It was hard to be humble Friday night in Lincoln, NE while sitting at a head table with Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz and Nebraska Governor David Heineman, among other dignitaries. Ann and I did maintain our composure, however.
We marvel that every major politician in Nebraska is pro-life. How do they do that, we want to know.
Making the Unborn Child Real
On Saturday night we spoke in Chesterton, IN to the Porter County Right to Life. In both talks we extolled the importance of direct action, and stressed the necessity of showing the graphic photographs of aborted babies. There is a tendency to be so compassionate toward women who have had abortions that some pro-lifers play down the major evil we are fighting, the killing of unborn children. The reality of the unborn child gets lost in the mix.
Much as we sympathize with post-abortive women and want to help them deal with the loss of their children, we activists make a mistake when in our compassion we take the focus off of the child who had no choice. If we put all our attention on the woman and her suffering, and spend our time trying to console her, we will never win the battle against abortion.
There are 3,000 crisis pregnancy centers to talk women out of abortion and help them through a pregnancy, and there are groups like the Survivors, Project Rachael and others to help the post abortive woman heal. Activists praise these groups to the sky.
But activists have a more specialized mission: to make the unborn child real to our selfish, abortion-saturated society. We are called to personalize the child, introduce him to society and make him real to those who want to ignore his existence.
Those who, though well-meaning, want us to put away our pictures because they are “counter-productive,” do not help the cause of life. In asking us to play-down the ugly reality of abortion, they ask us to eliminate the victim who has to die. Talking about abortion as a mistake or a wrong easily forgiven, demeans the valuable of the child. It leaves the reality of abortion murky and vague.
The power of these pictures is seen when twenty women during a Face the Truth Tour tell us that the graphic pictures turned them away from having an abortion. We argue that these women will not need extensive counseling, suffer bouts of depression, self-loathing, overwhelming guilt, sleepless nights. But instead of rejoicing in these victories, some opponents of the pictures appear to give little value to the positive results, cling to their hostility, and switch focus to the pain caused post-abortive women who see our pictures.
It is difficult to explain what we activists refer to as “tough love.” It is sometimes difficult to practice it. But it is important to practice it in the abortion war. If we fail to make the child as much a reality as the woman, we fail in our mission. If making visible the abortion victim upsets those involved in his death, we must remember that part of sin is remorse, regret and self-recrimination, all of which cause pain .
While we don’t rejoice in the pain the pictures cause, we cannot abandon our mission. Fortunately, most post-abortive women we know applaud the use of the graphics and join us on the streets to hold these signs. So, please join us for our next Truth Tour.
It Takes One To Know One
We are weary of all the stupid articles being written about how modern day young people are incapable of remaining pure. One column after another pictures American youth as rutting hogs and alley cats, who can only follow instinct and give in to every temptation that comes along.
Well, while there are no doubt many weak-willed, jell-o spine young people who lack self-respect, dignity, and character, we seem to know an awful lot of great kids willing and perfectly capable of saving themselves for marriage. They are the “I’m worth waiting for” bunch of happy people who ultimately become the strong ones who save society, while the libetine-losers are lost and forgotten. And this may include the journalists who write about them. They say it takes one to know one.
