The Worst of All Moral Evils

 

There are people, clergy included, who do not believe that abortion is the worst of all moral evils. They think that other plagues like hunger, poverty and social injustice in the world are worse than having an abortion. They even add that if these problems were resolved first, then abortion would disappear since people would have decent living standards in order to raise their otherwise aborted children.

They forget however, that though hunger, poverty and social injustice makes it difficult for a person to improve his human condition, the crime of abortion strikes at the very life of an innocent, defenseless and vulnerable unborn child. If a thief takes my shoes, socks, pants, shirt and hat, leaving me only with my T-shirt and underwear, but sparing my life, I will be grateful for that. If another thief takes my car and sandwich, but does not shoot me, I am glad about that. If one more thief takes away my home, job or money, but does not kill me, I still thank God for this. If all these thieves simply kill me without taking anything, then the worst of physical evils has taken place in my situation.  There is no greater value than life and no worst crime than destroying it completely.

A person who is hungry and poor can do many things to get out of his situation. He can look for work since there are many jobs available nowadays. My experience, after dealing with the poor in Brazil for twenty years, is that many of them do not want to work even after having had various opportunities to do so. They prefer to live in poverty, beg and receive hand-outs.  The sin of laziness is rampant amongst them. There are many religious and civil institutions that feed the hungry as there is also land available to plant vegetables on. This however, does not seem to attract many of these so called hungry individuals. The poor and hungry can actively participate with religious groups that fight for their civil rights before government officials. They can learn about the rights guaranteed to them in local, state and federal laws for their social well-being and also vote consciously for candidates who will truly defend them. None of these things interest them at all. One of the most effective things they can do is to stop sinning since God blesses all pure hearts with material prosperity and protection. Many prefer to remain in their sins than to receive such blessings by renouncing their promiscuous behavior.

A child in the womb ready to be murdered cannot call out to anyone. It has no human strength to resist its aggressor. No one is present to defend or protect it. On the outside world, many of the priests, nuns and bishops are busy with other matters and remain silent while they are slowly chopped into pieces.  For some people (including the clergy), 35 years to end abortion is still too early for them to worry about just yet. Poverty, hunger and social injustice might be a chastisement of God for a certain segment of the poor who sin, but every unborn child is absolutely innocent and not deserving of his injustice. Can one imagine a group of surgeons running to take aspirin and cough medicine to a young man with the flu while neglecting a dying cancer patient or a bleeding car accident victim in the operating room? Jesus condemned the Pharisees for concerning themselves with mint and thyme and leaving aside the weightier matters of the law. It is the same judgment that Jesus will use against our present day clergy.

I do not believe that improving the material conditions of a nation will end abortion in that country. The greater numbers of abortions are realized in the richer nations that can afford to maintain children. Many women have abortions because they do not want the inconvenience of raising a child. Abortion organizations desire them for the great financial profits they reap. Racist groups want them to eliminate the “undesirables” of society such as Blacks and Latinos.  Europe and the USA have more cats, dogs and parrots than they do children and spend more money on them than on human beings. There are animal hospitals, hotels, beauty salons, dentists, cemeteries, etc. Every day I see people walking their dogs in the morning, picking up their poop with plastic bags over their hands and carrying it to a garbage can. Can there be anything so humiliating for a human being than to pick after an animal rather than take care of a lovely and smiling young child? It is even an insult to human dignity to hear such exclusive terms as "my baby", “my child" etc. in relation to pets. Animals are animals and humans are humans and there is an infinite distance between the two. It is our minds that are messed up and not our external, material conditions.

Father Anthony Mellace