By Jennifer Nolan, PhD
“I wish I had never been born,” declared a despondent George Bailey to his guardian angel, Clarence.
Although I have seen this movie probably 20 times in my life, my jaw was on the floor this Christmas as I had the striking realization that Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life was not only the very first pro-life movie ever made, but probably the most pro-life movie ever made.
Starring Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey, this movie profiles a man who strives toward goodness and truth. Contrasted with his nemesis, Mr. Potter, George sometimes unwittingly has a mild and occasionally dramatic positive influence on the people in his town. But after the theft of a large sum of money from his business, Mr. Potter points out that, given his life insurance policy, George is worth more dead than alive. It is at that point that George is sent his guardian angel, who grants his wish to experience what the world would be like had he never been born.
Without George, the town falters into sin, and entire squadrons of soldiers die at war because the brother he saved from drowning as a child wasn’t there to save them. Furthermore, George’s wife is alone, his kids don’t exist, his former employer becomes a felon for accidentally killing someone, a friend’s marriage breaks up, his uncle falters, the family business fails, and a whole section of town lives in poverty.
All this because George wasn’t born.
Guardian angel Clarence wisely points out, “It’s strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around, he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”
At that moment, I realized how pro-life this movie really was.
Similarly, imagine the holes left by the 60+ million babies lost to abortion. Imagine the diseases they could’ve cured, marriages and generations of children they would have had, inventions they could have invented, taxes they would have paid, infertile couples they could have blessed through adoption, parents, grandparents, and siblings they would have delighted, countries they could have served, lives they would have saved, vocations they could have fulfilled, businesses they could have built, and people they would have loved.
Every life is precious. Everyone has a right to life. Every person has a multitude of purposes he or she is put on this earth by God to fulfill.
Let’s stop abortion now. 2025!
Jennifer Nolan, PhD, is the president and cofounder of Catholic Polytechnic University and executive director of the Right to Life League in California.