CHOOSE LIFE!

January 21st, 2018: Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B. 

AIM:  To show by testimony from those involved the harm which abortion inflicts.

 

          Some time ago a doctor-friend of mine asked me: “Why is there so much bitterness in Washington today? It didn’t used to be that way.” He was right. The bitterness is new. I told my friend that what caused the bitterness was the 1973 decision of our Supreme court in Roe v. Wade, overturning laws in every one of our states protecting the unborn. That decision has poisoned our political life. It has divided our people like no other Supreme Court decision since the Dred Scott case of 1857, which said that a black person “whose ancestors were sold as slaves” had no rights under the Constitution.

          The Roe v. Wade decision was handed down 45 years ago last Thursday. Lies and fraud were used to obtain the decision. The woman in whose name the original suit was brought now says she was deceived. She is now unreservedly pro-life. The late Dr. Bernard Nathanson, once Director of the largest abortion clinic in the country, in NYC, who presided over at last 60,000 abortions, including one on his own child, and who helped found the National Abortion Rights Action League, wrote in his book Aborting America about one of the lies he and his friends used to overturn laws protecting the unborn. "How many deaths were we talking about when abortion was illegal?... It was always ‘5,000 to 10,000 a year.’ I confess that I knew the figures were totally false" (p.193). For most of his life Dr. Nathanson described himself as a Jewish atheist. He received Catholic baptism in 1996. He died on February 21^st, 2011, having been an ardent advocate for life for at least two decades.

          Because a man has little credibility on this issue, and a priest none at all, I’d like to step aside so that we can listen to a woman’s testimony. I have taken it from the website of Priests for Life.  Here is her story in her own words:                       

          “I couldn't believe it when I got the news. I knew it was true, but I DID NOT want to think about it. Wrong time. Wrong place. Absolutely the wrong person. I was pregnant by a man I didn't love and I didn't know who to tell and where to go and was feeling very alone.

          “My boyfriend Robert was repulsed by my unexpected pregnancy. We had been talking about marriage for quite some time. When I told him that we were going to have a baby, he responded with a coldness that shocked me. ‘Take care of it,’ he told me, ‘I don't want to be bothered with it.’

          “Any love I had for him died right there. Things were already falling apart in my life, and it was absolutely the wrong time for me to be pregnant. My mother was back in Pennsylvania. I had had to move out of my apartment and I was temporarily living with my aunt. I really didn't know where to turn.

          “I was 25 and a nurse in a regional health facility in Oregon. I remember my pre-natal development class. I certainly knew my child was alive and very real. I asked my sister what to do, and she told me the same thing as my boyfriend. A few day's later, Robert's mother sat me down in her kitchen and told me point-blank, ‘Get an abortion.’

          “I felt abandoned, as if I was some sort of bad person; as if I had got pregnant all by myself and ought to be ashamed. But I didn't want people handing me a quick solution that would haunt me later. Somehow I also got the feeling that my family wanted an easy solution for themselves – even if it was at my expense. People offered me help with the price tag: they wanted me to end my child's life.

          “There was one person who did listen to me, though: I had read a bulletin

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insert that told about a pregnancy help center in a neighboring town. I went to see them. They gave me a follow-up pregnancy test and one of the ladies there talked to me about where I could find help. I asked about adoption information, because I was thinking about that for a time, and the woman connected me with Catholic Charities. Later on, I changed my mind and decided to raise my daughter myself. The important thing is that I had the support to do this. I was going to figure it out. No matter what it would take, I was going to make it work.

          “Funny thing is that after I decided that, I met many people in the community who were willing to help. A local family let me come over to their house and use their swimming pool. (It was a hot summer). Something I would like to say to other women who are facing pressure for an abortion is that if you just decide to hang in there and tell people that you need help, there are a lot of supportive people.

          “The ironic thing about all this is that my daughter Julie is now the apple of everyone's eye. She looks just like Robert, and when he takes her on holidays, he reminds us all of that fact! Robert's family loves her, too. Robert's mother, who had told me to end her life, now spoils her with cookies and dolls and loves to write stories for her. One thing bothers me when everyone fawns over her at Robert's house. I still can't reconcile that with the fact that they all pushed me so hard to destroy her when she was in my womb. Is love so selfish that people only give it when they ‘feel like it’? I just don't know. What I do know is that many people in my family and in Robert's family have had a big change of heart about Julie being in the world. I'm SO glad I didn't let their ‘well-intentioned’ advice get to me!

          “Why the switch? I am so sick and tired of hearing the ‘pro-abortion’ slogans that basically called for the death of my daughter. I knew enough to stay strong when I was pressured to kill her, but I can't help thinking of other unwed mothers who buckle in to the pressure. I've drawn a few conclusions from all this: Pro-choice? Sure seems like a lot of people who don't want to be ‘caught’ push abortion! Guys who make love to a woman and then reject her when she turns out pregnant – I think that's going on a lot, and that a lot of guys are hiding behind the ‘pro-choice’ line when it comes to taking responsibility. Many of my friends who have had abortions are really bitter at men. I think I know where they're coming from. Anyway, I'm glad I stood up for life for my daughter.”

          Here is another story. It’s about a woman facing an unusually difficult pregnancy. It comes from a Lutheran Pastor, Dr. Gerald B. Kieschnick, former President of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, which has its headquarters here in St. Louis. He writes about a woman named Pam and her husband Bob. More than 24 years ago, they were serving as Protestant missionaries in the Philippines and praying for a fifth child. Pam contracted amoebic dysentery, an infection of the intestine caused by a parasite found in contaminated food or drink. She went into a coma and was treated with strong antibiotics before the doctors discovered she was pregnant.

Doctors urged her to abort the baby for her own safety and told her that the medicines had caused irreversible damage to her baby. She refused the abortion and cited her Christian faith as the reason for her hope that her son would be born without the devastating disabilities physicians predicted. Pam said the doctors didn't think of it as a life, they thought of it as a mass of fetal tissue.

While pregnant, Pam nearly lost their baby four times but refused to consider abortion. She recalled making a pledge to God with her husband: If you will give us a son, we’ll name him Timothy and we’ll make him a preacher. Pam spent the last two months of her pregnancy in bed and eventually gave birth to a healthy baby boy August 14, 1987. Pam’s youngest son is indeed a preacher. He preaches in prisons, makes hospital visits, and serves with his father’s ministry in the Philippines. He also plays football. Pam’s son is Tim Tebow.

The University of Florida’s star quarterback became the first sophomore in history to win college football’s highest award, the Heisman Trophy. His role as quarterback of the Denver Broncos has provided an incredible platform for Christian witness. As a result, he is being called The Mile-High Messiah.

Tim’s notoriety and the family’s inspiring story have given Pam numerous opportunities to speak on behalf of women’s centers across the country. Pam Tebow believes that every little baby you save matters.

          The stories of these two women speak far more powerfully than any priest can about this painful subject. I ask you to pray in this Mass — and in this week especially — that hearts and minds may be changed. Pray that women in difficult circumstances may receive the support, help, and the courage they need to make a choice they that will bring them not pain, shame, and guilt, but one that will bring to them and others pride, joy, happiness and deep inner peace — the choice for life.

 

A correspondent commented on this homily by e-mail:

		Janet Greaves January 21 at 10:45am
Life is precious and all of God's children are created for a purpose! When my mom was pregnant with me, she had just had my sister (who was premature) and she had juvenile diabetes. The doctors and even some of my family wanted her to abort me but she refused; and even though I was three months premature and very ill, here I am at 38 years-old and going strong! We are all meant to be. Only God chooses to call us home!