The Blind Leading the Blind

What a past couple of weeks it has been for the pro-abortion forces. First, Barack Obama was sworn in (apparently incorrectly at first, where Chief Justice John Roberts flubbed the words of inauguration. This was remedied later when Obama correctly repeated the words of the oath, this time without the Bible). Now the most extreme candidate ever on the issue of child-killing is seated in the most powerful office in the world.

Next, the March for Life occurred two days later, where in the same place that President Obama gave his inaugural address, hundreds of thousands of Pro-lifers were present to mark the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision which has consequently ushered in 50 million brutal American deaths (and that’s not even counting chemical abortions; only God knows the amount of children that we’ve lost because of so-called “safe” over-the-counter prescriptions for women). Instead of giving this event the coverage it deserves (in truth, any other event of the same amount of people would have been covered heavily by every major national news outlet), the proponents of the abortion movement who have control of the media pretended that this affair didn’t even exist. That’s journalistic integrity for you.

The very next day, three days following the infamous opening address of the Obama Presidency, where President Obama vowed to stop those who would “slaughter innocents,” he reversed the Mexico City Policy which banned American Tax Payer money from going to fund the killing of innocent children through abortion in foreign countries. So much for the claim that he wants to unite all Americans.

Now, it wasn’t so much these things that got me upset (and I was watching/ participating/reading about all of these events). No, what really disturbed me was the fact that our “good Catholic” (at least she thinks she is) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi believes that the way out of this financial mess is to introduce more “family planning services” (read: contraceptive and abortion services) into American Society. How much more? 825 million dollars worth of “family planning” services to be exact (that was the original proposal; it is now reduced to $335 million for STD prevention, and awaits Senate approval). Her exact words:

“Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children’s health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those - one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.” [1]

Um…I was under the impression that the way that a healthy economy is built is by producing more healthy workers than the previous generation, so that the economy can actually grow. Yet let me get this straight: she wants to provide more money to organizations like Planned Parenthood who will continue to kill off the next generation?

Have we not learned anything from what is happening in Europe, where because the countries have been committing demographic suicide for decade, some countries are actually offering couples $1000 Euros (or more) to have children (but because of their ingrained contraceptive mentality, they scoff at their government’s generosity)? Because of this, these governments are paying foreigners to come in and perform the jobs of retiring workers (of which many are from Muslim families, thus turning what used to be a vastly-populated Christian continent into an Islamic playground).

Doesn’t Madam Speaker realize that a population needs an average of 2.1 children per family to sustain a society, and that if it weren’t for the Mexican and Hispanic population, America would be in the same situation, if not worse, than Europe? Does she not realize that because of the very difficult economic times many Mexicans (possibly 3 million) will be returning to their homeland because there are no jobs available in the States [2], and we don’t have the workforce to replace their possible absence?

Perhaps she hasn’t seen the scariest movie I have ever seen in my life, Demographic Winter. Although it doesn’t explicitly reference the contraceptive and abortion movements, it lays out very clearly what is going to happen if we don’t correct immediately this dearth of births. It is happening on an international scale, and if the projections are correct, it will make The Great Depression look like a minor recession.

What is most troubling about the comments of Mrs. Pelosi was that she forgets that a contraceptive genital act is never an act of love. As John Paul the Great has reiterated in his Theology of the Body, love is always a fruitful gift. This is based on the nature of who we are as created in the image of God. God is always pouring Himself out to humanity in a profound act of love, seen most clearly in the gift of Christ on the cross.

As human beings, this gift of self is always made in and through our bodies. It is never done merely with good intentions or in some “super spiritual” way. This includes everything we do, especially in the sexual act. Each and every act must be open to life, or else it is an act of selfishness. And selfishness is directly opposed to truly making love.

Mrs. Pelosi is so concerned that children are a burden on society, that they are going to drain our resources, cause more financial burdens on the family, and wear out couples. I would go ahead and refute this, but thankfully, John Paul has done my work for me:

“[I]s it really true that the new human being is a gift for his parents? A gift for society? Apparently nothing seems to indicate this. On occasion the birth of a child appears to be a simple statistical fact, registered like so many other data in demographic records. It is true that for the parents the birth of a child means more work, new financial burdens and further inconveniences, all of which can lead to the temptation not to want another birth. In some social and cultural contexts this temptation can become very strong. Does this mean that a child is not a gift? That it comes into the world only to take and not to give? These are some of the disturbing questions which men and women today find hard to escape. A child comes to take up room, when it seems that there is less and less room in the world.

But is it really true that a child brings nothing to the family and society? Is not every child a “particle” of that common good without which human communities break down and risk extinction? Could this ever really be denied? The child becomes a gift to its brothers, sisters, parents and entire family. Its life becomes a gift for the very people who were givers of life and who cannot help but feel its presence, its sharing in their life and its contribution to their common good and to that of the community of the family.” [3]

In reality, a child is not someone who simply is to replace the previous generation in the work force (although this is a possible consequence of their being born). Each person who is conceived, whether intentionally or not, is a living, breathing revelation of the love of God. They are a sign to us that no matter how dark things may become, there is always hope (read: real hope from Christ, not Obama “hope.”). And that is a beautiful thing.

Yes, there are many problems involving Nancy Pelosi’s Catholicism, but when she says “I came here [to Washington]…to work for the American people, to do what is in their interest” [4], I find it very hard to believe her. As human beings and Americans, we don’t need more things that are going to destroy our relationships (if you’re looking to break up your marriage within the first 3 years, go ahead, use contraceptives), but we are in grave need of building what John Paul called a “civilization of love,” where every person is respected and treated primarily as a gift.

As John Paul has said, “a civilization inspired by a consumerist, anti-birth mentality is not and cannot ever be a civilization of love” [5]. In order to solve this economic crisis, we must recover the sense of the sacredness of life, witnessing to the pro-abortion forces that children are not the difficulty, but instead it is our own selfishness that must be rooted out.

[1] “Pelosi: Contraception is Good Stimulus for the Economy,” http://www.usnews.com/blogs/
capital-commerce/2009/01/26/pelosi-contraception-is-good-for-the-economy.html. (Date accessed: January 29, 2009)

[2] “Economy forcing many Mexicans to leave United States,” http://www.usatoday.com/ news/nation/ 2008-12-09-Mexico-immigrants_N.htm?csp=34 (Date accessed: January 29, 2009).

[3] John Paul the Great, Letter to Families, 11.

[4] “Pelosi dismisses the need for bipartisanship,” http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/ pelosi- very-happy-with-stimulus-vote-2009-01-29.html (Date accessed: January 29, 2009).

[5] Letter to Families, 13.

Steve Pokorny, the Director of Theology of the Body Ministries (tobministries.com), specializes in speaking to youth about the gift of their sexuality. Steve has an MA in Theology and Catechetics from Franciscan University of Steubenville, received training from the Theology of the Body Institute, and will be completing his studies at the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family Studies in 2009. He is associate editor for Catholic Exchange’s Theology of the Body Channel (tob.catholicexchange.com). You can contact him at tob_ministries@yahoo.com.

Article Originally Posted on tob.catholicexchange.com