January 30, 2009
Homily at the cathedral: The only choice to make is life
Editor’s note: Following is the text of a homily by Benedictine Father Gregory Chamberlin, giv-en Jan. 25 at St. Benedict Cath-edral, Evansville. Following the homily, parishioners were encouraged to sign postcards opposing the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) or any similar legislation.
March 6, 1857 was a very dark day in American history. By a 7-2 vote, the United States Sup-reme Court declared African-Americans were not legal persons. They were property. They could be sold, beaten, even killed. Slavery was upheld. For-tunately, in 1868 the 14th Amendment to the Constitution secured the rights of blacks to full personhood. Slavery was overturned, the equality of all people before the law was upheld.
Notice, the law did not give African-Americans this equality. They always had it. God made them equal. What happened with the 14th Amendment was that the law recognized the rights the slaves had from God. Human law was brought into line with God’s law.
But another dark day came on January 22, 1973. By another 7-2 vote, the Supreme Court said that the 14th Amendment does not apply to children in the first nine months of life . . . that is the nine months they live in their mother’s womb. During the nine months of pregnancy, the court said, a mother may end the life of her child by abortion. The “Roe vs Wade” decision made it legal in all 50 states.
This was never requested or approved by the American people. It was decided by seven men and imposed on the American people. These seven men declared that the pre-born child is not a person . . . and therefore is not entitled to have his or her life protected by law. A whole category of human beings was once again denied protection, just as the slaves were not protected in the 1800 hundreds.
Why do we keep making the same mistake? The fact is that babies in the womb have just as much right to live as the rest of us. They are just as much persons as the rest of us. Everyone knows this instinctively. We see it even in the language we use to refer to pregnancy: We say a woman is “with child” or is “carrying a baby.” We speak about going to a “baby shower.”
This common knowledge is confirmed by modern biology and genetics, too. At the mo-ment of conception a new be-ing is formed which has the exact number of chromosomes that any human being has in each cell. Encoded on these chromosomes is all the genetic information for the new individual.
There has never been a person with exactly the same code before. That person is unique at the very moment of conception. It was determined whether we would be male or female at conception. The color of our eyes and skin was determined at conception. This isn’t religious dogma! I’m not quoting from the Bible or the Catechism of the Catholic Church. These are scientific facts found in any biology book in the world.
Yet when we stand up and say that these babies should be protected from abortion, we are told it’s just our opinion . . . and that we are imposing our religion on others!
Since when is common biology religious doctrine? Since when is it a matter of “opinion” to say you may not kill a baby? Since when do we put the rights of others up for grabs? Since when is “killing” a respectable choice?
Some say you have to be pro-choice. “Pro-choice” sounds so American. Say “pro-choice” often enough and it begins to sound downright un-American to outlaw abortion . . . downright unconstitutional. Pretty subtle, huh? And that is the way so many Americans justify the killing of unborn babies.
“Pro-choice” can sound so reasonable and so fundamental and so inalienable. But when it comes to the taking of innocent human life there is only once choice that is moral . . . one choice that is right.
Suppose I stood here today and told you at the end of Mass that I will take up a collection and I will use it for my vacation . . . or take it to the River Boat.
What would you say? Of course, you would object to it. But then suppose I told you that it is my opinion that I can use the collection in whatever way I want, and that you should not interfere with my personal choice. Then what? Is that supposed to end all argument? Would that be right?
It would not be right, precisely because that money belongs to the Church. For me to use it for my personal gain is to violate the rights of the donors. My personal freedom of choice in this case is, as a matter of fact, limited by the rights of others. Just as my right to choose to stick out my fist ends where your nose begins.
Why, then, should it be legitimate for a woman to choose to end her baby’s life? The claim that this is her “personal choice” no more makes it right than my “personal choice” makes it right to misuse the collection . . . or punch you in the nose. The baby has rights. The baby is a human being.
Neither the Court nor the mother gives that baby his or her rights, nor can the Court or the mother or anyone else take them away. “Choice” does not justify the action, and isn’t even the issue.
The issue is that it is wrong to take unborn human life. You and I, as Catholic Christians, have an obligation to do something about this, for the sake of the babies and for the sake of the mothers. They, too, are victims of abortion. They suffer, too, and we are called to love them.
Those who support abortion say that to respect women we must give them the “choice” over the life or death of their child. But, if we really respect them, we will help them in a difficult situation, and see to it that they have what they need to give life to their child.
If a woman is in a “crisis pregnancy,” let’s help her by eliminating the crisis, not by eliminating the pregnancy.
The real question she faces is not: Shall I have the child or not? The fact is that if she is pregnant, she already has the child! The real choice at issue is: Shall I carry the child to birth or shall I terminate its life. Clearly, the choice to kill should not be a legal option. It certainly is not a moral one. Our country has taken a seriously wrong turn making this option legal.
It is time for Christians to love these women and their babies so much that the so called “option” of abortion will be unthinkable. Let’s pray that our society will truly respect life, from conception to natural death.
And let’s hope that our efforts here and throughout the country today will help persuade our government to protect all of our citizens . . . those born and those to-be-born.