As noted in the title, in this post I draw upon articles in recent editions of the National Catholic Register. The contributors and editors report in every issue on some facet of the struggle to protect the sanctity of life and the dignity of those whose lives are diminished… many of those destroyed by abortion. However, those who attack life and human dignity are also assaulting our freedoms to assemble, speak freely, and educate our children, to name a few of the current serious cultural conflicts.

The National Right to Life sponsored a full page ad with a picture of a tiny developing baby. The caption reads: “Her heart is beating. For Now. An unborn baby’s heart is beating until she dies from abortion. Her brain waves could be recorded as early as six weeks. She, along with 800,000 potential playmates, will die from abortion this year. And powerful political forces believe there should be more abortions, even late in pregnancy, and paid for with your tax dollars.”

An organization named Students for Life investigated 784 Christian institutions, of which 237 (30%) were Catholic schools. They found that 81 of the 547 non-Catholic Christian schools (14.8%) and 22 of the 237 Catholic schools (9.3%) had ties to Planned Parenthood.

The investigation was conducted from viewing the school web sites where such relationships were found as: promoting PP as an internship opportunity for credit; promoting PP as a student resource; advertising or partnering with PP for an event; promoting PP as a career or volunteer opportunity.

When the schools with ties to PP were contacted concerning the issue, the number of non-Catholic schools continuing the relationship dropped to 61 (down from 14.8% to 11.2%) and the Catholic schools dropped to 8 (down from 9.3% to 3.4%). PP performed 354,871 abortions in 2021. None of the schools continuing to work with PP returned calls of inquiry. Some of those schools continued to have the same (or modified) links on their web sites, while at least one school hid the links behind a log in screen.

NCR also recently carried a story on surrogate motherhood. Surrogacy involves an arrangement whereby a woman agrees to bear someone else’s biological child and to surrender the child at birth, typically for monetary compensation. Surrogacy is most often arranged by wealthy couples for the convenience of not having to conceive in a natural way or just because the woman does not want to deal with a pregnancy.

The Catholic Church teaches against the practice, and some feminists express revulsion and cite negative implications for women. Comments include references to the perils of pregnancy and cite that the industry is unregulated. In another comment, there is the issue of the bond between the mother and child and the impact on the child when it is learned that he/she was conceived and carried to term in a rent-a-womb.

The article also cites the Church position that a child is a “gift” and that there is no”right” to a child. A child is not a piece of property. And, by bearing children, man and woman uniquely cooperate with Creator God. Pope John Paul II’s “Letter to Women” speaks to the beauty of being a woman and especially a mother. Other angles on this issue include human trafficking with the intention of reproductive exploitation of both the woman and the child. Other statements point out that poor women are at the financial and emotional mercy of the wealthy; women have to use their bodies or sell their eggs to meet their economic needs.

In another article, there are comments by a man who attended the March for Life in Washington, DC, his first time. He describes himself as an “old culture warrior” who has been in the battle since Roe v Wade in1973. He cites his astonishment at how young the crowd was…average age about 30-35, and he observed buses unloading men and women no older than their 20’s from all over the country. Many, if not most, seemed to be from colleges; he counted over 150 different college logos. He was greatly encouraged that the future of the pro-life movement is in good hands.

At the same time, Catholics at the March for Life Prayer Vigil at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception were praying for a renewed reverence for human life. Outside, a demonstration by “Catholics for Choice” supported abortion on demand for any reason. One has to wonder why they would bother to call themselves “Catholic” while showing such disrespect for the wanton destruction of human life and supporting the denigration of women. Calling oneself a unicorn does not make one a unicorn. Neither are they Catholic who lack compassion and deny women alternatives and support when there is an unwanted pregnancy in a very bad situation.

Let us be mindful of all these things. Whereas abortion is the biggest destroyer of human life and has a serious impact on women and lost fatherhood, and a ripple effect on extended families, it is by no means to only way in which “the culture of death” plagues our society. Let us not become weary, but redouble our commitment to “building a culture of life.”