If, as I take to be axiomatic, the battle against abortion and other evils associated with it is primarily a spiritual battle, we should take care to think about it primarily in spiritual terms.
As I have said before, the Devil attacks life at its weakest stages because he is a coward. But it is worth considering what else we know about him.
We have it on the best authority that he is a liar and the father of lies. and that too is reflected in his onslaught on humanity waged via abortion.
Off the top of my head, I can think of 4 lies at the heart of the abortion business (I am sure there are more):
Lie no. 1: The unborn child is not a human being (or variants of this lie: eg is not endowed with the same rights as born human beings etc)
Lie no. 2: Abortion will make everything the same as it was before for the mother; ie as though she had never been pregnant.
Lie no. 3: Abortion is a medical procedure.
Lie no. 4: Abortion is necessary to ensure women’s rights and freedoms.
Each of those is demonstrably untrue, and the fact that the abortion industry is built on lies is one of the reasons that it is so disastrously damaging, not just for the unborn children who are killed, but also for their mothers (and fathers and others) and also for the medical and other staff involved. And Satan laughs.
If my supposition is correct, that it is primarily a spiritual battle, then we should be fighting primarily with spiritual weapons: at one level, truth and charity; and at another level, prayer and fasting. I will come on to this in my next post...
In the meantime, here is a passage from Gaudium et Spes which Ttony highlighted over at the Catholic Reading Group as being a fantastic summary of a truly Catholic pro-Life position:
“Furthermore, whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia or wilful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where men are treated as mere tools for profit, rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others of their like are infamies indeed. They poison human society, but they do more harm to those who practice them than those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are supreme dishonor to the Creator.” (Gaudium et Spes, §27)
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3 comments:
And the latest line from the militant pro-abort lobby: the embryo/foetus is a parasite on the women's body. The "clump of cells" argument is so yesterday.
If you want an excuse for your killing or enslaving of other people, the standard method is to deny the humanity of your victims.
Which is exactly the line taken by the pro-aborts.
Genty, yes indeed, but I see this only as a particularly pernicious variant on Lie no.1. The Devil really isn't very original (in fact, theologically, he is not original at all - he can only corrupt, not originate).
Jonathan, yes also; but I am a little wary of attributing such a motive to all those involved. Many, I am sure, are acting from honourable intentions and have bought the lies.
But that is the Devil's intention and initial strategy, without doubt. But he then, bu a sleight of hand, uses acceptance of that lie to set a precedent for attacking human life elsewhere (in old age or handicap, for example).
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