Be Our Guest / Jane Pictor

Concern for poor and number of abortions go hand in hand

This is in response to the very thoughtful letter defending the sanctity of human life in the June 29 issue of The Criterion.

Yes, some politicians are against abortion, some of whom have changed their “pro” position on it—perhaps because they truly understand and accept the fact that abortion is murder or perhaps because they are trying to please a segment of the voting population.

Some of the very politicians who claim to be against abortion have no understanding at all of the plight of the poor—and no wish to understand.

Do they—we—understand how “keeping them down” is killing the lives of the poor just as abortion kills a baby in the womb?

We need to avoid following like sheep. We need to avoid swallowing everything that is spouted by every person who is vociferous about a certain stand on an issue.

We must do our own thinking about what a person’s spoken position is and why—and find out whether that person intends to keep that position if elected to office.

We must have the guts to listen to “the other side,” and give thought to what is said and why.

As Catholic Christians, we cannot blindly follow just one political brand. We have to allow ourselves to see what is the best on every side. Every side has good and bad.

Once upon a time, it was thought that the lay person (voter) on the street could not reason because they could not read.

We Catholics need to show that we can not only read, but also that we can reason. We must find out a person’s positions, and give careful thought to those positions. We must weigh everything, and compare those who are running for the same office.

Not just what they say, but what they intend to do. We must not allow it to be too late after they are elected to office for two or four or six years to find out what their real agenda is.

The sanctity of human life is about all people, not just me, not just the unborn.

There is a lot being done to bring the truth about what abortion is to people’s attention, and we need to do the same for the poor of the world, and of our country, first finding out the truth for ourselves, accepting it and acting on it, not just giving it lip service.

If you are already generously supporting the poor, your approach of putting yourself in another’s shoes is to be commended.

If not, then it is time for each of us to become better informed, and put ourselves in the shoes of the poor.

If we were concerned enough about the poor, here and abroad, there would certainly be fewer abortions. There is a connection.
 

(Jane Pictor is a member of St. Maurice Parish in Napoleon.) †