By Tony Magliano.
Think of a newborn baby. In your mind’s eye marvel at the beauty, the complexity, the mystery of this tiny human being. And consider that this baby just didn’t magically somehow appear at birth, but, rather, was exquisitely knitted together in the mother’s womb through a mirid of mathematically incalculable step by step, perfectly ordered cellular processes, resulting in the formation of organs, blood, bones, muscles all interacting with each other to form the most wonderful reality in all of God’s marvelous creation – a human life!
Be inspired by the marvelous nine-minute TED Talk “Conception to Birth” https://bit.ly/47i2GiX. And please widely disseminate it as part of a much needed massive, comprehensive, ongoing strategy to educate as many children and adults as possible about the beauty, the truly awesome wonder of the conception and miraculous development of each human life inside the womb of every mother!
Social media, podcasts, T.V. and radio ads, billboards, homilies, church bulletins, university seminars, peaceful demonstrations with photos, school curriculums (see: https://studentsforlife.org/fetaldevelopment/), are some of the routes we need to take to educate society regarding the wonderous scientific facts associated with human development in utero.
It has been said that all social engineering is preceded by verbal engineering. When enough people allow themselves to accept words presented to them in a false context, lies replace truth!
A powerful example here is that those who promote abortion often claim that the legal option to have abortions is a matter of protecting “reproductive rights.” On the contrary, abortion is not about whether to reproduce or not, it’s about brutally destroying what has already been produced – a human baby. Any issues regarding “reproductive rights” come before the child is conceived.
Therefore, as people of faith in the Lord Jesus, who if the truth, an essential part of our calling as missionary disciples is to promote the truth!
As essential as it is for us to mount well-organized, comprehensive educational strategies, it is also vitally important to commit ourselves to being legislatively active.
Well-coordinated, comprehensive pro-life legislative efforts are especially needed as pro-abortion groups – particularly in the U.S. – are aggressively mounting a strategy to enshrine into state constitutions the guarantee that abortion on demand will be the law of each state.
The recently passed referendum in the U.S. state of Ohio, in which a clear majority of Ohioans voted for, will likely ban the most effective pro-life laws in Ohio and prevent the possibility of passing future laws designed to protect unborn human life. This is an extremely serious setback for pro-life advocates.
This should be a wake-up call for us to redouble our efforts – not only in the U.S. where over 800,000 abortions occur annually, but globally. A large majority of countries allow abortion for numerous reasons resulting in 73 million abortions taking place every year worldwide.
Not only are pro-abortion advocates at war with unwanted unborn babies, but war itself is at war with the unborn.
According to The Guardian, it is estimated that 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza are facing uncertainty about how they will give birth due to Israel’s destruction of 14 hospitals and 46 clinics and its blockade of essential supplies.
One bombed out woman, Noor Hammad, 24, said “I have no idea where I will give birth to my daughter and how I will receive her without shelter or clothes.”
Dr. Zaher Sahloul, president of MedGlobal said, “As hospitals turn off the last of their equipment due to lack of fuel, neonatal wards are falling dark, and newborns and mothers are suffering” (see: https://bit.ly/3MJ6h1k).
Just as advocates for the unborn need to better realize that war is an enemy to the unborn, anti-war advocates need to better understand that abortion is war upon the unborn. So, let us pray for peace on earth, and in the womb.
And may we remember that God is the God of life! And in his awesomeness continues to wondrously create unborn life – and all life. And our God-given mission is to nonviolently protect and cherish it all.
Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at [email protected].