By Judie Brown
Starting with the basic definition of a safe haven, we learn that it is a place where “people who need to escape from a dangerous situation such as a war can go . . . and be protected.” A good example would be a place that protects those suffering from domestic violence or elder abuse.But more recently, a sordid twist on the term has occurred.
In Nevada, Governor Joe Lombardo, a Republican, has signed a bill into law that makes the state a “safe haven for abortion tourism.” This means that anyone can travel to Nevada to kill her baby, no questions asked. As you might expect, I would call this anything but a place where the helpless can flee to be safe when their lives are threatened.
But Governor Lombardo is not concerned with his mangling of the term; he is only concerned with giving women a place to go to kill their own children. And friends, this man is a Catholic!
We felt compelled to make note of this political contradiction, not because it shocked us, but because it pretty much falls in line with the words of March for Life president Jeanne Mancini,who wrote about state laws that place reasonable limits on abortion. In the article, Mancini refers to laws that limit abortion, which begs a question from those of us who learned the truth from the word of God and the fierce public defenders of babies, like Nellie Gray, who founded the March for Life. Nellie’s famous line “not even a little bit of abortion” has apparently been erased from history by those who claim to have followed in her footsteps.
Examples like this, and the opinions of folks like those who live in Louisiana and favor aborting a baby after rape tell us a thing or two about moral backsliding that results in dead people.
Thinking about this should alarm us!
Apparently after 50 years of decriminalized abortion there are some pro-life folks who have decided that politically advocating for a little bit of abortion is the way forward. Such thinking is a real threat to the preborn, the aging, and the infirm.
It reminds me of a speech theme frequently noted by the now-deceased Benedictine priest Paul Marx. During an interview Father Marx said, “Contraception is an enormous evil and the gateway to abortion and all manner of sexual abuse. We now know that if parents contracept, their teenagers will fornicate. But how many American bishops condemn contraception?”
Father Marx asked that question during the 1990s. Since then, the long slide toward regulated killing in America has been consistent and deadly. Between the 1960s when contraception became legal and 2023 when a safe haven has become a place for killing, a great evil has taken hold of this nation.
Turning the clock back is not realistic, but converting those who suffer hardness of heart is more than possible. So as we consider that textbook definition of a safe haven, let us strive to bring our nation to a point where from sea to shining sea, America becomes a safe haven for all human beings, born and preborn.