More Facebook Wars

By Tom Quiner

Abortion is the last subject people want to discuss on Facebook.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Facebook Wars, I avoid politics like the plague on Facebook, reserving it for this blog.

But something snapped in me yesterday. It was the murder of that Catholic priest in France by Islamic terrorists. Christians are dying around the world because they believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior.

Here in this country, “infants” (Hillary Clinton’s word) are being killed in their mama’s womb every day.

Most of the country yawns.

I couldn’t remain silent today. Here is the continuation of the Facebook saga:

PRO ABORTION ADVOCATE #1:  Tom Quiner, at least that objection to HRC is grounded in reality. She is pro-choice, and Trump will appoint a court that will reverse Roe V. Wade. I’m not sure that will mean fewer abortions, but it will definitely mean fewer safe and legal abortions. Not that [Friend’s Name] wanted to see an abortion discussion break out, but it’s interesting to note that the abortion rate has fallen dramatically for years, and continued to fall under the two terms of the current president.

QUINER:   Hi Jon, I appreciate your point that [Friend’s Name] probably didn’t want this type of discussion to break out. I typically try to avoid politics on Facebook, but I like [Friend’s Name] too much to ignore her political postings (she knows I love her, even if I disagree with her on occasion). I do take issue with your thesis that somehow two terms of a pro abortion president caused the human abortion rate to decline. There are many factors, to be sure. One is the relentless education outreach provided by pro life groups; one is their relentless prayer vigils; one is pro life side walk counseling at human abortion providers; another are regulations provided in some states to limit abortions after 20 weeks when the infant feels pain when it is killed; another is the Ultrasound machine which allows moms to see the humanity of their child in the womb. It is estimated that 9 out of 10 moms choose not to abort their baby after viewing an ultrasound. Another is the March for Life that attracts about a half a million youth each year. The human abortion rate is falling in spite of efforts by the Democratic Party to block regulatory reform of Big Abortion. Respectfully, Tom.

PRO ABORTION ADVOCATE #1:  Thank you for that incredibly civil response. Other factors might include the general availability of continually improving birth control options, an extra 10 million people with health insurance for themselves and their daughters, the work of many pro-choice organizations that provide education and outreach about birth control, and Plan B.

QUINER:   I can’t deny that those factors could play a role. This is a topic that both sides have a hard time being civil on, so I do respect your comity as well.

PRO ABORTION ADVOCATE #2:  Abortion has been an option since the first woman got pregnant and will be around until the last woman has given birth. All restricting does is sweep it under the rug so that people can pat themselves on the back. Prohibition didn’t work with booze, it didn’t work with drugs, and it doesn’t work with abortion. I’d much rather have a government that protects a woman’s right to choose, but gives her realistic options to keep her child (Pre-and post natal care, financial assistance, quality educational, housing and nutrition options, etc) as well as access to birth control so the question of abortion doesn’t have to come up in the first place.

QUINER:  Dan, here’s the fundamental issue: each abortion kills a unique human being who is simply at the beginning arc of her life. It is immoral to deprive a person of their opportunity to experience joy, to love, to have her own family simply because she is inconvenient. It is also a violation of the 14th Amendment. As Justice Harry Blackmun, the author of Roe said, “But if it is a human being, then it is no longer a matter of personal opinion but a duty not to murder this being.” He wrote this before the Ultrasound machine allowed us to see inside the mother’s womb and see the humanity of the person inside. Had the ultrasound existed then, Roe would never have happened.

PRO ABORTION ADVOCATE #2:  That is your opinion, Tom. Others have differing opinions. In any event, as I said, abortion has always been around, and will always be around. The only thing restricting it does is clean up the statistics, and create a black market for the service. Rich women will find a doctor who does it on the sly, middle class and poor women will try to self-induce, or go to someone who will do it in an unsanitary method. That’s the way it was done before Roe. v Wade. Do you really want that?

QUINER:  That’s the wrong question, Dan. We could use the same question for any other societal evil: thievery has always been around, so has rape, so has wife beating. Why pass laws? Laws are written to protect us from each other, and especially to protect the little guy. Who among us is tinier than the infant in the womb? A foundational value of Western Civilization has been, “thou shalt not murder.” What is abortion but the killing of an innocent human life? I vote for candidates who promote just laws that protect the little guy from conception to natural death.

CATHOLIC LIBERAL:  If you leave out abortion from the case …there are lots of fundamental right to life questions that have nothing to do with abortion….

QUINER:  There are no other rights if you’re dead.

It is very difficult for a Catholic to vote for a candidate who opposes every single social justice teaching of the Church, simply because all of the other social justice teachings are moot without life. Immigration and wage issues are meaningless if you don’t have a life. Rampant materialism is a non-issue if you’re dead. Human dignity begins with life. A political party that fights tooth and nail against any sort of regulatory reform of Big Abortion is an enemy of human dignity. “The Catholic Church proclaims that human life is sacred and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society.”

We can’t look the other way, we just can’t. We’re each going to be judged one day. Jesus really laid it on us:

 ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

The stakes are high.