Pro-life, anti-abortion, Pro-choice, Pro-safe, legal abortion, a woman's right to choose are all
words that
entangle our society in an emotional and often violent tussle for a permanent solution.
What does it mean to be pro-life? If a person also believes the government has the right to send men and women to war, to use war strategies that give a high probability of civilian death, or deal the death penalty to convicted men and women for crimes even though some may be innocent, they are merely anti-abortion. Those who are pro-life respect all life and the commandment, though shalt not kill. This includes war, the death penalty, assisted suicide. What about the agents of death such as social decay, violence in our families and culture and environment, the availability of lethal weapons of mass casualty and a willingness to make profit the bottom line driving our economy?
A Pro-life commitment does not mean just being anti-abortion. Think of the environment where the seeds of Roe vs Wade were planted. Women have always born the consequences of sexual encounters. A man can walk away and perhaps be totally unaware that a life has been created. Uncommitted or committed relationships have no bearing on this biological fact. Most stable cultures created elaborate social structures and courting rules that encouraged marriage commitment prior to sexual intercourse. Pregnancies that occurred prior to marriage or worse as a result of casual encounters or forced sex either by situation or physical strength or plain ignorance of bodily function happen every day. Under the beating heart of a woman, a new life is created in the warmth and protection of the womb another heart begins to beat. Bringing love and kindness to both will raise up all. May we move toward a pro-life society that protects the body, mind and soul of she who holds the miracle of two beating hearts.
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