Last Updated on August 14, 2022 by web manager
This page contains Father Sirba’s response to Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the 1973 “Roe v. Wade” decision that legalized abortion in the United States. Father posted these in bulletins starting July 10th, 2022.
Part 1 from July 10th, 2022:
On June 24th, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Supreme Court of the United States voted 6-3 to reverse their 1973 decision to legalized abortion in our country everywhere and at any stage in a woman’s pregnancy. Since then, the reaction has been ferocious and unrelenting. All major Democratic politicians from the President on down have condemned the decision. Nearly all major news outlets have presented story after story from the pro-abortion perspective, and none of them I have seen mention the reason for the controversy surrounding abortion, namely, the fate of the unborn child. Hollywood celebrities have chimed in as well as other prominent people throughout the country. Businesses have indicated they will be paying for abortions for their employees, and even world leaders from Europe and elsewhere have criticized the Supreme Court’s decision. This reaction from the pro-abortion side can only be described as hysterical, and with this hysteria have come numerous false claims about what the decision means. For that reason, let me state some facts. First, the Supreme Court decision does not make abortion illegal at any time and anywhere in the country. What it does is turn the issue over to the states. That means each state and territory through its elected representatives will determine how abortion will be dealt with in that state.
The details, whether it will be legal or illegal all of the time, some of the time or none of the time will be decided on a state by state basis. In the meantime, abortion advocates have been speculating on what might happen next. Will the Supreme Court outlaw contraception? Will women be jailed? Will women seeking abortion be prohibited from crossing state lines? These and similar questions are scare tactics that have no basis in fact. As just one example, we have freedom of movement in our country. There are no prohibitions from us going wherever we want even if it is to get an abortion. Abortion advocates are also finding the most extreme, horrific cases which are a tiny subset of those with problem pregnancies to justify legalized abortion. What strikes me most about the various reactions is their utter indifference to the humanity of the unborn child. If the organism in a woman’s womb is not a human being, then abortion is not an issue. However, if it is, then we are obligated to consider both lives. At this point, I would encourage you to watch a fascinating video on life in the womb from a medical perspective. It can be found at here at https://knowreality.us/.
PART 2 from July 17th, 2022:
Last week I wrote about the initial reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse their 1973 ruling which legalized abortion. I noted that the reaction from the pro- abortion side borders on the hysterical. I pointed out that numerous false claims are being made such as this one: “Millions of women’s lives are now in danger.” I noted that the major news media are finding the most extreme and heartbreaking cases to justify abortion being legal in all cases. Finally, I noted that in virtually every case, the various reactions are marked by an utter indifferent to the humanity of the unborn child. It’s important that we consider how we got to this point. In the almost 50 years since Roe v. Wade, there have been over 60 million abortions in our country. If we assume one third were repeat abortions, then 40 million women and 40 million men, 80 million total have been directly involved with abortion. That works out to nearly one in three American adults. This also means that there are a lot of wounded people out there. To justify themselves, supporters of abortion have been coming out to tell their abortion stories. One man who was in college told of how he brought his pregnant girlfriend to get an abortion. He said she was crying when she went in, but was stone- faced when leaving. He said, “We were too young to have a child,” and then he said, “I haven’t seen her in a long time … I hope she’s ok.” At this point, we need to ask some questions. If abortion is such a simple thing, why do people get so emotional when talking about it? Why do women cry when going into abortion clinics? Why are people so angry and fearful? Why do educated people need to lie about when life begins? Why can’t we discuss the humanity of the unborn child and what does that make us if we decide to kill it? Do we really believe might makes right? There is an old saying, “You can’t fool Mother Nature.” We have been trying to do that for some time now, and we need to stop.
PART 3 from July 24th, 2022:
The subject of abortion is not an easy one. Rather, it is very complex. It involves relationships, religious faith, fundamental biology, and the choices we make on many different levels. In many cases, it also involves an unwillingness to discuss the truth or even an outright rejection of the truth. Let’s start to unravel this complex issue with a look at basic biology. Nearly all animals reproduce sexually, that is, their offspring are the result of the union between a sperm from the male and an egg from the female. Human beings are no different in that regard. Once a sperm and egg are joined, there exists a new organism. A new life has begun which is separate and distinct from its parents. This is a biological fact, a fact of science (by the way, there is no such thing as a “fertilized egg” because the egg ceases to exist at conception – biologists call a new organism at this stage in life a zygote). That means people who say we cannot know when human life begins are simply wrong and reveal they know very little about basic biology. Furthermore, those who argue that when life begins is a religious or philosophical issue are also expressing an opinion that conflicts with basic biology. To put it bluntly, people who say things like this don’t know what they are talking about. Biological facts are what they are and do not depend upon what one’s opinions about them might be. The fact is that for animals, new life begins when a sperm and egg join.
PART 4 from July 31st, 2022:
In part 3, it was noted that abortion is a complex and difficult subject. It involves relationships, religious faith, fundamental biology, and the choices we make on many different levels. In many cases, it also involves an unwillingness to discus the truth or even an outright rejection of the truth. That is why any fruitful discussion on abortion must begin with the truth. Last week Father Sirba pointed out that with regard to nearly all animals, a new organism comes into being when a sperm and an egg cell join. This new organism is separate and distinct from its parents, and this is just as true for human beings as for other animals. Another fact is this. Animals reproduce sexually by mating. Because human beings are rational animals, their behavior is not instinctual as is the case with lower animals. Rather human behavior must be rational and freely chosen. In other words, it must involve both intellect and will, and this includes the act of sexual intimacy which is first of all a sign of love. One might say that the union of bodies is (or should be) a sign of the union of hearts that exists between a husband and wife. In addition, this union is by its very nature ordered to new life, that is, to children. It is only by using unnatural means to prevent conception that this natural process can be interrupted. There is one last point to make before we can tackle the morality of abortion, and it is this. No other animal requires more time to mature than do human beings. While on the one hand, some animals such as mice mature in only 4 to 7 weeks, elephants on the other hand, require from 10 to 14 years to reach maturity, but human beings take even longer. Children also require care and instruction from both their father and mother, and this experiential learning cannot be replaced. When either one or the other parent is absent, there will be a negative effect on the child (to be continued).
PART 5 from August 7th, 2022:
Over that past several weeks, I have noted that abortion is a complex and difficult subject. It involves relationships, religious faith, fundamental biology, and the choices we make on many different levels. In many cases, it also involves an unwillingness to discuss the truth or even an outright rejection of the truth. For that reason, before I make any comments on the morality of abortion, I wanted to establish the facts. Three are essential. First, a new human being comes into existence when a sperm and an egg cell are joined. Second, human procreation is naturally linked to sexual intimacy. Third, human beings take longer to mature than do any other animals, and human beings require the care and instruction of both the father and mother to reach their full potential. With these facts in mind, we are now at last in a position to evaluate the morality of abortion. Let us first look at the claim that a woman has a right to control her own body as evidenced by the slogan “My body, my choice.” No reasonable person would dispute the fact that a woman has the right to control her body. However, a woman who is pregnant has another life growing inside her, and that life is not part of her body. For one thing, the child in her womb has a different genetic makeup from the mother. For another, the woman does not control the movements of her baby or anything else about her baby. The point is simply that the baby is a separate life, it is a separate organism from the mother living within her. That said, a more accurate slogan from the pro-abortion side would be, “Our bodies, my choice.” To deny the humanity of the child in the womb from conception to birth is simply to deny the truth. So the issue is this: Does a pregnant woman have the right to end the life of her unborn child? (To be continued).
