Editorial cartoonist Gary Varvel shares pro-life message at Celebrate Life dinner
Editorial cartoonist Gary Varvel presents his keynote address during the RTLI Celebrate Life dinner at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown on Oct. 1. (Photo by Natalie Hoefer)
By Natalie Hoefer
There is no question that abortion is a grave issue. So, it might seem odd that Right to Life of Indianapolis (RTLI) chose a cartoonist as the keynote speaker for its Celebrate Life fundraiser dinner this year.
But that person was no comic strip illustrator. It was editorial cartoonist Gary Varvel, whose Christian values inform his pro-life stance—a stance he is not afraid to proclaim in his nationally syndicated work.
“Yeah, I draw cartoons that are not funny,” the Danville resident told the crowd of nearly 1,000 gathered at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown on Oct. 1. “Sometimes I’m trying to make a point that is not funny, and this [abortion] is not a funny issue.”
His address was part of an evening that included updates on the pro-life cause in Indiana, speeches and awards.
Right to Life of Indianapolis president Marc Tuttle began the event with praise for Indiana’s national example as a state that protects life.
‘We want people to choose to love life’
“Indiana is really leading the way in the country as far as laws to protect newborns, laws to protect moms, and most importantly, support for moms,” said Tuttle.
Thanks to those laws, he added, by the end of the year the state’s 2024 abortion rate is expected to stand at about 100—versus an annual average of 8,000 in years past.
“That’s fantastic news,” said Tuttle. “But we also know that there’s 8,000 moms out there who need help. And we know that the women are seeking chemical abortions online. We know that women are heading across the state lines for abortion.
“So, our educational mission here at Right to Life of Indianapolis—our efforts to educate the youth, get in front of the high schools, be there on college campuses, be there at the state fair, be there at the churches—that educational mission is now more important than ever, because we want people to choose to love life long before they’re ever faced with a choice for abortion.”
Nearly 400 high school and college students were among the crowd. Together they gave a standing ovation after 17-year-old Sara Cabrera of
St. Thomas More Parish in Mooresville delivered her RTLI high school oratory contest-winning speech.
They crowd also applauded for RTLI volunteer Missy Fisher of St. Luke the Evangelist Parish in Indianapolis, who received the organization’s Charles
E. Stemming, Sr., Pro-Life Award.
And this year’s Respect for Life Award—the organization’s highest honor—was presented to the Indiana Knights of Columbus for their many pro-life efforts, including a program to equip pregnancy care centers with ultrasound machines.
At one point in Varvel’s talk, two large screens displayed one of his editorial cartoons depicting a woman and a doctor looking at an ultrasound image of a child in the woman’s womb.
“She’s saying, ‘My body, my choice, right?’ ” Varvel described. “And the doctor points to the image of the baby and says, ‘Uh, this is your baby’s body.’
“And that’s the power of the ultrasound.”
‘We have kicked him out of our society’
That piece was one of several of Varvel’s pro-life editorial cartoons displayed during his talk. Having worked 16 years for the former Indianapolis News, 24 years for the Indianapolis Star and working currently as an editorial cartoonist for Creators Syndicate, Varvel had a vast number of images to choose from.
He used them, as well as stories and Scripture, to share the truth on pro-life topics like abortion, euthanasia,
stem-cell research and more.
“God created man in his own image,” Varvel quoted from Genesis 1:27. And Psalm 139:13 notes it is God who “knits” each person in the womb, he added.
“The baby in the womb, from the moment of conception, is a human being,” he said. “Its DNA is different than the mother. It’s a different body. It’s not her body.”
Nevertheless, said Varvel, 73 million babies were aborted worldwide each year between 2015-2019, according to a Guttmacher Institute fact sheet.
“The creator of the universe created everything, and he created you and me. And he created the laws we are to live by. And we have kicked him out of our society. …
“When you have a country that’s founded on biblical principles, and you remove the source of those principles, then what you end up doing is you create a secular society.”
‘I was the embryo’
Such a society allows the killing of unborn babies through abortion—which leads to a killing of the conscience, Varvel said.
To that point, he displayed a cartoon he published showing a pill bottle containing the abortion drug RU-486 (mifepristone). The label on the bottle notes the drug’s side effects: “Cramping. Bleeding. Deadening of conscience.”
Abortion also steals from the baby—and society—“God’s purpose for their life in this world,” Varvel added. “We are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good work, which he had prepared in advance for us to do, and abortion steals all that away.”
Varvel also addressed the immoral use of aborted fetuses in embryonic stem-cell research to find a cure for Parkinson’s disease. He displayed another of his pieces to illustrate the point.
The image depicts a man and a baby talking in heaven. “I died waiting for embryonic stem-cell research to find a cure. What about you?” he says. The baby responds, “I was the embryo.”
Varvel received a call from a man a week after the cartoon was published.
“He said, ‘I have Parkinson’s disease.’ And I thought, ‘Oh, this is not going to be a fun conversation,’ ” Varvel recalled.
“Then he said this: ‘Would you mind if I make copies of your cartoon and share it with people? Because I don’t want to be the guy in your cartoon that has to explain to a child in heaven why my life is more important than theirs. …’
“And that’s the power of the pen.”
‘We’re in a spiritual war’
Pro-life conversations do not always go so well, Varvel noted.
“I have had conversations with people who want to argue with me about this stuff,” he said. “I can’t argue them out of their position. I can just tell them that, look, the science is not on your side. The science says it’s a human being. It’s alive from the time it’s conceived. It has a separate DNA.
“I can argue all of those things. I can argue with passages from the Bible. But I cannot make them believe it. That’s something only God can do.”
That fact is no reason to stop defending the sanctity of life, Varvel noted.
“We’re in a spiritual war,” he said. “We have to fight with spiritual tools, prayer, the Bible.”
And we have to show God’s love and mercy as well. To women in the crowd who might have had an abortion—and as advice for pro-life advocates to share with post-abortive women they encounter—Varvel turned to Scripture’s message of salvation.
“Jesus Christ paid for our sins, and he wants a relationship with you,” he said. “He wants to have you in his life. He wants you to come to him.
“Isaiah 43:25 says this: ‘I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.’
“And Romans 5:8 says, ‘God demonstrated his love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’
“That’s great love.”
(For more information about Right to Life of Indianapolis or to donate, go to rtlindy.org, e-mail life@rtlindy.org or call 317-582-1526.) †
