed the power the devil, the flesh, and the world have over us because sanctifying grace makes us holy and pleasing to God.
Of the many evils we face in the world, perhaps the gravest is the unjust killing of the most innocent; that is, the unborn. Many speak of the rights of individuals or groups of people; however, if we are to have any genuine rights at all, the fundamental human right to life must be upheld by society. The life of infants in the womb is central to an authentic respect for human dignity because these innocents have no voice but those who seek to protect them.
Those advocating the opposite position will raise objections and argue about when life begins, the circumstances of conception, and the life of the mother. First, science is quite clear when life begins. A new life is present from the moment of fertilization. It is a life separate from the mother's. Second, arguments concerning the circumstances under which a child was conceived are unconnected from the basic principle that this new life is sacred. Third, cases involving danger to the life of the mother are extremely rare.
There are situations involving the principle of double effect, where the secondary result is the death of the unborn; for example, surgically addressing an ectopic pregnancy or treating a pregnant woman who has cancer with chemotherapy. These do not constitute true abortion, nor are they sinful, because the death of the infant is not the primary intent but a secondary effect.
Pope Pius XI states, “However we may pity the mother whose health and even life is imperiled by the performance of her natural duty, there yet remains no sufficient reason for condoning the direct murder of the innocent.”
Abortion is the most crucial issue regarding life we face. Certainly there are a multitude of other moral concerns regarding life but none so essential to the basic right to life as this one. On some related moral questions, we are allowed to disagree. We may examine whether a war is just or not, if capital punishment should be applied, or how best to deal with an aggressor, but the moral teaching prohibiting abortion is absolute.
Pope Benedict XVI states, “While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.”
As we observe the day of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee for the right to life and of penance for the violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion tomorrow, may we not forget to pray for mothers who face difficult circumstances, for the protection of children in the womb, and for hearts to be enlightened and changed through grace.