Mother’s Day, and of course I’m musing, as Grandmas do. I’m going back to 1947, I’ve been married three months, and I think I may be pregnant. Well, I knew that could happen if I got married. There was no birth control pill back then and I wouldn’t have used them anyway, because I knew I wanted children “someday.” It seemed “someday” had arrived and we were all right with that. We had figured out how to do the “sex” thing and apparently we were doing the “baby” thing, too. Not bad for amateurs!

I was about two months along when I started to have some slight bleeding which I thought might indicate an imminent miscarriage. What really surprised me was that I started to cry! I had not realized that I was already invested in this baby. I didn’t know that I cared much at that point whether I was pregnant or not. Another thing that also surprised me, after the bleeding stopped and I was still pregnant, was how miffed I was when my plans to go shopping for yarn to make a baby afghan had to be postponed. I wanted to start that afghan NOW – it was going to be made of pink and blue crocheted squares, stitched together, backed with flannel, and bound with satin ribbon. But not next week – NOW! How strongly the nesting instinct had kicked in!

All this musing was prompted by a MercatorNet article, What Price Baby Bliss? which dealt with the desire for babies, “reproductive technology,” and the pain of childlessness. It is an excellent, thought-provoking article but it does not deal with something that comes up especially on Mother’s Day – the pain of having been pregnant but terminating that pregnancy with abortion. It is becoming more and more obvious with the appearance of the Silent No More and Rachel’s Vineyard ministries that abortion wounds a woman in her deepest self.

Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave writes:

As I get ready to celebrate Mother’s Day with my children and grandchildren, I cannot help but think of the hundreds of thousands of women for whom this day is not a time to celebrate the joys of motherhood.

Instead of enjoying their child’s embrace, those women will be thinking about what and who might have been—how their lives would be different. For those women, Mother’s Day may be one of the hardest of the year.

My heart goes out to those women, it breaks for them. Those mothers—because they always will be mothers—had their children ripped away from them, somehow convinced that abortion would “solve the problem.” I hope you will join me in taking just a minute of time on bended knee today to pray for them that they might find comfort in God’s healing power and love.

Once a woman becomes pregnant, very powerful hormones kick in. As a bird starts to build a nest when an egg in on the way, so a woman, without even knowing it, gets ready not only in her body but in her mind, for the coming baby. As the mother bunny lines the nest with fur plucked from her belly, so the woman thinks cradle and baby clothes and pink and blue afghans. Why does Planned Parenthood not want the pregnant woman to see the ultrasound? Because everything in her would rise against hurting this wee son or daughter that is dependent on her and she can’t go through with the abortion.

When it comes to sex, we seem to be actually hardwired. You don’t imagine, do you, that Adam and Eve needed instructions on  how to “be fruitful and multiply?” If you don’t believe in the Adam and Eve stuff, you know that Emmeline and Michael  in the Blue Lagoon discovered how to “make out” and nurse their baby without a “how-to” book.   (Yes, the Blue Lagoon is fiction but you know perfectly well that in real life the same thing would happen, don’t you?) Those hormones and that hardwiring cannot be turned off like a faucet. There is usually grieving for the baby that is miscarried but often everlasting remorse for the baby that is destroyed by “choice.” It goes against everything womanly in a woman.

On this Mother’s Day, I pray for all mothers but especially those with empty aching arms whether by chance or by choice. Lord, help us to appreciate the gift of life and the blessing that is a baby.

Kudos to Bishop Timothy Dolan of New York for weighing in on the censorship of a billboard erected in SoHo depicting a young African-American girl with the caption:

THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE FOR AN

AFRICAN-AMERICAN IS IN THE WOMB

This is a statement of fact.   More black human beings die from abortion than from any other cause.  Are there facts that cannot be stated?  How can that be?  Following is Bishop Dolan’s comment on the efforts of the pro-abortion faction to shut down Crisis Pregnancy Centers in New York, not because they provide a choice ( let’s hear it for choice!) but because they cut down on abortions which they say (out of the other side of their mouth) that they want to be rare:

This controversy over Intro 371 reminds me of a conversation I had not too long ago with a dedicated woman medical professional who works in one of the wonderful crisis pregnancy centers here in New York City.  “Archbishop,” she said to me, “we’re here to help women who want an alternative to abortion. We don’t get massive subsidies from the government like the abortion clinics.  We sure don’t have the well-heeled donors Planned Parenthood has.  Why are some people trying so hard to get rid of us?  Why is the city government harassing us?  All we want is to be left alone to do our work.”

It’s a good question, and one I couldn’t answer.

It’s not as if there aren’t plenty of places to get an abortion in New York City.  It grieves me to think that we can be called the abortion capital of the world, as 41% of all pregnancies in New York end in abortion.  If a woman in this city wants an abortion, it is distressingly easy to get one.

It’s also not as if this kind of bill hasn’t been tried elsewhere and been found wanting.  A similar law was recently declared unconstitutional in Baltimore.  Why then would our City Council spend valuable time and energy promoting this type of harassing bill?  Aren’t there more pressing concerns with our City’s budget, with the education system, with basics like pothole repair?

And if an industry ever needed more oversight and regulation, it’s the abortion industry, as the recent horrors from Pennsylvania demonstrated.  Yet it is the little pregnancy care centers that come under attack.

This asks the delicate question if people who claim to be “pro-choice,” but seek to silence anyone who would help a woman to have her baby, are really interested in “choice” at all.  Witness the recent gag-order imposed on a pro-life billboard last week.    These pregnancy centers will not only help a mother to give birth, but they will also find her assistance if she wants to keep her baby, or help the mother find a good home for her child through adoption.  Sure, they’ll never have the big donors or flashy celebrity support that the abortion centers have, but they are making a real difference in the lives of these women and their babies, pre-born and born.

So, why the major push to get rid of these centers and the dedicated, humble, loving people who work there?  Why can’t they just be left alone to do their work?

I didn’t have the answer for my friend. Because I don’t think there is one.

And, again, Bishop Dolan has this to say:

Another ad has been generating some fierce reactions. Here in New York, a billboard was recently displayed, that simply stated “The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb.” This message was accompanied by a photograph of a young, African-American girl.

Is that message unpleasant? Is it upsetting? Does it get our attention?

Yes!

Because the message is somberly true. The City of New York’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recently released its vital statistics from a year ago which showed that 59.8% of African-American pregnancies in New York City ended in abortion. That’s even higher than the chilling city-wide average of 41% of pregnancies ending in abortion. (I joined other community leaders from a diversity of religious and ethnic backgrounds at a press conference sponsored by the Chiaroscuro Foundation about this a few weeks ago.)

So why has the billboard suddenly been taken down? What was it that moved many of our elected officials to condemn this ad and call for the gag order. Are they claiming that free speech is a right enjoyed only by those who favor abortion or their pet causes? Do they believe that unpleasant and disturbing truths should not be spoken? Or are they afraid that when people are finally confronted with the reality of the horror of abortion, and with the toll that it is taking in our city, particularly in our African-American community, that they will be moved to defend innocent, unborn, human life?

Perhaps I’m more saddened by this intolerance right now because on Monday I will be celebrating the funeral mass for Doctor Bernard Nathanson, that giant of the pro-life movement, who died earlier this week. If you don’t know Dr. Nathanson’s story, you should. At one time, he fought hard to promote and expand abortion on demand in this state and in our country. He was one of the founders of the National Abortion Rights Action League. He ran what he called the “largest abortion clinic in the Western world,” and bragged about personally performing thousands of abortions. But, when Dr. Nathanson was confronted with the undeniable truth, when he could see the unborn baby in the womb through the use of ultrasound technology, he abandoned his support for abortion and became a crusader for the protection of the life of the baby in the womb.

His courage and bravery should be an inspiration to us, especially when we have to face unpleasant and sobering truths.

GOD BLESS BISHOP DOLAN AND ALVEDA KING, MARTIN LUTHER KING’S NIECE!

~~~

In the name of tolerance, tolerance is being abolished. — Pope Benedict XVI

Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council has a way of cutting to the quick.   However Whoopi on The View may shout that Planned Parenthood gets no federal money for abortions, however the others on The View think that “poor people” need the services PP offers, they obviously do not know that neither abortions or other services at PP are free and you should go somewhere else if you don’t have the cash or insurance.

With Planned Parenthood, You Choose–You Lose!

The person behind Planned Parenthood’s PR strategy may want to rethink the timing of their new report. Faced with dozens of criminal cover-ups, the end of government funding, and new evidence that its clinics were hiding 164 incidents of statutory rape in Kansas, this might not be the best time to remind America that your primary service is killing unborn children. This week, the organization released its latest numbers from 2009–and if they hoped to bolster their argument that they care about women’s health more than profit, this is not the document to do it. The bottom line is their bottom line. Once again, the number of abortions has climbed (332,278) while the number of adoption referrals has dropped (977). To put those numbers in perspective, if a woman walked into a Planned Parenthood clinic two years ago, she was 340 times more likely to receive an abortion than an adoption referral. Exactly what part of that statistic makes the case that this organization’s primary concern is women’s health? The nation’s largest provider of abortion is the largest recipient of Title X funds. As Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) said yesterday, there are literally thousands of centers across the country–other than Planned Parenthood–that receive federal funding and offer real care to low-income women. His legislation would help protect those women who find themselves in crisis pregnancies by ensuring that they have access to organizations that see them as patients, not dollar signs.

Here is the Face of Planned Parenthood

This is an extraordinarily revealing video by former Planned Parenthood Director Abby Johnson. She explains why it is important to have pro-lifers praying and offering help outside the PP clinics, and what is going on in the heads of the clinic workers inside. In a particular clinic that she talks about, they are planning to do even later term abortions. She explains where their money comes from, why they locate in minority areas, and how they get women to make use of their facility. Awesome! God bless Abby Johnson and the people that take her words to heart.

It is doubtful that the people below, trying to save babies from abortion in New York City, have ever heard of Abby Johnson, but this slide show reveals the hearts of those who  try to save the lives of babies and help abortion-minded women by being out there, on the streets, praying and ready to help.

ABORTION = ONE DEAD, ONE WOUNDED.

WOUNDED WOMEN SPEAK OUT.

Father Pavone and Senator Brownback on effect of abortion on women.

“The Silent No More Awareness Campaign is an effort to make the public aware of the devastation abortion brings to women, men, and their families. Our hope is that the emotional and physical pain of abortion will no longer be shrouded in secrecy and silence, but rather exposed and healed. Believing that women deserve better than abortion we pray this effort will make abortion unthinkable as every culture develops ways to help women and men embrace their pre-born children.”

PLANNED PARENTHOOD PLANS MORE ABORTIONS!

The advertisement shows a little girl sitting before a computer. It says: “See Jane. See Jane click. Click, click, Jane. See, Jane, See.” The last frame shows a picture of Jane looking amazed, shocked. The words say: “Jane saw!”

Jane is perhaps ten. She has stumbled onto a porn site. Jane can never unsee what she has seen anymore than you can forget your own first introduction to raw sex.

The ad is for an internet filter which prevents such sewage from ever reaching your home computer. Not everyone is happy that Jane and her brother can view the grossest of sexual deviancy on line, either by chance or by choice, when they set about surfing the web.

It used to be that one had to seek out porn in adult bookshops, behind-the-counter magazines, or x-rated movie houses. Now it comes into homes, schools, and libraries unbidden. One only has to surf cable or satellite offerings and it’s right there in living, moving color. Read the rest of this entry »