By Judie Brown
In the fictional world of George Orwell, a great many things were askew. Chief among these was a dystopian reality described as “an imagined world or society in which people lead dehumanized, fearful lives.”
A very current example of this is the action of Arizona judge Christopher Whitten who rejected the language of a proposed state ballot measure because the words “unborn human being” are, in his opinion, a “partisan” phrase. This is the sort of ideology that condemns an entire class of human beings to death without a second thought. We have been at this long enough to know that where once it was just the preborn who were threatened, now no innocent, vulnerable human being is safe.
This statement is based on a recent newspaper article that demonized the truth about fetal children being people who deserve the same rights as everyone else. The writer, Anna Clare Vollers, proclaimed, “The possible implications of fetal personhood bills extend far beyond abortion—to fertility treatments, birth control and even child tax credits. In states that have enacted such laws, pregnant women have faced criminal charges for actions that might harm their pregnancies.”
Vollers interviewed history professor Rebecca Kluchin, who said, “When a pregnant person’s rights conflict with fetal rights . . . fetal rights tend to trump them.”
We note that Kluchin joins the chorus of those who will no longer use the proper descriptive word “mother” when referring to someone expecting a baby but prefers to be as neutral as our Orwellian culture will allow.
And she is not alone. Canadian writer Dorothy Cummings McLean tells us that end-of-life care is killing people as well! She asks: “Active euthanasia—deliberately killing a patient—is illegal in the United States, so why do some Americans believe that hospice workers are killing, or have killed, their loved ones?”
AND IT GETS WACKIER!
The Centers for Disease Control has issued new recommendations for contraceptive use. The following statement appears regarding prevention of pregnancy: “For transgender, gender diverse, and nonbinary persons with a uterus, the use of testosterone may not prevent pregnancy. Contraceptive counseling and services should be offered to those who are at risk for and do not desire pregnancy.”
We also know that Democrat vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz once “called for language to be added to the Minnesota abortion-rights law signed in January 2023 that would further guarantee access to IVF and other fertility treatments.”
Topping off the list of Orwellian ideas is this one from Massachusetts where pro-LGBTQ governor Maura Healey, who described Massachusetts as “proud to be a national leader and trailblazer when it comes to LGBTQ+ equality,” promised to sign a bill that would eliminate the titles mother and father from the law. By doing so, of course, LGBTQ parents will be recognized as naturally possessing parental rights even though nature scoffs at this concept and even denies its validity.
Commentator Charles Russo opines, “Rather than promote unity, the statutory exclusions of mothers and fathers in House Bill 4750 cynically do just the opposite. Aware of the power of language, combined with the often-stated adage that ‘words have meaning,’ these changes are more likely to divide families and individuals by explicitly ignoring parents and domestic structures that have long served as the basis of civil society, not just in the United States but throughout the world.”
All of these examples represent the crux of that dystopian society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives even as they apparently clamor for their own suffering, never realizing that what they truly need is Christ, the Lord!
But let us have hope, as we remember and repeat Saint Therese of Lisieux’s beautiful words: “Our Lord needs from us neither great deeds nor profound thoughts. Neither intelligence nor talents. He cherishes simplicity.”