Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli

Recorded history and archaeology have uncovered the sad fact that abortion and infanticide are not modern phenomena. Peoples across the centuries have terminated the life of children in the womb of their mothers and have exposed children already born to death. Whether it was to eliminate children with deformities, to conceal illicit sexual behavior, to avoid the expenses of raising a family, innocent lives have been discarded. Some societies such as the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incans, the Carthaginians, and the Canaanites even tried to appease their false gods by sacrificing their children.

In 1921, Margaret Sanger established organizations that evolved into the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. But long before her advocacy for eugenics, some of the greatest philosophical minds have espoused the morality of abortion and infanticide. In Book V of his Republic, the fourth century B.C. philosopher Plato records Socrates recommending a form of eugenics to eliminate certain fetuses either before or after birth. In Book 7 of his Politics, Aristotle likewise advocated for laws allowing abortion and the exposure of newborn children to limit children with deformities and control population.

It is not at all surprising that people without the light of the gospel and without present day scientific knowledge would favor abortion and infanticide in some circumstances. But, from the moment the gospel sheds its light on the dignity of every human person, there was born the pro-life movement. In 1873, the Didache, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, was discovered in a monastery in Asia Minor. Some scholars date this early Christian manual to the same period in which the New Testament was being written. Already, the Didache was declaring that “You shall not kill an unborn child or murder a newborn infant.” All Christians held to this mandate until the early 20th century.

On Jan. 22, 1973 the United States Supreme Court enshrined in law a virtually unlimited right to abortion throughout pregnancy. By law now, a woman may choose to abort her baby up until the child becomes viable. After that moment, a doctor can legally decide that the abortion is necessary to protect the woman’s health. In effect, the law allows an abortion at any moment. A doctor may abort a child even for the emotional stability of the mother.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has recently signed into law the “Reproductive Health Act.” This barbaric statute allows the killing of unborn babies up until the moment of birth for any reason. It also takes away the right for medical care for a child born after failed abortion. How can anyone with compassion for a woman or a child bear to hear certain politicians running for office promote such cruelty! As Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, has said, “A child can be tortured and killed seconds before it is born in New York simply because it is seen as an inconvenience to some and a moneymaker for others.” Infanticide pure and simple. A return to pre-gospel paganism.

The facts about abortion are shocking. The Guttmacher Institute, which is a pro-abortion group, reports that 92 percent of abortions in America are purely elective. This means that these abortions are performed on healthy women who end the lives of their healthy children. The United States has the highest abortion rate in the western world, and the third-highest abortion rate of all developed nations worldwide.

Tertullian, the third-century father of Latin theology, wrote in his Apologia, “In our case, murder being once for all forbidden, we may not destroy even the fetus in the womb…To hinder a birth is merely a speedier man-killing; nor does it matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to the birth. That is a man which is going to be one; you have the fruit already in the seed.” Modern science and technology have shown that he was right. Already from the first moment of conception, there is life. It is human life. It is a child wonderfully formed in a mother’s womb and waiting to be welcomed to the banquet of life.

On Feb. 6, 1997, at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Mother Teresa challenged our country. The saint of the poor and discarded said “What is taking place in America is a war against the child. And if we accept that the mother can kill her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another.” We want peace in our day, in our country and in our world. And so it is time to accept and live the truth that every child conceived is sacred. Every life a gift to be protected and cherished. Every person, healthy or sick, to be loved. It is time to discard every pro-choice cliché, but not babies!