By Judie Brown
The book of Sirach (6:14) states, “A loyal friend is a powerful defense: whoever finds one has indeed found a treasure.”
This quote could not have come on a more memorable day for me, a woman who is now 81 years of age and who has a myriad of loyal friends beginning with my beloved husband and moving on through our family, our coworkers, and indeed all those who strive to protect innocent persons, born and preborn alike.
Not only is every defender of life a treasure, but even more so are the preborn and their families. Circumstances of late have made this truth more apparent than perhaps at any time in the past few months.
The Geneva Consensus Declaration, signed by our nation, states that there is no international right to abortion. This occurred in January, one month before an American teenage girl tossed her newborn baby out of a window in France.
The young woman, Mia McQuillan, 18, was traveling through Europe as part of her gap year between high school and college.
The New York Post reports, “Authorities are investigating whether McQuillin, who grew up in a $1 million bungalow in Bend, was suffering a case of ‘denial of pregnancy’ and was unaware she was pregnant or not able to accept she was pregnant when she allegedly tossed the infant out the window around 6 am Monday morning, authorities told the Mail.”
This barbaric act represents the worst face of a culture devoted to self-absorption at any cost. Why else would a perfectly healthy woman perpetrate such a dastardly deed?
And while this most outrageous act was reported by the media, it is nothing more than a reflection of our national attitude toward children, whether they are newly created, about to be born, or among us outside the womb. As we well know, a society that has become callous toward the value of a single human being is a mob without a conscience.
While it is laudable that some members of Congress have signed on to a proposal entitled The Life at Conception Act, which states that “the terms ‘human person’ and ‘human being’ include each and every member of the species homo sapiens at all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization, cloning, or other moment at which an individual member of the human species comes into being,” we ask: What will it take for such language to become law?
And once our treasure has been legally protected by the law, what will it take to convert the majority of Americans to obey such a law?
Some might argue that the goal is impossible, to which we reply, nothing is impossible for God.
Currently, “Students for Life Action has launched a petition calling on U.S. senators and congressmen to support the Life at Conception Act.”
LifeNews reports that “the Life at Conception Act has garnered support from legal experts, medical professionals, and pro-life advocates nationwide.”
And Lila Rose, founder of Live Action, told the March for Life attendees this year, “We can usher in a new golden age for America when we protect every life from the moment of conception.”
The human person is the treasure in our midst. We do not need a politician or a public speaker to remind us of this; we simply must KNOW it! And then we must spread the word from our little corner of the world to everyone we can potentially reach with this life-affirming, love-affirming truth about the dignity of the human person.
As Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) taught, “Respect for that dignity is owed to every human being because each one carries in an indelible way his own dignity and value.”
Life begins at the existence of that single cell that carries a person’s DNA. This is science, this is common sense, and this is the message that assures others that the treasure in our midst is the human being. Every single one of them is one of us, no exceptions, no compromise!
Go forth and joyfully share your love for the dignity of the human person. Celebrate the treasure in our midst.