American Life League Director of the Culture of Life Studies Program Offers Families Grounded Advice
Contact: Tom Ciesielka, TC Public Relations, 312.422.1333, tc@tcpr.net
(August 15, 2023 – Fredericksburg, Virginia) “My 9-year-old asked me: ‘Mommy, what’s abortion?’” recalled Susan Ciancio, having had to answer that question long before she became American Life League’s director and executive editor for the Culture of Life Studies Program. She explained, “I had to be honest. I explained that it was when a mom has her baby killed before he has a chance to be born.” By contrast, when Planned Parenthood delivers its brand of sex ed to schools, honesty is not part of the lesson plan. The abortion giant, under the guise of education, presents taking the life of a baby as simple as A, B, C: Abortion is okay, Babies and expendable, and Condoms allow you to “play” all you want without consequences. Parents can be prepared to counter this harmful worldview and champion the pro-life message with a ready defense based on biblical truths and heroes of faith.
Ciancio, who holds degrees in psychology and sociology, is greatly concerned about what today’s parents are facing.
“One should not underestimate the havoc that external influences like Planned Parenthood can wreak on families,” Ciancio warns. “Unfortunately, stopping indoctrination at schools can be difficult, but there are effective defensive and offensive tactics you can launch from home to undercut the potential damage that can result from the abortion lobby’s student propaganda.”
Ciancio offers a number of strategies to affirm the sanctity of human life:
Share the stories of biblical men and women who openly demonstrated the value of the preborn
Jochebed – the mother of Moses – showed how far a mother’s love will lead her to protect her child. The Bible tells how she hid her infant son in a basket on the river to escape the Egyptian ruler’s command to kill all male offspring.
“The example of the young Virgin Mary comes immediately to mind,” Ciancio observed. “Mary and Joseph dealt humbly and heroically with an ‘unplanned pregnancy.’ Though the infant Christ was divinely conceived, that miracle disrupted their initial plans and caused them to undoubtedly face social pressures, disbelief, and judgment from those around them.
Tailor messages to be age appropriate, whether your child is a preschooler, “tween,” or teenager
Children as young as three years old can memorize a simple Prayer for the Unborn. Ciancio’s eighteen-year-old son continues to pray regularly for the “little ones in danger of abortion,” with a prayer he learned as a toddler.
Culture of Life Studies Program research suggests that parents should avoid graphic details when they talk about abortion with children younger than those in 5th grade. However, it is important to know that those in schools will likely be exposed to the issue at an earlier age. Ciancio emphasized that it’s important for parents who value life to be proactive.
“Reinforcing a love for preborn babies and their mothers is a great foundation to build on with elementary-age children,” Ciancio pointed out.
Students in the middle and high school grades are going to have been subjected to some rhetoric and disinformation, whether via news, friends, or social media. Ciancio notes that it is important to break through the noise with the clear and unvarnished truth.
“Clearly defining what abortion is in all its ugliest terms is appropriate,” declared Ciancio. “The horrible fact that a preborn baby’s limbs are ripped off his body in a surgical abortion or that a tiny infant’s skin is burnt off in a saline procedure is not something to be hidden from preteens and teens. When a friend ‘in trouble’ confides in her best friend, your daughter needs to know that an abortion doctor has to reassemble the pieces of a baby’s body to make sure the abortion was complete. Your son needs to able to respond to a peer – or a teacher – who states that the abortion pill is ‘safe’ with the fact that the first drug, mifepristone, starves a baby to death and the second, misoprostol, induces violent cramps in a mother’s body to forcibly expel that baby from her womb.”
“Parents are right to worry,” says Ciancio. “Woke elements in society are undermining the basic truths that parents seek to instill in their children. This is especially disturbing for faith-centered families. Mothers and fathers need to keep their eyes – and ears – open to the information that is constantly bombarding their children.”
Ciancio encourages families to learn together. She suggested that parents “include their children in fact-finding missions to find answers in church resources, like their local respect life offices or discussions with clergy and church workers, and then talk together about the choice to follow in Christ’s footsteps to love everyone rather than mimic the ways of the world.”
“Families – or classrooms – can visit the lonely in residential facilities, help serve meals to the homeless, collect diapers for a pro-life pregnancy help ministry, or take a single-parent family on a holiday outing,” proposed Ciancio. “Put those learned pro-life values into practice on a regular basis as a way to ‘immunize’ students from Planned Parenthood’s dreadful school programs.”
About Susan Ciancio
Susan Ciancio is the director and executive editor of the Culture of Life Studies Program and executive editor of American Life League’s Celebrate Life Magazine. Learn more about the Culture of Life Studies Program at cultureoflifestudies.com.
About American Life League
American Life League has been part of the pro-life abortion debate from its inception. Since 1979, American Life League has committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to death with a pro-life integrity that stands up for every innocent human being whose life is threatened by a “culture of death.” For more information visit all.org.