All of us believe in human rights, don’t we? Who gets human rights? Well, if women get women’s rights and children get children’s rights then humans get human rights. So when do humans begin their lives? Science has taught us that beings which reproduce sexually begin their lives at fertilisation or conception. And from the moment of fertilisation the one celled embryo is alive and growing rapidly into two cells and then four and so on. We know that the embryo is human because the parents are human. This human embryo matures into a human foetus and then a human baby and then a human adult. The terms embryo, foetus, baby, toddler, teenager and adult are simply indicators of growth as a human being.
Every abortion kills a human being. Any abortionist will tell you that an abortion can be considered successful only once the child’s heart has stopped beating. The pro-abortion lobby often uses terms that are misleading. Try speaking against abortion and the first response you’d hear is ‘my body, my choice’ or the terms ‘women’s rights’ or ‘reproductive justice’ or ‘clump of cells’. None of these terms explain what an abortion truly does – abortion is the intentional killing of the child in the womb either by starvation or by crushing the baby’s skull or by tearing the child apart limb by limb. India permits abortions all the way upto 24 weeks including chemical abortions and surgical D&E abortions. Here’s what happens in first and second trimester abortions.
The abortion industry never shows us the victims either but the truth is that each “choice” has a face. Earlier this year, pro-life activists obtained a box of ‘waste’ that came out of an abortion clinic in Washington DC. In that waste, the activists found the bodies of 115 babies of which 5 were nearly full term babies. A Catholic priest buried the bodies of these babies of various ages and arranged a proper funeral for them. The five nearly full term babies were named and they are Christopher X, Harriet, Phoenix, Holly and Angel. There is a campaign called #JusticeForTheFive and you can read more at https://paaunow.org/justiceforthefive
The Supreme Court of the United States of America recently overturned Roe v Wade, a move that is a huge win for life. For decades American pro-life activists, bishops, priests, religious, youth and medical professionals have struggled to end the horrific slaughter of unborn in their country. As St Mother Teresa says, “We must not be surprised when we hear of murders, of killings, of war, of hatred. If a mother can kill her own child, what is left but for us to kill each other?” India has a long way to go in safeguarding and upholding the dignity of every human life.
India kills 15.6 million babies every single year through abortion. That number itself is too high to comprehend but that’s not all. Induced abortion is not the only way children are killed. IVF and certain ‘contraceptives’ also kill babies. There are contraceptives that work both as abortifacients and contraceptives. The pill, morning after pill and Copper-T all serve as abortifacients in the way that if they fail to prevent conception, these methods induce miscarriages in the woman’s body to expel the child and thereby cause an abortion. In such scenarios the women don’t even know that they are pregnant and that their “contraceptive” just killed their baby.
In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF)
The Catholic Church understands that couples who struggle to conceive suffer greatly. She therefore encourages research and the use of various medical techniques aimed at reducing human sterility as long as the methods used fully respect the dignity of the human person. In vitro fertilisation (IVF) involves the process by which the father’s sperm and mother’s egg are fertilised in a glass dish and the embryos are later transferred into the mother’s womb. This process of artificial fertilisation is one of the methods which the Catholic Church considers to be morally unacceptable. Here are 7 reasons why:
- Catholic teaching maintains that every child has the right to be conceived in the natural marital embrace or sexual act of the husband and wife.
- The human sexual act has two components – unitive and procreative. IVF separates these two and makes the procreative component its only goal .Through IVF the child is no longer the result of the physical and spiritual union of the married couple.
- IVF makes the child a commodity produced in a laboratory and makes doctors technicians and even business people part of the conception process.
- The sperm used is usually obtained by masturbation which the Church teaches is immoral since the deliberate use of the sexual faculty for whatever reason outside of the marital embrace is essentially contrary to its purpose.
- If one of the spouses is infertile it may be necessary to use sperm or eggs which are donated from a third person. This method infringes a child’s right to be born and raised by his or her biological father and mother who are bound to each other by marriage and to know their parents. It is also a betrayal of the spouses’ fidelity to each other.
- Many if not most of the conceived embryos who should be respected as new and unique human lives end up dying, being discarded, frozen indefinitely or even used for research. Others after being transferred into the womb may be removed and left to die by a process called selective reduction. Those who do survive have a greater chance of birth defects.
- Children are a gift from God and not a right to be obtained. Though the desire to have children is a noble one, the child’s rights must be safeguarded these include
- the right to be the fruit of the physical union of his or her biological parents and to be raised by them
- the right to be respected as a person from the moment of conception and not to be treated as a commodity or manipulated.
In light of the gospel of Jesus Christ while sterility may present a married couple with a great trial it still allows for hope. Spouses who remain infertile after trying all the morally legitimate medical procedures such as NaPro Technology should unite themselves with the Lord’s cross, the source of all spiritual fruitfulness and life. They can express their generosity by adopting children or giving their lives in service for others.
Now you’d ask ‘What about parents who have already conceived children through IVF?’ The Catholic Church extends the grace of God’s mercy by calling them to repentance and the sacrament of confession. She nonetheless sees each of these children
as a gift from God no less than any other regardless of how they came into the world.
Conclusion
Marriage and the family is under attack through abortion, IVF, contraception and the LGBTQ ideology. Sr Lucia, one of three visionaries of Fatima said, “The final battle between Our Lord and Satan will be about marriage and the family. And those who work for the sanctity of marriage and the family will experience persecution and tribulation because this is the decisive issue. But do not be afraid, for Our Lady has crushed its head.” As the battle between the culture of life and the culture of death wages around us, let us turn to Our Lady, Queen of Families. May the Mother of Life intercede for our nation and obtain for India the grace to accept the Gospel of Life and the courage to bear witness to it resolutely, in order to build, together with all people of good will, the civilisation of truth and love, to the praise and glory of God, the Creator and lover of life.
