“A person is a person, no matter how small.”
This simple wisdom given to us by Dr. Suess in Horton Hears a Who, captures a profound Christian truth. A person is a person no matter how small. This is both a biological fact, and a truth of revelation. Human life begins at conception. This is a fact of science: a human life begins at the first moment of biological growth. Indeed, an embryo within a mother’s womb that is growing at the cellular level, cannot be anything other than a human embryo.
Personhood, too, begins at conception. This is a fact of revelation: Jesus became man when he was conceived in the womb (Luke 1:26-38). Consider this point carefully: when the Holy Spirit descended upon Mary, at that moment, in the womb of his mother, Jesus became human. In this way the Gospel itself testifies to the moment when human life begins.
Revelation further teaches us that human life is the direct act of an all-knowing, all-loving Father. And God’s knowledge of us is intimate and personal. As psalm 139:14 beautifully teaches, “You formed my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I thank you for the wonder of my being.” If you have ever knit something together you know that person who knits is present with every single stich of the clothing. So too, when psalm 139 says that God knit us together in our mother’s womb this means that His knowledge is present to every fiber of our being, every strand of DNA, every iota of our existence. So intimate and personal is this knowledge that God declares, “I have called you by name” (Is 43:1). And again, “Before I was born the Lord called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name” (Is 49:1). Again, God says, “I have engraved you on the palm of my hand” (Is 49:16). And once more he says, “He who touches you touches the apple of my eye” (Zach 2:8). God’s love for us is individual, personal, and eternal.
Every human person, without exception, is a direct and intentional act of God. At the moment of biological life God himself infuses the human being with an eternal soul. Just as God took Adam from the clay of the ground and blew the breath of life into his lungs; so too, God takes every human person at the moment of conception and blows the breath of His life into him or her (Gen 2:7). At that moment, human life is endowed with an eternal soul and has an eternal dignity that must be protected.
Life begins at Conception. This teaching is simultaneously a scientific fact and an act of Revelation. But it is precisely this teaching that is denied through laws of abortion. Any law protecting the right to abortion by its very nature denies the fundamental truth that human life begins at conception. In fact, human laws upholding abortion desperately try to avoid defining the beginning of human life so that they can protect their own ideological agenda. Proponents of abortion find the Church’s teaching on the beginning of human life so clear that it confronts them as scandalous. The reason is that such clarity means that all laws would necessarily have to protect all human beings equally at every moment of a person’s life, including the human person conceived in a mother’s womb. At the core of this debate between the Church and the world is a fundamental disagreement on several issues.
First, the Church and revelation remind us of the existence of both visible and invisible realities. Remember, every Sunday we pray in the Creed that God is the “maker of heaven and earth, of things visible and invisible.” The human soul is an invisible reality. It is directly willed by God and is aeviternal: meaning that is has a beginning, at the moment of conception, but no end. In other words, once a human person is conceived in the womb, that human person will exist for all eternity and thus has an eternal dignity. The world, however, stuck in scientific positivism, denies all invisible realities and maintains that human life is merely a biological, chemical process. In this way it depersonalizes an embryo and claims that abortion does not end a human life.
Secondly, at the core of this debate is a disagreement about human freedom. The world defines human freedom as absolute autonomy. It declares that a human is free only if their destiny and their choices are without constraint. It sees freedom as absolute license to do whatever I want, when I want, and how I want. And now, in today’s society, this idea of freedom has moved even beyond the boundaries of physical existence. In today’s world, a person’s freedom is seen to supersede even biological constraints, as if the power of the human mind can alter the very substance of one’s DNA.
The Church, however, understands that freedom is not license, nor is it absolute autonomy. Rather freedom is the ability to live according to the truth, the beauty, and the goodness of human nature so that one can become a loving gift to another. Humans are creatures. Every human has received his or her own existence. No one created themselves. Freedom, true freedom, is living according to that humanity as it was received from God. Freedom is not release FROM limitations, but it is the full flowering of goodness within our human limitations.
Thirdly, a new human person is an immediate responsibility. From the moment one finds out one is pregnant that fact causes an immediate mental alteration of one’s future destiny. Fear of this altered future looms large in one’s heart, mind and soul and can drive a person to make a decision that he or she never thought possible. Furthermore, for persons in the world who deny the invisible reality of the human soul, and who define freedom as absolute autonomy, this altered future can be seen as an immediate limitation, and therefore a limitation on one’s freedom. Thus, they work for laws that uphold their absolute autonomy over and against a person in the womb.
However, for Christians, a human life is always a gift, and true freedom is found not in absolute autonomy but in a loving gift of oneself to another. Yes, pregnancy is an immediate alteration of one’s entire future. But the human person, who is fundamentally a social creature and finds his or her ultimate happiness in love and communion, sees in that future not a limitation, but an ocean of being into which one’s loving gift of self can find endless fulfillment. Human life is never a limitation but always a gift that can receive the infinite love of God and the superabundant love of the human family.
Fourth, there is a fundamental disagreement between the Church and the world on the ultimate end of humanity. Why do we exist? To know, love, and serve God in this life so as to be happy with him in the next. Christianity knows that the ultimate purpose of the human person is eternal life with God in heaven. It also knows that that eternal life begins now, here on earth where we lay ahold of the salvation offered to us in Jesus Christ by loving God and our neighbor.
However, the world, with its denial of invisible reality, can neither see nor accept eternal life. That means that, according to worldly ideology, any purpose that is put forth for the human person is necessarily materialistic and bound to physical existence alone. Pleasure, power, money, and fame become ends unto themselves. And, combining these ends with the concept of absolute autonomy, a pregnancy can be seen as an immediate obstacle to these goals. Children are hard work. Pregnancy is physically demanding and emotionally difficult. Having a family limits one’s mobility and strains one’s financial goals. And the world, in its self-proclaimed heroes, does not portray motherhood and fatherhood in any favorable light. When a worldly person becomes pregnant that pregnancy can be seen as a harbinger of an altered future that compromises all its possible goods. As a result, a worldly person must depersonalize human life in the womb, deny that there is a definitive beginning, and assert his or her rights to end the pregnancy so as to protect earthly ambitions.
A conspiracy of silence has allowed teachings other than the Gospel to form our culture. Unborn children are the poorest of the poor. They are utterly vulnerable. They cannot speak on their own. They cannot protect themselves. They rely totally on us to speak on their behalf and protect their rights within our country and within our state. We must be the ones who cry out on behalf of the poor defenseless ones in the womb. We must pray for God’s mercy on our silence and beg for courage to speak, act, and teach in the name of children in the womb.
As Christians we are called to speak the truth in love. This means that the final word of this discussion must be MERCY. Our society is suffering from laws that uphold abortion. We must pray for God’s mercy on our society. Human hearts are torn by past mistakes that are bitterly regretted. We must pray for God’s mercy for those in dire situations and find Mercy in the sacrament of confession.
A baby in the womb is a human person with his or her own rights. A person’s life begins at conception and has a fundamental right to life that cannot be taken away from it. Every human person has rights, even the unborn. A person is a person, no matter how small. But the smaller and more vulnerable that person is the more necessary for others to surround them with protection and defend God’s justice on their behalf. God is the creator of human life. Human life begins at conception. Let us protect this wonderful truth.
Fr. Jarrod Lies, Pastor
PRO-LIFE EDUCATION CORNER
The more you know, the more you can educate.
DANGERS OF THE ABORTION PILL
WHAT IS CHEMICAL ABORTION?
It is a two-drug process to kill and expel a developing child from the womb early in a pregnancy.
#1, Mifepristone blocks progesterone leading to the breakdown of the uterine lining and cuts o the child’s supply of oxygen and nutrients.
#2, Misoprostol is taken 24 to 48 hours later, to induce uterine contractions strong enough to expel the dead child and placenta.
The expelling of the early developing child is done by the mother, alone, without medical supervision. The woman is tasked to pass the remains and placenta into the toilet and then flush.
WHAT ARE THE DANGERS?
Mifepristone alone will usually kill the developing child, but his or her remains may not be expelled. This can lead to infection, sepsis, and even the mother’s death.
The FDA’s record cites 32 women’s deaths [ Sept. 2000 – Dec. 2022]
2016 report [now not required]: 4,218 adverse events including 1,049 hospitalizations, 604 cases of blood loss requiring transfusions, 97 ectopic pregnancies, and 418 infections.
In addition to the medical complications, some argue that a chemical abortion is the most traumatic option for the woman since they abort the child themselves, alone.
Resources:
Abortion Reversal: Action taken after first dose of the pill has a 66% success rate in a second chance. Call the 24/7 hotline at 1-877-558-0333 for help.
Visit usccb.org/prolife for further resources.
DOES IVF CAUSE ABORTIONS?
Infertility is a growing problem in the United States. As a result, there has been a corresponding growth in “reproductive technologies industries” to provide a solution. However, most are unaware of the mishandling of human life in order to conceive through in vitro fertilization, or IVF.
In vitro fertilization brings about new life in a petri dish. Over 90% of the embryos created perish at some point in the process. During the procedure, several eggs are fertilized and only those which show the greatest promise of growing to term are implanted in the womb. Without most parents realizing, this commonly leads to the destruction of the other embryos or they are later manipulated for experimental use.
In addition, doctors sometimes implant five or more embryos to enhance pregnancy success. This may result in more babies in the womb than a couple desires, leading to “fetal reduction.” In this procedure doctors eliminate “less desirable” embryos by injecting potassium chloride into their hearts under ultrasound guidance causing selective miscarriage.
This is a terrible offense against human life. While a little baby may ultimately be born because of the IVF procedure, other lives are usually snuffed out in the process.
Resources:
USCCB article:
“Begotten Not Made: A Catholic View of Reproductive Technology”