How to Prevent Abortions (and Repair the Damage Done)

baby 11.     MERCY. If you meet somebody who has had an abortion, never condemn but be merciful and tell them of the mercy of God. Remind them of the parables of mercy in Luke 15: the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost and found son.   Remember also that many women go back for a second or third abortion, mostly because they have not experienced the mercy of God. The Psalmist reminds us of the tenderness of the Heart of God: “God is slow to anger but rich in kindness and mercy…”  Always! The devil tempts us to believe that after sin, especially a serious sin like that of abortion, that God is angry and unwilling to forgive. This could not be further from the truth.  Furthermore, one of the key themes of the Diary of Saint Faustina is that the greatest sinners have the greatest right to God’s mercy and that the greatest sinners can become the greatest saints if they simply trust in His mercy.  “Jesus, I trust in you!”

2.      TEACH OUR YOUNG. It is incumbent upon parents to teach their children (and particularly their teens) the virtue of chastity—the proper use of their body and that their body is truly the temple of the Holy Spirit and should be respected and honored at all times; also that that they should respect the bodies of others. Still more, parents should teach their children that there is a time for everything.  There is a time to plant and a time to gather; a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to work and a time to sleep; there is a time to have a courtship and a time to avoid. There is a time for everything underneath the sun. Often abortions occur among the youth because they are involved in premature courtships, with raging hormones, uncontrollable passions and a society that abets and encourages sexual license and expression without limits!  We must teach the young the meaning of the Beatitude: “Blessed are the pure of heart, they will see God.” (Mt. 5:8).

3.      PRO-LIFE REMINDERS.  We should surround ourselves and the world that we live in with pro-life reminders. There are many, and thanks especially to the Pro-life movement and its tireless efforts! Buy Pro-life checks!  Where exteriorly on your lapel or pocket the “precious feet” of the unborn baby.  Display on Facebook the beauty of the unborn as well as the baby already born. Of course, we should never forget nor neglect catchy and attractive Pro-life bumper stickers, for example: “It is a child and not a choice!”  These reminders force people to think. Believe it or not there are still many people who are still sitting on the fence and as of yet do not have clear ideas on the topics of abortion and being Pro-Life. Let us try to win them over to the “Pro-life” side!

4.     EUPHEMISMS/ MANIPULATION OF LANGUAGE.  Be aware of how those who promote abortion utilize euphemisms—manipulating language for their own benefit—to trick and deceive. For example, “Pro-choice!” “Terminate a pregnancy”, “my body” “Woman’s health center”. These and many other euphemisms can be utilized to deceive the gullible and naïve into diluting the reality that abortion is truly infanticide—killing an innocent child!

5.      LEARN KEY BIBLICAL PASSAGES TO DEFEND THE BABY. Throughout the entire Bible, which is the Word of God and the Word of life, the child is always seen as a great blessing. Try to learn some of the key passages in defense of the unborn.  Obviously one of the best is the Visitation of Mary to St. Elizabeth, two pregnant women, who would be prime targets for abortion in our modern society. Why?  One would be considered way too young to have a baby, a mere teenager: the Blessed Virgin Mary; the other would be considered too old: St. Elizabeth. We know the beautiful story’s ending: they both trusted totally in God’s loving Providence and said “yes” to life and brought forth the two greatest: St. John the Baptist and Jesus, the Son of God who would call Himself “the Way, the Truth, and the Life!” (See Luke 1:39-45)

6.      ADOPTION NOT ABORTION!  A valid alternative to abortion is adoption. Even now there are thousands and thousands of couples that for various reasons could not have their own biological children and are longing for a child of their own and who desire to adopt. These couples are carefully screened to see if they would be good parents. Therefore, the child to be born would be placed in an excellent household and receive an excellent human formation and very often a good Christian formation.

7.      ULTRASOUND!  If you meet a confused women who is seriously considering an abortion, encourage her to see the little baby through an ultrasound. For the mother to see the real and live baby within her womb smiling, yawning, stretching her/his little limbs, sleeping, sneezing or even scratching the little nose could be the determining moment to help that mother to say “yes” to life and to have and cherish that precious little infant in her womb. Remember the famous case of Dr. Bernard Nathanson who saw an ultrasound of a baby aborted and stopped aborting—after having been a head of the key abortion clinic in NYC that had carried out 80,000 abortions! It all started by seeing, visualizing the image of the live baby. We live in a world of images. Why not use live images through the ultrasound to save the lives of the most innocent?

8.     SPEAK OUT!   Many women have recourse to abortion because they are confused, filled with groundless fears, and unfortunately they have been surrounded by “friends” (really enemies) that convince them that the best decision is to abort the child. We must learn to speak up. We must learn to express the truth with love. The child in the womb cannot speak and therefore we must be the voice of the unborn child in the womb. Who knows how many women have had recourse to abortion because timid Christians have failed to speak out. Remember the words of the political philosopher Edmund Burke: “So that evil progress it is sufficient that good men do nothing!” In Catholic moral theology we call this “sin of omission”.

9.   PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT!  Get involved in the “Pro-life” movement. There is so much that can be done; get involved one way or another. What to do?

a)     MARCH AT WASHINGTON. Get together with a group of “Pro-lifers” and travel to Washington to do a silent March of Protest. We want to manifest publically but peacefully our love and defense for the unborn.

b)    ABORTION CLINICS: PRAYER RALLIES. Why not seek out the nearest abortion clinic and once a week silently protest by praying many Rosaries and Chaplets of Divine Mercy.

c)     SIDEWALK COUNSELLING. Go through training to give “sidewalk-counseling” to those confused women who are walking into the Abortion clinic to abort their baby. Of course prayer is the key; however, a timely word of wisdom, an image, a word of encouragement, a smile of love—all could help the confused woman to turn around and have the child!

d)    EMERGENY PHONE LINE. Volunteer at a pro-life center to receive phone calls from confused women who are pondering abortion and help them say “yes” to life. Below are a series of numbers to have at your fingertips:

-OPTION LIFE IF CARE/NET/HEARBEAT: 1-800-712-HELP (4357)

-NATIONAL LIFE CENTER: 1-800-848-LOVE (5683)

-OPTION LINE: 1-800-712-HELP (4357)

-RACHEL’S VINEYARD 1-877-HOPE-4-ME (467- 3463)

-NATIONAL HELPLINE FOR ABORTION RECOVERY: 1-866-482 LIFE (5433) www.NationalHelpline.org.

These numbers can be invaluable help in time of need and emergency!

e)    PARISH LEVEL. Approach your pastor and ask him if you could set up a Pro-life group in the parish. Many things can be done on a parish level.  Here are a few: Holy Hours of Reparation, Pro-life Masses, DVDs and movies like “October Baby” and “Bella” to enhance the awareness on a parochial level of the value of the baby in the womb. Having the “Baby Bottle” project wherein the parishioners give their coins or dollars to women who say “yes” to life but are struggling economically.

f)      EMERGENCY NUMBERS! Have emergency numbers to give to confused women to call to help them in their plight.

10.  PRAYER AND PENANCE.   Jesus stated with utmost clarity that some devils can be expelled only through prayer and penance.  He Himself taught us in Person when He prayed and fasted for 40 days and nights in the desert.  Then Jesus defeated the devil who came at Him with three different temptations. Behind the abortion industry is the devil; Jesus calls the devil a liar and murderer from the beginning. Lies are uttered!  (Remember the euphemisms, # 4). Worse yet, the devil is a murderer because abortion is truly murder and murder of the most innocent and defenseless. It is the devil that motivates the abortion industry. So does greed. It is a multi-billion dollar industry in which close to 1.2 million babies are aborted (through surgical abortion) every year in the United States.  Therefore we must pray and add to prayer concrete acts of penance.

a)     CHAPLET OF DIVINE MERCY.  We invoke the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus to repair for our sins as well as for the sins of the whole of world—that includes abortion, the shedding of the Blood of the Innocent ones!

b)    HOLY MASS: OFFERTORY, CONSECRATION, AND HOLY COMMUNION.  Abortion is the innocent bloodshed of babies. Holy Mass is the offering of the Blood of the Innocent Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. We offer Jesus begging mercy and pardon; we adore Jesus who descends from heaven in the Consecration of the Host; we receive Jesus in the moment of Holy Communion.  These three key moments in Mass can be offered in reparation and prevention for the deluge of innocent blood that has been shed since the legalization of abortion 40 years ago in Roe vs. Wade.

c)      HAIL MARY AND ROSARY. Finally, the prayer, so dear to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Hail Mary and the most Holy Rosary, is obviously a “Pro-life” prayer.  Pay attention to these words in the Hail Mary which were said by St. Elizabeth to Mary in the mystery of the Visitation:  “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus…”   This powerful prayer that penetrates and consoles the most pure and Immaculate Heart of Mary lauds and praises the “yes” of Mary that resulted in the Incarnation and the presence of the Unborn Baby Jesus in her womb. A beautiful practice for us to undertake would be to beg that through the praying of the Hail Mary in the context of the Rosary that 50 abortions would be repaired for as well as prevented every time we pray this powerful Pro-life prayer.

In conclusion, we are people of life. God calls us to believe in the value of life, to love life, and to speak up and defend life. May Jesus who is the Way, Truth and Life, and his mother, Mary, help us to lift the banner of life so as to one day enjoy forever and ever eternal life!

“Mary, Mother of God, Our Mother, and Protector of all Mothers, Pray for us now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”

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Father Ed Broom is an Oblate of the Virgin Mary and the author of Total Consecration Through the Mysteries of the Rosary and From Humdrum to Holy. He blogs regularly at Fr. Broom's Blog.

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