Personhood of the unborn is the fundamental issue along with the true meaning of motherhood as the abortion discussion continues. Now the urgent issue for all pro-lifers, beginning with the bishops, is to show more concern for all women who are struggling with a pregnancy issue. Pope Francis stresses the closeness, the compassion and tenderness we must have for all pregnant women and those considering an abortion decision and offer them spiritual, human, social and financial means to assist them with their many needs and to encourage them to save their babies.
For unborn babies, living boys and girls, people do not have to be religious to recognize that it has been our logic, our constant biblical belief, and now with scientific proof and the constant teaching of our Catholic Church that a human being begins at conception.
With all my brother bishops and all pro-lifers, we joyfully welcome the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. This ruling is indeed a historic day in the life of our country. or hop has
For nearly 50 years, America has enforced an unjust law that has permitted some to decide who can live or die. This policy has resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of pre-born children who were denied the right to even be born. Roe was wrong about motherhood as it was about the Constitution.
We bishops mourn the loss of these precious little ones whose lives have been taken since 1973 through brutal abortion, while expressing our closeness to every woman and man who has suffered grievously from abortion. We assure them of our prayers for healing and pledge them our compassion and support.
We bishops, supported by our priests and people, appeal to all elected officials to enact laws and policies that promote and protect the most vulnerable among us. With love in our hearts, we strive to peacefully educate and persuade our neighbors about the injustice of abortion. And working together, we offer holistic care and counseling to pregnant women and work for alternatives to abortion including adoption, foster care and public policies that truly support families.
Every diocese should bring together our people at a parish level, to service God’s great plan of love for each unborn and born person. And, for families and to build a society and an economy that supports marriages and families where every woman has the support and resources, she needs to bring her child into this world in love. All pro-lifers need to work together to support pregnancy resource centers that aid both mother and child.
This is the time for all followers of Christ to provide holistic help for mothers and fathers to welcome and care for God’s precious, tiny, unborn persons and to assist them throughout childhood. This is also the moment for healing wounds and repairing social divisions; it is a time for shared reasoned reflections and civil dialogues. In this manner, we fulfill America’s great promise to guarantee the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all people.
Personhood, the sacredness of each person, is the main principle as we open our hearts, minds and hands to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. As we now set out with new courage and conviction, to use every gospel means for every state to deny the killing of the unborn. All pro-lifers need to work with governors and elected officials of each state to enact legislation that will provide financial, social, human support for all women during pregnancy, covering hospital costs, and providing the necessary health, financial and educational assistance for each newborn child throughout childhood.
Bold legislators and courageous governors and informed voters need to work together. A model for this is the state of Texas. When the governor and the elected officials issued the “heartbeat bill,” they also provided millions of dollars in assistance to mothers and children throughout pregnancy and birth, and for healthcare and education of all children.
As shepherds of our people in the USA, we are deeply disturbed that our president has chosen to use his power as the nation’s chief executive to promote and facilitate and even codify abortion in our country, rather than offer resources for pregnant women in need. Our president and his political supporters are seeking every possible avenue to deny unborn children the most basic human and civil life, the right to life.
We pray and encourage our president and his supporters to increase support to care for mothers and babies rather than seek to facilitate destruction of defenseless and voiceless human beings.
As we support the personhood of the unborn and born, we keep in mind the words of Justice Samuel Alito supported by Justice Clarence Thomas: “The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision.” The Dobbs decision returns the profoundly moral question to the states, giving them the authority to protect human life through a democratic process and the ability to empower pregnant women by providing them with the resources they need to flourish. It presents an opportunity for America to return to a culture of life that values families, women and motherhood.
God created the human person in the divine image and likeness as the pinnacle of all creation. Each of us shares in the image of God’s glory.
Through Christ, God further revealed to us the dignity of all human life. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross powerfully demonstrates God’s desire for us to share in eternal life with him. The value of human life must be truly great for the son of God to make it the instrument of our salvation. Human life as a gift from God is sacred and inviolable. May we commit ourselves to Christ and his mother with urgent prayer, fasting, dialogue and pastoral action so that our country and every state will uphold the dignity of each unborn child. The unborn are counting on us.
The Most Rev. Michael Pfeifer is bishop emeritus of the Catholic Diocese of San Angelo.
