A Tribute to Pro-life Determination

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky ( bio - articles - email ) | Jun 27, 2022

Jesus is determined to achieve His saving mission. St. Luke reveals His resolve to go up to Jerusalem for His final confrontation with evil—the horrors of the Cross, followed by His glorious Resurrection. He encourages His followers to share the same determination to fulfill their vocations. He tells a disciple, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

The American Declaration of Independence proclaims “that all men are created equal” with self-evident human unalienable rights of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Since the Constitution derives from the Declaration, we can infer that the US Constitution protects the fundamental human rights of every person, born or preborn. Even individual states do not have the Constitutional right to take the life of unborn babies with a direct abortion.

There never was a Constitutional right to abortion. The false flag of the presumed right took the lives of at least 63 million unborn babies over the last 49 years. A disproportionate number of the killings were of Blacks and Hispanics—by racist design.

In God’s Providence, on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the US Supreme Court handed down the much-awaited decision that overturned the infamous 1973 decision, Roe v. Wade. Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion has the realism and clarity that has been mostly absent in large parts of government and academia. Henceforth, after Dobbs, state legislatures will determine the laws permitting or restricting abortion. The decision falls short of following the science, however.

Although the Supreme Court did not affirm the science of an unborn baby’s humanity, the finding that abortion is not a Constitutional right has significant political merit. The Court has taken a step in the right direction. State legislatures are far more responsive to their voters, and many states are already limiting the timing and circumstances for abortion. In time, perhaps the Court will follow the science and acknowledge the humanity of unborn babies in judicial rulings.

The battle for life continues, but there is cause for rejoicing even as we recalibrate our pro-life efforts. All politics is local. We have a golden opportunity to redirect and focus our pro-life energies on the array of local political and moral issues, from the right to life to the makeup of school boards.

For decades, pro-life leaders have put their hands to the plow and never looked back. Like sturdy links in a long chain, they organized us and influenced elected officials. Here are a few prominent links in the chain who did not live to see the day of Roe’s demise:

• Father Paul Marx, founder of Human Life International
• Nellie Jane Gray, the foundress of the annual March for Life
• Dr. John Willkie, founder of the National Right to Life Committee
• Vicki Thorn, foundress of Project Rachel
• Joseph M. Scheidler, National Director of the Pro-Life Action League
• Bernard Nathanson, the former abortionist, turned formidable pro-life champion
• Jim Sedlak, Stop Planned Parenthood
• Paul Weyrich, first President of The Heritage Foundation and founder of The Free Congress Foundation (the pro-life/pro-family strategy hub at the Washington level, the scene of many Supreme Court nominee battles). He had much to do with building the pro-life numbers in both the House and Senate
• Congressman Henry Hyde, the pro-life conscience of Congress and author of the Hyde Amendment, that strictly limited federal funding of abortion
• Governor Bob Casey, Sr., of Pennsylvania was elected in 1986, opposing a pro-abortion candidate. (Do not confuse the pro-life Governor with his pro-abortion son.)
• Justice Antonin Scalia, the godfather of modern Constitutional originalism with a capacity to read English using “lawyerly green eye shades,” as he once said
• Auxiliary Bishop Austin B. Vaughan, the first American bishop to be arrested for blocking abortion clinic entrances

These leaders—often with spouses supporting them behind the scenes—didn’t live to see Roe’s demise. They faithfully enkindled and encouraged the pro-life spirit in a barren culture. The Democrat Party—with too few exceptions—became the Party of abortion, and the Republican Party—with too many exceptions—became the Party of life.

Joe Scheidler described how he entered the pro-life battle for eight years in a seminary and another four years in the monastery but was never ordained. When he read the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, he was horrified by the lie. Scheidler quit his job as an account executive, rented a cheap office, and visited clinics to talk to the girls and doctors, dissuading abortions. He handed out thousands of leaflets and made films. The National Organization of Women harassed him with lawsuits that impoverished him. A jury convicted him of violating the RICO Act, but the Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 2003. Scheidler never gave up.

Discouragement, resignation, and self-pity are like viruses. Unless quarantined and correctly treated, the disease multiplies. Divorce is like a virus that can easily infect an entire family from one generation to the next. Priests who give up and leave the priesthood cause widespread consternation.

Most pro-life leaders, in contrast, have consistently exhibited a holy resistance to discouragement. They provide many examples of happy warriors—with smiles and joy celebrating human life. (The comparison to the hatred we’ve seen in the faces of the protesters this weekend couldn’t be more striking.) These leaders—including those laboring in pro-life pregnancy centers—have put their hands to the plowshare and never looked back. Our vocations benefit from their example.

The Dobbs decision offers opportunities to wrestle back lost cultural ground. June is the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Let’s also declare June “Unborn Baby Pride Month,” or #LifeMonth. Let’s reclaim the rainbow as the promise of God’s covenant of love and wrap newborn babies in rainbow flags! Let’s celebrate the Emancipation Proclamation on June 24th and the emancipation of unborn babies from the sinister clutches of Roe v. Wade.

We don’t have time for discouragement. We have too much plowing ahead of us. So let’s put our hand to the plowshares and never look back.