January has certainly been a very busy month…the National March for Life in Washington, DC, the National Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of the Unborn, a Catholic Novena for Respect of Life, and (here in Texas) the Texas Rally for Life.
In the trenches, our pregnancy help centers are busier than ever. In the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, the call center for help from the Gabrielle Project has reached fifty daily, but direct help is only available to the ten most in need. Others are referred to their local PHC, but many of those are also experiencing unprecedented requests for help. Here in Texas, much of the sudden increased need is driven by Spanish-speaking immigrants. There are not enough Spanish-speaking volunteers to meet this unanticipated circumstance. Nevertheless, our resourceful and dedicated volunteers are digging in, and their faithful donors are responding to the need with generosity.
Nevertheless, hostility toward those advocating respect for life and human dignity goes all the way to the most powerful elected positions in United States government. Mark Houck and his 12-year-old son were demonstrating in a 40 Days for Life campaign outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Pennsylvania on October 13, 2021, when a man escorting a woman from the clinic shouted obscenities at the group. He then approached Houck and his son and continued with vulgar and insulting language. His son retreated behind his father, and Houck ordered the man to leave his son alone. However, the man again approached his son and shouted obscenities into his face from only one foot away. Houck stepped in and shoved the man away from his son.
The Planned Parenthood individual filed a lawsuit against Houck, but it was dismissed for lack of evidence of any illegal activity. However, Planned Parenthood has a lot of friends in high places, and a SWAT team of 20 FBI agents was ordered to raid Houck’s home, forcing their way inside and pointing their weapons at him and his wife and seven children, a tactic blatantly designed to intimidate the family and send a message to the pro-life community.
He was charged with assaulting the PP agent while trying to keep women from accessing the PP property. He faced a $350,000 fine and 11 years in jail. He was defended by 40 Days for Life, and it took a jury only one hour to find him not guilty of any offense at all. It was fairly obvious that PP instigated the situation and hoped to frighten away pro-life demonstrators, and in particular, the 40 Days for Life campaign. 40 DFL has cost PP vast amounts of money as women choose not to have an abortion.
In other pathetic news, on January 3 the FDA lifted the requirement for in-person dispensing of abortion pills so that they can be obtained by mail order and dispensed directly by pharmacies (in states where abortion is legal).
The National Council of Jewish Women has raised $1 million “to help thousands of women get abortions.” Evidently little has been learned from the holocaust of WW2.
On January 26, Democrats in the House introduced a bill that would require insurance companies to cover abortions. It would also repeal the Hyde amendment and require Medicaid to pay for abortions. Read my book for background on all this.
An attorney from the American Center of Law and Justice says 12 Our Lady of the Rosary School students and chaperones were kicked out of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum for wearing pro-life hats.
A number of pro-abortion stories appear on a web sites such as prochoice.org and prochoiceamerica.org . They pay to get their web sites to come up on top, but when scrolling down, one sees many more pro-life web sites. The new battleground is fully engaged, and the hearts and minds of the public is the prize !
Feministsforlife.org is an interesting web site. So is foreverywoman.org . The Heartbeat International resource link for abortion pill reversal is very impressive, and the LifeFirst campaign youranswermatters.org challenges people to take the survey…when does life begin? Those with an open mind are gently persuaded by the science that life begins at the moment of conception an is accompanied by a spark of light which has been photographed.
Jesus taught us to love our enemies and do good to those who persecute us. Love and truth will win… but… we must do our part to assert the truth in a loving and compassionate way, offering help, and giving women a real choice, then helping those who choose poorly.
Along the way, every one of us must care about the ripple effect on our society when life is not respected. If we do not respect life at all stages and conditions, then we do not respect life at any stage or condition. If our society promotes the deaths of innocent babies, why are we surprised and distressed by the violent deaths of our other children and the senseless deaths in violence on our streets?
We must all volunteer, donate, stand to be counted, and march for life…whatever we are called to do, whenever we can. Let us also vote for those who will respect life and dignity. Let us have no regrets that we did not try to make a difference.