As 2021 draws to a close, we have much to reflect on. I will not add to the lengthy list of events we lament in this post, but rather I report an uplifting message in the struggle to protect life and individual dignity.

At the close of church services recently, a priest remarked about the conspicuous dignity of the unborn child. The use of the word conspicuous in that context grabbed my ear. More and more people in societies around the world do see the unborn child as a person entitled to life and having the right to be treated with dignity. Those rights are becoming conspicuous, standing out so as to be clearly visible to more and more people.

One of the most important demonstrations to support that fact are those who have survived attempted abortion. Many of their stories are found on the website of the Abortion Survivors Network https://abortionsurvivors.org/ Those helpless unborn individuals survived an attempt to end their lives in the womb. As adults they inform us that they were real people even when in the womb, that they wanted to live, and that their lives matter.

Shawn Carney has made an end of year report on the 2021 worldwide 40 Days for Life campaign which further inspires us. “More people prayed, fasted, and stood in peaceful vigil in 2021 than any previous year,” he reports. He further reports that 2,260 women (that they have confirmed) chose life for their baby as a result of these prayer vigils at abortion clinics, more than twice as many as in 2020 (which was influenced heavily in all respects by the pandemic).

In addition, 18 more abortion workers converted to the pro-life movement and 7 more abortion facilities closed in 2021. From its inception, 20,368 mothers have chosen not to have an abortion, 229 abortion workers have converted, and 114 abortion facilities have closed.

In the United States, education of the public and efforts to provide for every need of the expectant mother is reaching deeper into communities where at-risk women live. However, there is also a powerful pro-abortion faction in the US with aggressive support from the highest officials in the current federal government. Those people have promised to make more federal tax money available to pay for abortion on demand for any reason. And, they propose to make it a violation of federal law for any entity (essentially religious organizations) to refuse to prescribe contraception or provide abortion as part of health insurance benefits. In an equally troubling move, they promise to criminalize refusal by a health care worker to perform an abortion, or assist in performing an abortion based, on religious beliefs.

On a worldwide scale, the current administration has acted to reverse former US policy and has released huge amounts of money to foreign entities to encourage and support abortion. Impoverished and poorly educated women in countries with few resources are easy victims of a system designed to generate profit in US dollars for the abortionists, who are eager to get a piece of the pie.

Planned Parenthood has long been the most visible head of the abortion industry, performing 40% of abortions in the US. They have much support from prominent people and powerful politicians. They publicly proclaim their political position and donate tens of millions of dollars to elect people to public office who with reinforce their profit stream from doing abortions. They have earned special attention, but there are the other 60% that we must not forget about.

I did promise to be uplifting in this post, but we needed first to understand that our success against the evil which is represented by wanton abortion of unborn people is not without fierce and well-funded opposition. Leaders in the highest offices in the land take money from the abortion industry and have promised to criminalize opposition to abortion.

Just like “freedom is not free,” the right to life comes with a price tag. It is not guaranteed to persist, even for us, much less with the opportunity to extend that right to the unborn, unless we take action to make it so.

We are winning the battle, for now, but victory is not assured, and will not be achieved until we have changed the hearts and minds of the people. To this end, I have encouraged you in prior posts concerning current events which are being carried out by people like you and me, people deeply concerned, who have stepped up to take action and be counted.

I now ask you to join with them and with me. Let us stand to be counted; let us volunteer to help when we can; let us donate financially to organizations in our communities and also to those who are active on a national level.

The future belongs not only to us, but to our children. This frightful attack on life, dignity, and individual freedoms must be strongly opposed, and every single person is important to preservation of these basic human values. Let 2022 be the year !