Each year on the anniversary of the legalization of abortion in the United States, the Catholic Church unites in prayer and fasting for the legal protection of unborn children.  As Christians, we value every human life because we are all children of God – not matter our race, gender, age, size, abilities, or health.

God became man at Jesus’ conception in Mary’s womb.  As a result we all share a special connection to our Lord, even from conception.

In addition, abortion wounds women as it treats her unique and incredible gift to give life as somehow decreasing her value in certain situations rather than elevating it. Women in crisis need our support and encouragement.  We need to work as a society to appreciate and protect women’s irreplaceable role of giving life to all persons.

This means we need to change how we look at pregnancy in the workplace and the career track.  It means facing the responsibility that is inherent in sex and its power to generate new human life.  It means remembering that crisis pregnancies were the result of a choice made by BOTH the mother AND the father.  Moreover, showing young women that they can rise to challenges in life and that others will be there to help them.  We need to demonstrate that, with God’s grace, good things can come out of mistakes and if we face our failures we can find a way forward.  We need to encourage women in crisis pregnancies that they can give their child life both physically through the pregnancy, but also by choosing a loving adoptive family if she isn’t able to raise the child.  Adoption is a loving choice and a sacrifice by the birth mother we need to honor more.

Abortion supports sexism as it not only kills the woman in the womb, but it degrades the value of motherhood as merely biological.  In addition, if abortion is promoted as a “remedy” or as “healthcare”, it implies that pregnancy is not a sacrificial and sacred gift to be honored, but rather a cancer if unwanted, or a consumer choice if desired.  Most importantly, abortion causes life-long emotional, and sometimes physical, wounds to mothers.  To treat abortion as a simple, non-emotional procedure, is sexist callousness and a failure to authentically work for the protection and flourishing of women.

I have seen the pain of women who have suffered the choice of abortion, and the pressures they encountered by boyfriends, family, and the culture since they supposedly had a “choice.”  I have also seen the healing and freedom of women who made it through the crisis and chose life.

May we pray today, and every day, for greater love and support for mothers and unborn children and the conversion of our own hearts in this matter.

Below is a link for rosary meditations specifically for these intentions:

Praying for the Unborn and Mothers in Crisis…Meditations on the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary