Reading from September 9, 2012
Isaiah 12:1 The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amos saw:
13:7- 8 Therefore, all hands will be feeble and every man’s heart will melt, and they will be dismayed.
13: 15-18 Whoever is found will be thrust through and whoever is caught fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes, their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished. Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them, who have no regards for silver and do not delight in gold. Their bows will slaughter the young men. They will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb and their eyes will not pity children.
Every prophet of his time has warned about what happens to a culture or people if a nation does not listen to God or ignores his plan for nature.
Some refer to Mother Nature and deny God. But, even those listening to “Mother Nature” would have to agree that nature is being dis- respected. Life is natural. If there was a natural respect for life, we would not need to have this discussion about the Health and Human Services mandate (referred to as the HHS mandate).
But, lies have been told, spread, and bought, and sold again. We have become a culture which has turned away from the truth. We no longer respect the rights of the unborn. We no longer respect the rights of others. For many of us raised in the 60’s and 70’s, we had to be “born again’ when it comes to the pro-life vs. pro-choice debate. We were sold a lie and bought it…even if our personal preferences were pro-life. The HHS mandate infringes on our personal preferences for life. Many of us have learned that there is no real choice, unless we choose life. Many women who actually have had abortions are very active in the pro-life movement of Silent No More because they know first hand the heartache and sufferings from their choices
In America, our rights are clear and put forth in our Constitution as unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Without the right to life guaranteed at conception, the other rights fall into question and become easy prey.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and other religious organizations have called for the ordinary citizen to action. Not only has the right to life been denied in this country, but the fall out on this country is being felt on other rights such as the freedom of religion. Our freedom to practice our faith in all aspects of our lives has been challenged. Our faith practice or lack thereof, can not take away the rights of others. But people are trying to do just that. The right to life debate is to protect the basic rights of all human beings, but the debate has been misinterpreted and twisted by those who would not protect the rights of the unborn nor the rights of the living.
Through redefinition, we are changing so many aspects of our culture.
One such re-definition is impacting religious organizations as to what constitutes a faith practice. The government has taken a very narrow view of religious practice when it comes to the HHS mandate.
This is not just a Catholic battle but many false teachers who call themselves Catholic have been strategically placed in positions of government authority. Some of the most vocal advocates of the HHS mandate are fallen away Catholics who no longer follow the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.
They are being used, therefore, we must pray for them.
Under the current HHS mandate, religious organizations which provide valuable health and human services, are being forced to provide insurance for abortion and abortion inducing drugs. Some organizations and politicians are making the debate about the contraception issue. That is exactly how the lies about abortion and birth control were spread in the 1960’s…pitting the rights of the unborn against women’s rights. Ironically, women end up suffering and female unborn babies are killed all in the name of women’s rights to choose what they do with their bodies. A narrow interpretation of our right to privacy was the law used to challenge laws restricting abortions.
Even the woman whose case was the test case leading to the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision speaks out against abortion. She did have her baby….an example of a woman used and abused in the debate.
The HHS mandate affects each and every one of us at a very basic level…the right to exercise our conscience. Without the conscience clause in the medical profession, employees will be forced to participate in procedures, operations or abortions which may be in direct violation of their own conscience. They will be forced to choose to participate in a life or death decision and could lose their jobs as a result of choosing life. I know what it is like to lose a job because my conscience would not allow me to let a violent situation continue or escalate on my job in 1998. I left my job with just cause, fighting an insubordination charge, and received unemployment compensation. Will employees who chose to exercise their conscience, and leave a job, be able to claim just cause?
The loudest voice I have ever heard in the debate came from the testimony of a Holocaust survivor. In a documentary used to teach the Holocaust in our schools, a female survivor from Budapest spoke to an interviewer. She said that the people in Hungary did not initially believe the reports that were coming out of other countries. They did not believe the reports stating “they were ripping babies apart.” Her testimony touched my heart and as a result I wrote my first editorial against abortion that was published in The Press in February 1998:
Letter to the Editor:
“I hope this letter is redundant because we remember and learn through repetition. I recently attended a workshop on the mandated teaching of the Holocaust/Genocide curriculum in the public schools of New Jersey. As a result of this presentation and ensuing discussion, I am writing this editorial. I hope, after reading this, that at least on other person learns the same powerful lesson that I did.
I heard once again that prejudice and murder are wrong and that they are crimes against humanity. I knew that. But, what I also heard pulled hard at another piece of my heart.. the part that knows that abortion is wrong.
I heard that we can make no comparison between the crimes of the Holocaust and abortion. Holocausts target specific groups of people for annihilation. And, yet coming out of the workshop, I learned that we should make comparisons. I learned that I have to do more than just have a personal view that abortion is wrong. I learned that I have to become vocal against abortion and not just in my small circle of friends or at church. And if I don’t speak up, more innocent victims will be killed. And then, I have learned nothing from the teaching of the Holocaust.
Some of the same reasons for abortion are based on the same reasoning of the Nazis. It was specifically pointed out that the handicapped were the first to be murdered. It was the educated among them, doctors and nurses, who made those decisions. I heard once again that the victims were killed against their free will. I heard once again that the Nazi’s were not crazy, they had a plan. I heard once again that millions of innocents died.
So, I will repeat: ABORTION KILLS THE TRULY INNOCENT among us and it is with a plan. I can no longer be silent. My silence makes me no better than anyone else who sends innocent people to their deaths. Who among us can afford to be silent?
Marian R. Carlino September 2012 for scheduled address in Cape May Court House, NJ
Editorial originally published in the AC Press February 1998
