Eloquent statement by a Franciscan Brother against the "March for Life"

[ehrnst]

4. I wouldn't stop bashing the pro-forced childbearing crowd

But, if all "pro-lifers" took the advice of this monk, and DID the work that reduced the need for abortions instead of trying to overturn Roe, then I could respect their actions.

The real problem I have is that they think that the problem is Abortion - not the fact that many pregnancies are unplanned, and conditions for many women make them unable to have another child now, even if they wanted one.

So long as they think childbearing should be legally forced, then I will have issues with them. I will bash them for their lack of enthusiasm for the hard work of changing the cultural roadblocks to planned childbearing so long as they do so.

I think that's what this Brother is pointing out - that while he has moral issues with abortion, he will not be part of the hypocrisy and superior self -congratulatory orgy that this March is.

My (departed) Mother-in-law believed that abortion was wrong - that you had a moral obligation to continue a pregnancy that results from consentual sex. She did not, however, think that it should be criminalized, because women would be harmed getting illegal abortions. When I told her that she was actually pro-choice, and not "pro-life" in the political sense, she was surprised.

She also did volunteer work with at-risk kids. I would not "bash" her in any way for her ideas on a sexually active woman's moral obligation to childbearing - because she was not one of those who would participate in these type of marches.