Week in Review
Florida’s Ban Sends Pro-Aborts into a Tailspin; 6-Week Bans Still Miss the Mark, While Pro-Lifers Are Left to Help Young Moms
Fear, finger-pointing, and exploitation. That’s what the other side is really good at.
Florida’s 6-week abortion ban went into effect on May 1, and I’ve seen headlines like “Florida’s Abortion Ban Should Be Our Breaking Point” and “Tears and Despair at Florida Abortion Clinic in Final Hours before Ban.” Pro-abortion writers spin tales of women having a fundamental right taken away, being denied basic care, and having their futures ripped away from them because of abortion bans.
They are attempting to create massive fear in young women by constantly telling them, “No, you’re not good enough.” “No, you can’t do this on your own.”
And yeah, “By the way, your life is over.”
What gets me the most about these fear pieces is the lack of solutions for women. Instead of listing out the many ways a young mom can find help, often for free, the finger is pointed at Republican politicians and pro-life activists as if these groups conspire together to destroy lives.
Here’s the rich irony: Most of the pro-life movement is made up of women. And it’s these women who are the ones doing the heavy lifting when it comes to helping young moms.
American Life League’s Charity Watchlist surveys hundreds of nonprofits to inform donors where these organizations stand in regard to life issues. Recently we searched for national or global nonprofits specifically dedicated to helping young moms, and guess what we found? Nothing from the side that loves to create fear, finger-pointing, and exploitation.
Not a single secular nonprofit is dedicated solely to helping young mothers. Most that claim to have a “women’s health” division are dedicated to passing out condoms and birth control in third world countries.
Helping young moms is left solely to the people of the pro-life movement.
Read that again.
The side that loves to point the finger and say pro-lifers hate women and disappear as soon as the baby is born does nothing for the young woman who just found out she’s pregnant.
They will tell her how to kill her baby and that she’s incapable of taking care of a child, but they will offer her no help.
National pro-life groups, like American Life League, work to educate the public on the dignity and sanctity of human life every day. We also connect women with local entities that can help them every single day.
- Pregnancy resource centers exist to connect young moms with people who can help her, offer her counseling, and help her create a plan moving forward.
- Baby closets exist solely to provide free supplies for young mothers. They offer clothes, furniture, diapers, formula, toys, and so much more.
- Maternity homes offer a free place for a mother to live with her children, and they offer free childcare so she can get back on her feet.
National pro-life groups also offer young moms the option of placing their baby for adoption or even surrendering her baby with Safe Haven laws.
I’ll be honest with you; our society has a long way to go. We live in a time when human life is not valued, especially motherhood and our most vulnerable. Aside from creating intentional fear, what all these articles and sentiments from pro-aborts have in common is leaving out the most important person in this conversation—the baby.
She is the one paying the ultimate price in each abortion, and the abortion camp reduces her to nothing more than an inconvenience.
These abortion bans, while made with the right intentions, are not the solution to our societal issues. They don’t show people that all life is worth protecting, only some. This only adds to the confusion that already runs rampant throughout society.
As Mother Teresa once said, “Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its 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.”
Until we decide as a society to protect our most vulnerable without exception and without compromise, not much will change.
ALL in the News
Judie Brown was recently mentioned in a National Catholic Register article on brain death for her work to protect the vulnerable from being killed for organ donation. Read the article here.
Shaun Kenney, a vice president for American Life League, recently penned an op-ed calling out the pro-life movement for not being absolutist when it comes to protecting human life. The op-ed was published by LifeSiteNews.
Susan Ciancio, editor of Celebrate Life Magazine and director of the Culture of Life Studies Program (ALL’s pre-K-12 pro-life education program for homes and schools) writes weekly commentaries on timely pro-life topics. This week, she wrote an article to help parents teach their children to say yes to God. She also wrote an article about how scandal begets a culture of death. This article was published by the Catholic World Report.
Twice a week, Judie’s commentaries are distributed to an expansive media list. The list contains over 100 media outlets such as Fox News, The Federalist, Breitbart, and The Daily Caller, among others. Judie’s commentaries are each featured on the front page of ALL.org.
Pro-Life Education
Culture of Life Studies Program
Honoring the Blessed Mother: In this downloadable lesson, students learn the story of the Annunciation and Mary’s “yes” to God to become the mother of our Savior. As Christians, we understand that Mary played one of the most important roles in the history of our salvation, which is why we choose to honor her in a very special way with feast days throughout the year and especially during the month of May. As a pro-life people, we also turn to Our Lady for her help as we work to build a culture of life. Mary’s “yes”—her “fiat” to God—reinforces the pro-life message in many ways. Through Mary’s example, we learn how to love, affirm, and respect every human being as a gift during every stage of life. ORDER HERE
ALL’s Education Materials
This beautiful prayer card begins with the line: “The most important person on earth is a mother.” As we approach Mother’s Day, many of us feel this intensely. You can show a mom in your life how valuable she is with this beautiful reflection on motherhood by Cardinal Joseph Mindszenty. SHOP NOW
Pro-Life Social Media
Online Store Helps Parents Memorialize Miscarriage in a Unique Way
Pregnancy loss can hit parents hard no matter the child’s stage of development. A baby at six weeks of development is no different than a baby at six months. It isn’t uncommon for grieving parents to memorialize the children they lost with keepsakes. In previous Pro-Life Social Media columns we profiled framed art and cross stitch featuring preborn children. This week we came across another item in the Etsy shop.
The seller, InspiredbyRiley14, embeds fetal models in resin. What’s remarkable about the items is that the creator includes preborn models as young as five weeks—an age when the child has no distinguishing characteristics like arms, feet, or even a head. Nevertheless, we’ve all been through that stage of development.
Memorializing children when they are so tiny is a beautiful affirmation of their human dignity, as they were all made in the image and likeness of God.
Examples of these keepsakes are below.
4-5 weeks:
6-7 weeks:
11-18 weeks:
11-18 weeks:
19 weeks:
Everyone grieves the loss of a preborn baby differently. There isn’t a right or wrong way for parents to cope. Some parents choose to honor the baby with artistic mementos and keepsakes.
And that’s okay.
