Michael Kelly
Often the Church is accused of holding up difficult ideals while not acting to help people try to achieve these ideals. The charge is, of course, false – helping others is of the essence of Christianity. Often you’ll hear people who are supporting of the campaign to remove the right to life of unborn children from the Constitution accuse pro-life campaigners of not doing enough to alleviate poverty – as if standing up for the unborn requires activists to tackle every social ill. Usually, it is a diversionary tactic known as ‘whataboutery’ – the idea is to deflect arguments by constantly raising other issues.
Of course, those who advocate for the right to life of the unborn – the right to be born must see their pro-life ethic as consistent.
Poverty eradication
The Church has always understood things like opposition to abortion, poverty eradication and end of life care as part of the same thing. Bishop Brendan Kelly is this week articulating that consistent ethic (see page one). That’s why women experiencing difficulty in pregnancy or approaching childbirth with a sense of trepidation must be at the heart of our thinking. Women who opt for abortion often see it as a solution to a real dilemma that they face.
If we wish to tell them that it is never the answer to a dilemma – no matter how profound, we must not only tell them, but show them. This will sometimes mean putting our money where our mouth is.
Already, many pro-life and Church-based organisations discreetly offer support to women who are experiencing a crisis pregnancy or feel that they cannot face pregnancy alone and isolated.
We have to ensure that women know this support is available to them so that they see there is a better way than abortion. When you meet women who were considering abortion but choose life instead, they will often tell you about a decisive intervention by a person or an organisation that helped them see that they would be able to cope after all.
Raising a child is difficult, it can be daunting – particularly if people feel unsupported. It is our responsibility to let people know that they are not alone.