'Life Saving' Abortions!

A few weeks back, all news channels carried the headline “‘Life Saving’ Abortions” in their scrolling news ticker, the news flash etc. The breaking news referred to the bill passed in the Irish Parliament allowing abortions in case of threat to the mother’s life - a fallout of the death of Savita Halappanavar. I was taken aback by the news. What shocked me, among other things, was the headline itself – ‘Life Saving’ Abortions. I thought to myself, “Hey, isn’t that an oxymoron!”

I’m not sure how others would define abortion, but any dictionary be it Oxford or Websters or an app on my phone, can’t complete the definition of the word ‘abortion’ without mentioning words like ‘death’, ‘termination’ etc. What implies so clearly from these definitions is that the fetus inside is alive and abortion by definition is killing the fetus. In spite of this being so obvious, people still think and believe that it’s a lump of cells within the womb which doesn’t have any life!

Coming back to the headline, in view of these definitions, our headline now reads “‘Life Saving’ Murders” or “‘Life Saving’ Homicides.”!!! Now you know what I mean when I say that it’s an oxymoron - it contradicts itself! One might still say that even murders while defending oneself is justified to an extent by the law. But isn’t that the case when the person who is being killed is on an offense and trying to kill you and you defend yourself against the aggression. But in case of abortion, the one being killed is an innocent, defenseless baby, whose cries can’t be heard by anyone! The place where he is being killed, is one which is most secure for him and the one who decides to kill him is the one who is privileged with the responsibility to give him life, to love him beyond measures – his mom!

“If a human being is no longer safe in his mother’s womb, where in the world can he be safe?” – Phil Bosmans (Belgian Priest and Writer)

One can say, “Isn’t the life of the mother more important, shouldn’t we do everything to save her life?” Pope Pius XII already answered this question more than half a century ago saying. “….the demand cannot be but this: To use every means to save the life of both the mother and the child.” Sure, there might be instances where the life of mother and also that of the child as well is at risk, but these are rare. We know from the Church teachings that“… if for example, the safety of the life of the future mother, independently of her state of pregnancy, might call for an urgent surgical operation, or any other therapeutic application, which would have as an accessory consequence, in no way desired nor intended, but inevitable, the death of the fetus, such an act could not be called a direct attempt on the innocent life. In these conditions the operation can be lawful, as can other similar medical interventions, provided that it be a matter of great importance, such as life, and that it is not possible to postpone it till the birth of the child, or to have recourse to any other efficacious remedy.” [Article 14 of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's Declaration on Procured Abortion. Click here]

Here Pope Pius XII was referring to rare and exceptional cases, however how flimsy the definition of ‘life saving’ is as per the new Irish law can be understood from the fact that according to it, if a panel of doctors feel that the mother might commit suicide, the same can be considered life threatening for mother and hence in that case abortion is justified. A simple excuse to abort a child, to end an innocent life. Just because no one has seen the child, heard him speak, felt his embrace, experienced his love and been in his presence, is it right to cut him, chop him, suffocate him, kill him? My apologies for being this graphic, but couldn’t help; that’s the fact anyways. Over the centuries human race has raised voice and fought against inequality and discrimination: whether it is between foreigner settlers and indigenous population, rich and poor, black and white, male and female, high caste and low caste. Now we have come down to a state where we have to raise our voice to ensure equality between different stages of life – between the born and soon-to-be born!

Mother Teresa said, “But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child - a direct killing of the innocent child - murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love, and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even his life to love us. So the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love - that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts. By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.” [Reference: http://www.ewtn.com/New_library/breakfast.htm]

The reason one would want to justify abortion can be many, but to defend and bring forth life is just one – Love.

“Love protects all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” – 1 Corinthians 13:7

Stand for love, Stand for life!

God Bless!

Other Related Posts:  Stand for Life;
                                  99 Balloons.

Stand for Life!

This Christmas vacation I had a great time at home.  Spent most of the time with my family talking and catching up on a lot of things. During one such chats, my mom told me something about her youngest brother’s family which made me admire them. Since I was born and bought up in Jharkhand, I was away from my extended family and there is very little I know about my cousins, uncles, aunts etc.  I’ve been to this particular uncle’s place only once in my life and don’t think have met them more than four times and hence knew very little about them. They live in a very small village in north Kerala. They have an elder daughter and a younger son.  When my aunt was carrying the boy in her womb, she fell sick. The doctor she consulted prescribed her medicines without considering the fact that she had a growing foetus within her. She was cured, but due to side effects of the medicine, the child inside suffered. It was found that the child would have serious physical deformation. This was a shock to the family which was surviving with limited means and was struggling to make their ends meet.  Everyone suggested that the child be aborted.  Considering the hardship that would follow, my uncle also was of the same opinion. But my aunt didn’t want to take the easy way out. She wanted to bring her son into this world and she did. Now he is in school, studying in standard tenth. Yes, he was born with many deformities. Yes, the family had to go through many difficulties, but the family is so much happier. And guess what, now he is the apple of his father’s eyes who can’t imagine living without his son. All this because his mother didn’t choose the more convenient option.

But that’s not always the case. On 25^th Nov 2011, tragedy struck a family in Melbourne. A mother was carrying twin boys in her womb. Towards the later stage of pregnancy it was found that one of her baby boys had congenital heart defect that would require years of operation, if he survived at all. She took the decision of putting an end to the life of the sick foetus which was 32 weeks into his life, just six weeks before he could see the world. This decision in itself was unfortunate, and was made even worse when in a terrible mistake, instead of injecting the sick foetus, the healthy one was injected who died in the womb. The sick twin was also terminated in an emergency operation.  In a span of three hours, the two lives which were growing silently and protected within their mother’s womb for 32 weeks came to an end. Her friend said, “She went to the hospital with two babies and now she has none.” The mother, who had already named her boys, lost both of them. Her womb which was thriving with life, now lay barren.  A decision and a human error brought the dreams of the entire family crashing down.

For many, abortion is pro- choice, it’s a right for them to chose. But for me it is the most heinous crime possible, it’s killing a being who, leave aside defend, can’t even cry for help. It killing a child in the place he is most secure- the mother’s womb.  It’s turning the cradle of life into a graveyard. It surprises me that for many, the foetus within the mother’s womb is just a lump of tissues which has no life, which feels nothing. Many are of the opinion that life begins only after the child is born.  How wrong they are was proved by an incident and a photograph taken way back in 1999. Julie Armas, after suffering from two miscarriages, conceived for the third time and was desperate to bring forth a life into this world. During the 14^th week, an ultrasound scan left the parents devastated. The baby boy inside was suffering from Spina Bifida – a condition which left the spinal cord exposed after the backbone failed to develop. His parents could have decided to abort him, but they didn’t. They decided to go for a surgery. The surgery took place when the child was 21 weeks old. At one point of time during the surgery, the child’s hand came out of the womb and when the doctor touched it, he squeezed the doctor’s finger as if thanking him for the help. This moment was captured by a photographer who was documenting the surgery. 

Though there are different versions of what happened that day, but since then this photograph has been a sign showing the world that life exists inside mother’s womb, that life exists from the moment of conception, that inside a mother’s womb is not a lump of tissues but a life waiting to be born - a living being just like you and me. “You created every part of me; you put me together in my mother’s womb....When my bones were being formed, carefully put together in my mother’s womb , when I was growing there in secret, you knew that I was there – you saw me before I was born. The days allotted to me had all been recorded in your book, before any of them ever began.” (Psalm 139:13-16)

The reason why one has to make this choice of whether to allow the child to be born or not can be many: from the fear of taking care of a deformed child all through their lives to a way to cover up a ‘mistake’; from the feeling that the family may not have the resources to raise the child to the thought that ‘we aren’t prepared for a child yet’; from the fact that the child might be a girl to the feeling that it would be a stumbling block to the parents’ career. Whatever be the reason, if ever we come across such crossroads in our lives, let’s not suggest/support/take the convenient decision, an easy option to choose to end an innocent life so as to make ours better. Let’s decide to stand for life. No matter how difficult it is, it would be overcome by the joy of bringing forth a life into this world, by the sight of seeing him smile, yawning when he is about to sleep, trying to fix his gaze on you; by the sound of hearing him cry, making noises which don’t mean anything, speaking his first words; by the feeling of hugging him when he cries, holding his tiny little fingers; by the chance of getting to know a completely new person;  by the blessing of giving an opportunity for God’s creation to see His beautiful world.

“Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name, welcomes me.” – Jesus (Mark 9:37)

Stand for Life! God Bless!