Roe v. Wade Anniversary Sparks Pro-Life Protests in Washington
by Jenni Parker and Ed Thomas
January 24, 2005
(AgapePress) - Saturday, January 22, marked the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling that declared abortion legal in America. That date, widely commemorated by pro-abortion forces, also provided pro-lifers with a focus for numerous demonstrations and activist efforts this week, including one bold indictment against pro-abortion political leaders.American Life League (ALL), the nation's largest grassroots Catholic pro-life educational organization, held a Capitol Hill press conference on Monday, where the group unveiled its latest public awareness campaign. The group unveiled a two-page ad identifying the 72 pro-abortion Catholics in the U.S. House and Senate, repudiating them for their open support for the killing of unborn children.
The advertisement was scheduled to run in the Washington Times newspaper Monday and includes the names and photographs of all the pro-abortion Catholics in the legislature under the heading: "72 Reasons Why Every Pro-Life March Comes to a Dead Stop at Congress." ALL contends that these politicians, whatever their alleged personal or religious convictions may be, have voting records that place them squarely in the pro-abortion column and morally out of bounds.
The Catholic pro-life group's ad goes on to quote from Canon Law 915, which states that, under church law, "Those who ... obstinately persist in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Communion." It also states, "You Can't Be Catholic and Pro-Abortion!" and lists contact information for the U.S. lawmakers' individual bishops, as well as for Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who has clerical authority over all of the Catholic politicians while they reside in Washington, DC.
Pro-Choice Catholics -- Out of Communion?
According to Joe Starrs, director of ALL's Crusade for the Defense of Our Catholic Church, this is the first time ALL has publicly identified all pro-abortion Republican and Democrat Catholics in both houses of Congress. The purpose of the ad, he notes, is to urge pro-life citizens to call or e-mail the bishops of the senators and representatives named, and to plead with these spiritual leaders to protect the body and blood of Christ from sacrilege by withholding Holy Communion from these 72 "Catholic" lawmakers until they change their pro-abortion views.
"A public figure who claims to be a Catholic cannot support the direct killing of preborn babies through abortion," Starrs says. "It is our hope that the bishops will use this opportunity to counsel Catholic members of Congress who support abortion, impressing upon them the immorality of their stance and the gravity of maintaining such positions."
The Crusade spokesman says the ad is a graphic reminder of a serious problem -- Catholic politicians who claim to personally oppose abortion, but who rationalize their public pro-abortion stance by saying they surely cannot impose their religious beliefs on others. But the pro-life leader calls this a "nonsensical and morally incoherent" argument.
"Opposition to the destruction of innocent life in the womb is not a religious doctrine or a particular theological point of view," Starrs asserts. "We are obligated to stand up for the defenseless and speak out for the voiceless, regardless of faith, creed, or political party. Stopping this wholesale destruction of millions of children is a matter of civil rights that should transcend everything else."
At the same time, however, the pro-life spokesman acknowledges the argument that pro-abortion politicians are only part of the problem, and their failure to defend innocent human life has been made easier by a failure of leadership within the Catholic Church. Starrs says the Catholic bishops must teach and, when necessary, "admonish and correct" wayward members of the church. For that reason, he says, the Crusade considers the current stance of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops -- that bishops' enforcement of Canon Law in this matter is optional -- simply wrong.
Too often, Starrs contends, a bishop is unwilling to sit down face to face with pro-abortion Catholics and tell them their public words and actions in support of abortion put them out of communion with the church and places their souls in mortal danger. It may be what some call "tough love," he says, but it is also true and honest love.
In a recent Associated Press interview, American Life League president Judie Brown pointed out that none of the bishops of the USCCB were denying the sacrament of communion to pro-abortion politicians when ALL began its campaign two years ago. That has since changed, she says, noting, "There are now 11 who have not only publicly said that they will deny Holy Communion to pro-abortion public figures, but have instructed their priests to do the same."
Silent No More -- Pro-Life Women Target SCOTUS
While ALL's ad is targeting Congress, another group is aiming its latest pro-life efforts at the Supreme Court of the United States. On the heels of the Roe v. Wade anniversary, women who regret having had an abortion will have a chance to speak about their experiences and pro-life convictions on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court Building today (January 24) at a national Silent No More Awareness Campaign event in Washington, DC.
Georgette Forney, who had an abortion at age 16, is one of the co-founders of Silent No More. She says amid all the debate about whether abortion should be legal, very little attention is paid to women who have actually had abortions. As one of the living victims of abortion, she says she regrets that terrible choice and knows millions of women feel the same way.
"The truth is abortion affects us physically, emotional and spiritually," Forney says, "and it's time to speak honestly about the pain we've lived with and ... help women who are hurting find healing. After 30 years it's time to listen to the women who have experienced it."
The Washington, DC, gathering will also feature the niece of Martin Luther King, Jr., dedicated pro-life advocate Dr. Alveda King, who will join national Silent No More spokesperson actress Jennifer O'Neil and others in an effort to raise awareness and educate the public about the dangers of abortion and its aftereffects on women and families. In a recent appearance on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, King told viewers that most people fail to realize that abortion is a kind of slavery, an act of oppression in which a human being's most fundamental choice -- life or death -- is taken away.
Ms. King is certain this is something her uncle would have spoken out against. "That baby has no attorney; that baby has no voice," she said, "and so, when we take the life of that child ... then we're going beyond our human rights, for our own choice, and we're infringing on the rights of another person."
Although she said her personal choice would be to overturn Roe v. Wade, Ms. King also acknowledged her uncle's belief that morality cannot be legislated. Because of that, she believes a legislative move would only succeed if it were preceded by a major change of heart in American society -- a restoration of the value of life, supported by teaching from the Church and from within families.
