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I heard a statement the other day that stuck with me. The statement is “One death is considered a tragedy. One million deaths is a statistic.”

If you look at the election a few weeks ago you will see that the Pro-Life side of the abortion issue was defeated in multiple locations. I think the vast majority of people in our country would not put themselves in either the Pro-Life or Pro-Choice camps. For the silent majority the issue is just too politically divisive and their true preference would be to have the issue just go away, but of course it won’t. The statistics that Pro-Lifers throw around, myself included, are just truly not comprehendible to the average citizen who is focused on their own life. The silent majority does not attach a fleeting thought to the statistic of 48 million deaths post Roe v Wade because they just can’t comprehend it nor do they want to. They are bombarded through the media with terms like fetus, cells, and embryo, causing them not to see the human person that is being killed during an abortion. Therefore in order to truly combat the issue of abortion, we have to do it one death at a time. We have to show the relevance of how each life that has been taken affects the average Joe.

We also have to remember that abortion was legal upon request prior to Roe v Wade in 4 states and with strict stipulations in 16 other states. I question if we will ever get back to that status again in our country even if Roe v Wade is overturned. It’s not a bad thing to try and limit or remove the “legal” supply of abortions but as long as there are unwanted pregnancies there will be a demand for abortion, legal or illegal.

Therefore I think the Pro-Life Community is better to focus its long-term resources on combating the demand for abortions rather than the laws of the nation. If I was to act on the abortion issue, and I’m starting to really consider taking some true action, here is how I’ve considered approaching the problem.

1) Make the abortion issue local. Instead of talking about how there have been 48 Million abortions since Roe v. Wade made abortion “legal” we need to talk about how many abortions are happening in our own communities. People can understand and tie their conscience to a number like 1388, the # of abortions in my community last year, much more readily than then can to 48 million. In my state of Kansas here are some statistics I found for 2007 from the Kansas Center for Health & Environmental Statistics:

• 10,836 abortions were performed in Kansas
• 1388 were performed in Johnson County pop. 525,000 (which is where I live)
• Almost half of the 10,836 were performed on non-Kansas residents
• There are 5 abortion facilities in the state of Kansas
• 1808 of the 10,836 abortions were performed on married women
• 4305 of the 10,836 abortions were performed on women who had one or more previously induced abortions
• 0 of the 10,836 abortions performed were to prevent the mother’s death

By making the issue local you help people comprehend its affect in their own community, by using numbers that they can associate with. I would also do what I can to show the average Joe what a number like 48 million looks like.

2) Education – Educate people on what really happens during an abortion. Make even the thought of having an abortion from being non-existent in the community around you. Show people, especially those ages 10 to 30 on what abortion truly is. Educate people about the facts of how contraception causes abortion and how failed contraception results in pregnancy. Educate our community on how the Planned Parenthood organizations pushes “safe-sex” to our society only to ensure their organization a steady supply of unwanted pregnancies who’s mothers are more likely to choose to have an abortion. Educate parents on how to discuss the topics of sex and abortion with their kids and show them how to create a line of communication and support, where if a teen pregnancy does occur, that there is a culture of trust and love that the teen will work with their parents verses seeking out an abortion on their own. Educate the African-American community on how Planned Parenthood targets them.

3) Focus – Leave the other life issues of euthanasia, embryonic stem cell, and the death penalty to other groups. Yes, we need cultivate and entire culture of life, but in order to cause an actual change in the status quo of abortion we have to focus our energies on the single issue in order to truly make a difference.

4) Prayer – Cultivate a community of prayer by organizing prayer & fasting that requests people in your local parishes to pray for specific intentions. 1) for the conversion of those who perform abortions 2) for a change of heart for those considering an abortion 3) for a healing of those who have had an abortion 4) thanksgiving for mothers who have said yes to the miracle of life & 5) for a society that values every conceived life.

5) No Political Pandering – Do not align with any political party or politician. Siding with one side of the political spectrum will not defeat Abortion. No one party or politician will solve the abortion issue. By siding with specific politicians or parties will only alienate the other side of the political spectrum. For abortion to be defeated the whole society will need to be involved.

6) 80/20 Rule – We must be willing to agree to take the 80% or 90% and fight for the 20% or 10% another day. Too often the Pro-Life forces seem to be after the big target and appear to be an all or nothing crowd. Rome was not built in a day nor was it destroyed in a day. We must be willing to settle for smaller victories providing an appearance of compromise along the way. How does one eat and elephant? One bite at a time. Abortion is bigger than an elephant. The civil rights movement was not a one-day event. Nor will be the defeat of abortion. The fight at this point in time appears to be life long one.

Roe v Wade is definitely bad law. But in my opinion because of it, a genie of sorts, is out of the bottle. And it may not go back into the bottle. There for we must address the demand of abortion over and above the supply of abortion. Drugs are illegal in this country, but the mere fact they are illegal does not stop the demand for them, likewise with the issue of abortion. It was an issue in the United States prior to Roe v Wade and regardless of its “legality” it will remain an issue.

Now I ask you to ponder this question. If abortion is wrong, why would contraception not be considered just as evil as abortion? 48 Million deaths have occurred due to induced abortions in the USA since 1973 it is estimated. But I would estimate an even greater and unfathomable number of human persons have died due to the affects of contraception since the introduction of the pill in the last century.

I read an interesting article over at the blog “Standing on My Head” It points out an interesting view of the simple supply and demand economics in the real estate market. Through history man seems always to have wanted bigger and better homes, along with extending that want to the desire for multiple homes in different locations. This demand along with a steady supply of people to buy homes has made the real estate market rise. After all they aren’t making anymore land these days, except in the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Also for the past decade there was an increase in the number of people who could seemingly afford homes with the removal of previously held credit worthiness requirements. This additional group added even more people to the demand side of the real estate market helping to drive the prices up at a much faster rate.

Now much of the US is over extended with credit making it difficult to keep up with mortgage payments on high cost homes while still covering daily expenses of fuel, food, and clothing. Living paycheck to paycheck has caused many of the new market entrants to be removed from their homes at the advent of any economic blip in their life. Then when the adversity hits they are forced into a quick sale or eventual foreclosure, forcing them to address their shelter needs down other avenues. This overall change in the economic landscape has reduced the demand in the overall real estate market.

Also adding to this economic bust is a steady decline of real estate market entrants due to the countries reduced birthrate caused by contraception and abortion. The United States is barely at a replacement birthrate. Immigration could fill the gap but is not likely since it’s a hot button issue and most people looking to immigrate are not in an economic class that can afford single family homes upon their arrival. These issues will likely cause home appreciation to remain flat and possibly decrease in the foreseeable future.

The issue of contraception and abortion play directly into simple supply and demand economics. Just look at Europe. The once Christian Europe now has a replacement birthrate crisis. People are having barely 1 child per couple in many European countries well below the replacement rate. Causing a labor gap, which is currently being filled by Muslim immigrants, who as a culture, have a much greater birthrate than the Europeans. This gap in birthrate between the two cultures is slowly but surely helping Europe to lose its Christian heritage at a much quicker pace.

Contraception may be “helpful” in allowing one to have meaningless sex inside or outside of the sacrament of marriage. It will give you a 90% chance of not being confronted with the creation of a child. Although any perceived failures of the contraception will result in the creation of a child, which will be considered burdensome or inconvenient since it was conceived in the confines of a meaningless sexual act. But what contraception is really good at is causing one’s culture to be devastated both morally and economically. It just takes the average citizen half their lifetime to see the consequences, provided they are honest enough to face the blatant facts.

God save use from the evils of contraception, change the hearts in our culture to see the value of life and the design of your creation.

Adapted from “The Advantages of Natural Family Planning,” brochure by Father Paul Marx, O.S.B. Ph.D., as appears in The Facts of Life, by Brian Clowes, Ph.D., (Human Life International™, 2001), p. 98.1

(1) NFP does not interfere with the natural reproductive system and process designed by God.

(2) NFP is morally acceptable to all religions and cultures.

(3) NFP avoids the use of mechanical devices or powerful hormones which may have harmful effects.

(4) NFP is among the most effective methods of nonpermanent fertility regulation known when learned and used properly — up to 99 percent, as described in, “Contraception.”

(5) NFP is virtually free of charge, whereas contraceptive and abortifacient methods cost anywhere from $616 to $2,520 U.S. dollars annually. This point is particularly crucial in areas of developing countries where health care is rudimentary and expensive.

(6) NFP strengthens marriage and family. It allows husband and wife to have the dignity of actual stewardship of the gift of fertility according to their unique circumstances. It fosters sexual self-control, which is central and essential to human freedom, true love and maturity. It also sets a good example of chastity in married life for teenaged children.

(7) NFP is aesthetic. Of all of the methods of fertility regulation, only NFP allows the couple to make love as God and nature intended. It is amusing that “lovemaking manuals” try to work condoms, diaphragms, and various messy jams and jellies into the act of making love — “getting rigged to make love,” as one noted gynecologist calls it. It is an enduring contradiction that many of the same people who pride themselves on the “natural” aspects of their lives don’t hesitate to pollute their bodies with drugs and devices, and cannot let the most intimate aspect of their existence be truly natural and human.

(8) Finally, NFP, unlike all contraceptive and abortifacient methods, lets women and men learn about their bodies and work with them, rather than remaining ignorant and subduing them with chemicals. And NFP allows husbands to more intimately understand the psychology of their wives by understanding the nature of their menstrual cycles.

1 HLI always reminds couples that NFP is not simply a method of “natural” birth control. The Church clearly teaches that NFP is the only method couples may use to space births, but even this method is to be employed only “for grave reasons.” In our pastoral care of engaged couples, we must make sure that they understand the mind of the Church on this matter. Note the teaching from Humanae Vitae, paragraph 16, which says: If, then, there are serious motives for spacing births, motives deriving from physical or psychological condition of husband or wife, or from external circumstances, the Church teaches that it is then permissible to take into account the natural rhythms immanent in the generative functions and to make use of marriage during the infertile times only, and in this way to regulate births without offending the moral principles that we have just recalled.

By Father Thomas J. Euteneuer

Q: What is the difference between a couple who uses contraception NOT to get pregnant and a couple who uses Natural Family Planning NOT to get pregnant? Aren’t they both contracepting?

A: No. There is an intrinsic difference between these two acts. One is preventing conception by a deliberate act, and the other is avoiding conception by cooperation with nature. Both have the same result of not producing a baby, but they achieve this result by very different means. The end does not justify the means; rather the right means lead to the right ends, Thus, when it is necessary to avoid a pregnancy for grave reasons, the Church teaches that there is only one moral way to get there, the natural way.

The difference between natural and artificial birth prevention can be likened to the difference between tax evasion and tax avoidance. Both acts lead to a reduction in the taxes paid, but one is illegal and the other is legal. For example, in tax evasion I am committing a fraud by a deliberate attempt to cheat the system of its due. (I am morally obliged to contribute to the common good.) In tax avoidance I am using the various possibilities for tax reduction that the system itself provides in order to avoid some of its costs. There is a world of difference between the two methods, even though in both cases I am paying fewer taxes.1

The human reproductive system has a built-in system of avoiding pregnancy. God built into the woman’s body cycles of fertility and infertility so pregnancy would not result from every sexual act. By learning the natural cycles of fertility, a couple may morally avoid conceiving a baby when they have a serious reason to do so. Conversely, a couple may also use the knowledge to achieve pregnancy.

The morality of the act has to take into account the intention as well as the method. The immoral intention of artificial contraception is birth prevention while the moral intention of Natural Family Planning is birth avoidance using the natural cycles of fertility. With the one, couples take “control” of the sexual function and nullify or sterilize it. Hence the name birth “control.” It turns the divine command “Be fruitful and multiply” right on its head. In the other, the couple cooperates with the natural system consisting of both fertile and infertile periods. If, however, a couple were to use NFP without grave reason for avoiding pregnancy, then their intention would be contraceptive by definition and therefore also gravely immoral. This is a distinction that even many teachers of NFP do not clarify for couples when they teach it, but it is the clear teaching of the Church that couples must not use NFP for “natural” contraception.

We can explain it another way. It all comes down to the “mentality” with which one uses the gift of human sexuality. If couples are masters and controllers of the sexual function, they will be engaging in immoral sex because they will be preventing births with their own selfish designs in mind. However, if they are stewards of God’s gift of sexuality in marriage, they cooperate with the Lord and become channels of His life to the world.

1 The American tax system allows deductions for each dependent child in the family. I know a pro-lifer in the U.S. who has nine children and as a result pays no taxes at all!

In case you didn’t know, since we don’t always hear about contraception from the pulpit, contraception in many instances also acts as an abortifacient. This is one of the reasons the Church teachs against contraception.

How is this? In simple terms the birth control pill makes the lining of the uterus very thin and does not always stop ovulation. In cases where ovulation is not stopped eggs can be ferilized by sperm. The pill also causes a reduction in the thickness of the wall of the uterus. This means a fertilized egg, i.e. a human person, dies because it cannot implant itself to the uterus wall and is passed through in menstration. If you are trying to prevent pregnancy by use of the pill and sexually active you are undoubtably also causing fertilized eggs, i.e. human beings, to be aborted. You may not have known that until now but now you do, take action, stop the use of the pill in your marriage and get to confession. If your using the pill outside of marriage then you have other issues for another post.