Friday, August 28, 2009

The ‘one issue’ issue

Catholic News
Life Truths - 2009
Friday, 28 August 2009 13:22

“Life is a broad-based issue.” So said the Archbishop in a recent news item, which was why this column was called “Life Truths” from the beginning. Another term often used is: “‘pro-life’ is not ‘one-issue’” when referring to the issue of abortion, which comes across as negative to the emphasis on abortion.

Though it is true the Church is not “one issue” - obviously, it is concerned with every issue to do with God, man and creation! - we need to be aware of what is the most universal and deadly issue that affects humanity at any moment in history; and for this moment in history, that issue is abortion as part of the Culture of Death.

Consider these ghastly facts. Poverty is a serious humanitarian problem. According to UNICEF, an estimated 25,000 children die worldwide each day due to poverty. An estimated 145,000 die each day worldwide from abortions (USA Today 8/8/96), more than five times the number. Many of the former die from governmental neglect and corruption. All the latter die due to someone’s deliberate choice to put a new human being to death (most women who have had an abortion did not want to do it but felt pressured and unsupported by significant others).

The terrible problem is that much of the Western world has rejected the Church, established by God to reveal Truth (Jesus Christ) to the world. Its teachings are ridiculed or violently attacked because they call us away from sin and selfishness to righteousness and love.

The West has adopted a worldview that there is no absolute truth, so each individual is free to pick the “truth” that suits him or her. Join this to the “absolutisation of the self” (Pope Benedict XVI) and seeing objects as more important that people and we have our present Western societies, many of which are passing laws legalising abortion, contraception, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, embryonic experimentation and teaching in government schools graphic sex to children as young as ten years old.

Euthanasia is gaining ground with the severe reduction of young people due to abortion. Pension plans are not being replenished adequately because of fewer workers. The cost of support for the elderly is rising. In Holland, over 10,000 old people die from “mercy killing” each year (Brian Clowes, PhD, The Facts of Life). ABC News recently reported that the Oregon Health Plan refused to cover cancer drugs that cost US$4,000 per a month for Barbara Wagner, a 64 year-old terminally ill patient with lung cancer. Instead they offered to give her a one-time prescription for lethal drugs to end her life, which would cost the state health provider only US$50.
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