By Susan Ciancio
I recently started watching the hit show Blue Bloods, starring Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg. The series ended last year, but a recent article piqued my interest, and I thought I would give it a try. So far, the show has not disappointed. Following a family of Catholic New York police officers, the show stresses the importance of family. In fact, each episode features Selleck’s on-screen family sitting down to Sunday dinner. And in one of the early episodes, Selleck’s character states that family is the most important thing and how blessed he feels to have them all.
Aside from our faith, family is the greatest blessing we have here on earth. But every day, families are destroyed and torn apart through the act of abortion. According to the latest Guttmacher statistics, there were approximately 2,500 reported abortions in the US each day in 2020. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Some states don’t report, and this number does not include chemical abortions via birth control or the abortion pill, nor does it include IVF.
Abortion destroys families. It hurts moms and dads, it hurts grandparents and siblings, and it hurts society.
If we want to make our country a better place, we must bring back respect for the family. That means we must protect all of its members—born and preborn.
As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:
The family is the original cell of social life. It is the natural society in which husband and wife are called to give themselves in love and in the gift of life. Authority, stability, and a life of relationships within the family constitute the foundations for freedom, security, and fraternity within society. The family is the community in which, from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God, and make good use of freedom. Family life is an initiation into life in society.
So as we approach the March for Life next week, it’s crucial to focus on the reality of abortion and on the humanity of the preborn baby. Below are seven quotes you can reflect upon, share on social media, and discuss with your friends and family because as Fr. Mike Schmitz said at the 2022 March for Life, “abortion . . . has broken our hearts.”
1. “Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law.” – Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2271
2. “Whether he is a single cell in size or preparing to be born, that human being is a person like you and me at every moment of his existence. He is a member of the human family who should never be put to death by any form of abortion.” – Judie Brown
3. “Not even one abortion per week is acceptable. Not one per month. Not one per year. Not one in our lifetime. . . . The dignity of the human person begins at the moment of conception, not at birth.” – Archbishop Samuel Aquila
4. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion. – St. Teresa of Calcutta
5. “Education about the humanity of the child is desperately needed. People need to be shown the evil of abortion, the true agenda of abortionists, and the abuses of the abortion industry.” – Lila Rose
6. “We’ve got to be the voice for the unborn—or nobody else will.” – Lou Holtz
7. “A D&E [dilation and evacuation] procedure is a blind abortion. So, picture yourself introducing this [the Sopher clamp] and grabbing anything you can blindly, and pull. And I do mean hard. And out pops a leg about that big [he holds up his fingers to indicate about 3 inches] which you put down on the table next to you. Reach in again. Pull again. Pull out an arm about the same length, which you put down on the table next to you. And use this instrument again and again to tear out the spine, the intestines, the heart, and lungs. A head in a baby that size is about the size of a large plum. You can’t see it. . . . You know you did it right if you crush down on the instrument and white material runs out of the cervix. That was the baby’s brains. Then you can pull out skull pieces.” – Testimony of Dr. Anthony Levatino (a former abortion provider)
This ghoulish and jarring description is the reality of abortion, and that is why every January, we march. We march to help people understand the sanctity of life. We march to educate about the humanity of the preborn baby. We march to help create a world where abortion is unthinkable and where scared mothers will get the help they need.
The rest of the days of the year, it is incumbent on us to continue to teach the truth that abortion kills babies and destroys families because yes, abortion has broken our hearts. But it has also broken our lives and our families. And it is our responsibility to teach this reality.