The Apostolate of the Laity

Waxing philosophical in communion with one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.

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Location: Portland, Oregon, United States

I am just a sinner who holds fast to the notion that every human being on the planet is the result of a thought of God.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Disappointed, but not Defeated

In the state of Oregon, once a teenager reaches her fifteenth birthday she is allowed to get an abotion without her parents ever knowing. If she wants her ears pierced, she needs a parent's permission. If she wants to give blood, she needs a parent's permission. If she wants to go on a field trip with her class, she needs parental notification. But if she gets pregnant, she has free reign to simply walk into an abotion clinic and have the "problem" terminated. She will have to get a ride to the abortion clinic as she still needs to be sixteen before she can get a driver's license. The state doesn't consider her responsible enough to make decisions behind the wheel; but apparently the results of the poor decisions she makes in the back seat of the car are beyond a parent's need to know.

This election year, thousands of Oregonians signed a petition to get on the November ballot, Measure 43. This law would extend parental notification for abortion to include girls aged fifteen to seventeen. The law also provides a judicial bypass for those rare cases when a girl finds herself pregant and in a domestic situation where she could physically be in danger. While the law doesn't require the parent's permission to get an abortion, I believe that at least letting the parents know will help to save more innocent lives and help these girls manage an extraordinarily difficult time.

Planned Parenthood, a darling of the Devil, has pumped $2,000,000 into a campaign to defeat Measure 43. Their logic is that these fifteen to seventeen year old girls are mature women that no one should be allowed to tell what they can do to thier bodies. The real story is that this age group provides a significant revenue stream into their clinical coffers and to lose the abortion fees from this demographic would hurt their bottom line. This from an organization that still considers a twelve week old fetus a "blob of cells."

At our parish, we offered our congregation an opportunity to view a five-minute video talking about this issue. We presented the video in the school library after each of the Sunday masses. Sadly, very few took the opportunity to come over and see it. My hope is that the congregation is alreay supporting Measure 43 and didn't feel the need to see more on the issue; however, I believe the reality is that many folks either just don't care to get involved, or find the whole abortion debate too disquieting. Then, too, an elderly man I respect a great deal told me in jest that the most dangerous place in the world is a Catholic Church's parking lot after mass. Everyone is trying to leave at break-neck speed.

Saturday night, my wife and I had the pleasure of hearing Janet Folger speak at the Oregon Right to Life Auction. She made a statement that touched us both as she talked about the inevitable over-turning of Roe Vs. Wade. "

"One day your kids or grandkids are going to ask you, 'where were you when they were killing babies?' And you'll be able to say, 'I was fighting to save them.'"

A friend of mine, Tony, gave me one of his petite ephiphanies, when he reminded me that, to Christ, the results of today's viewing of the video do not matter. What matters is that we were fighting for Him. He knows that and will keep that in mind as he dispenses His grace to help us win this incremental battle in the infanticide that is the hallmark of my generation. It was my generation that pushed for abortion on demand, and I cannot help but feel a huge moral obligation to undo the wrong. With some hard work and the grace of God we can put this genie back into the bottle.

On Sunday, October 29th, I'm going to begin a novena for the success of Measure 43. Those of you who pray the Rosary are welcomed to join me, even if you don't live in Oregon. Just maybe give us a thought in your prayers leading up to the election. Ask Blessed Mother to join us in this battle. With her on our side, I believe we will prevail even faced with an opponent who has a $2,000,000 war chest.

To learn more about Measure 43 and view the video we showed, click here. The video make take a few moments to download, but it's worth waiting for.

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