American Life League is a coalition of educational, activist and charitable groups committed to “serving God by helping to build a society that respects and protects innocent human life from fertilization to natural death — without compromise, without exception, without apology.” Visit their website at www.all.org.
Where Are the Victories?
Q. Pro-lifers make up what is probably the largest and most determined grass-roots movement in the United States. Yet in the three decades since Roe v. Wade it has had few legislative victories. Why is this? What, in your opinion, have been the main accomplishments of the pro-life movement during that time?
Judie Brown: The lack of what we would describe as substantive legislative victories has to do, in large part, with the politicization of abortion. From a political and legislative perspective, abortion is viewed as “an issue” and not as an act that murders a person. This is why politicians find it acceptable to agree to acts of abortion in certain cases (i.e. rape, incest, life of the mother), insisting that such an approach is the only practical approach. My response to this is that God is the Author of life, not elected officials, and until our lawmakers act like they truly do want to protect every person created by God from conception without exception, the history of the last 30 years will persist — and no real progress will be made in that arena.
However, the pro-life movement has achieved miraculous feats in nearly every other sector of the culture. Thousands of pro-life pregnancy centers exist, staffed by volunteers and professionals. Post-abortion outreach ministries are expanding daily as are youth groups. For example, American Life League Rock for Life youth division is currently adding two to three new chapters weekly! This is the awesome power of God at work. In addition, there is more activity in educating our fellow Catholics parish by parish than ever before and frankly that is precisely how the battle is going to be won anyway – hearts and minds converting to the truth of God’s word.
Q. An unforgettable image from the March for Life on January 22, 2003, the thirtieth anniversary of the infamous Roe v. Wade decision, was that of women lined up on the steps of the Supreme Court Building, waiting to speak to the crowd about the harm that they have suffered from abortion. Is the plight of post-abortive women getting any attention in national political circles?
Brown: Yes, thanks to the collaborative efforts of post-abortion outreach programs like American Life League’s “Rachel’s Vineyard,” The Eliott Institute, Silent No More and other organizations, the evidence of precisely how much suffering occurs when mothers and fathers abort their children is becoming impossible to ignore. When mothers who have aborted their children testify to their personal agony, it is difficult, even for pro-death people, to deny that the act of abortion is a scourge on the family.
Q. In their December 2001 document, “Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities,” the U.S. Bishops appeared to distance themselves from the “seamless garment” rhetoric which for so long had lumped the right-to-life cause with other social-justice issues. Have you noticed any shift in strategy since then in the Respect Life programs of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops?
Brown: Honestly, my view of the USCCB strategy regarding Respect Life Programs is that, for the most part, such programs are words on paper. What we need are educational programs in every single parish in the United States, focusing on the teachings of the Church regarding contraception, abortion, and the progeny of these two evils. There are far too many Catholics in our country who simply do not know or understand these basic teachings, and that is a tragedy.
Q. Besides running for office themselves and supporting whenever possible candidates who pledge to respect human life, what can pro-life citizens do to improve the political and social climate?
Brown: It is imperative that pro-life citizens understand the enemy, recognize the tactics of the proponents of the culture of death, and engage the culture at every opportunity, be that in their family, their community, their Church, or wherever they see wrong being preached as right. For as John Cardinal O’Connor once said:
Perhaps the cleverest ploy of the anti-life movement has been to insist that the issue has nothing to do with religion, nothing to do with God. And many of us, with the best of intentions, have agreed. We are afraid of being branded, afraid of being ridiculed. Se we devise ways to avoid having to say what we believe — that God is life and all life comes from Him, that a culture of death is simply a culture without God, who is life.
We must change this.
Q. The American Life League has placed advertisements in major newspapers picturing twelve nominally Catholic U.S. Senators who consistently vote pro-abortion. What is the purpose of ALL’s “Deadly Dozen” ad campaign? In your opinion, does the new, post-9-11 seriousness in America present an opportunity for changing the radically pro-abortion platform of the Democratic Party?
Brown: American Life Leagues Crusade to Defend Our Catholic Church has pursued the “Deadly Dozen” ad campaign with vigor, and the results have been most encouraging. The purpose of the campaign is simply to focus attention on Church Canon Law 915, which states “Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or the declaration of a penalty as well as others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to communion.” An elected official or public figure who claims to be Catholic while supporting abortion is someone who “obstinately persists in manifest grave sin” and such individuals should be denied Holy Communion. Why? Because Bishops and Priests should protect the body and blood of Christ from sacrilege.
On the topic of the Democratic Party Platform, I believe that it is possible to change that language if enough Catholics stood up and defended life within that party, as well as, I might add, persisting in doing so in the Republican Party. Sometimes we forget, I think, that God is politics. Without Him there is nothing.
The Gospel of Life
Q. Earlier this year, even The New York Times had to run an article about the increasing numbers of young people with pro-life views. How do you account for this trend? Do you see it continuing throughout this decade?
Brown: The trend among young people regarding their pro-life views is directly related to their ability to look honestly at their parents’ generation and see the devastation that has been wrought by the past thirty years of decriminalized abortion, the marketing of contraception, and the declining respect for human dignity. Bryan Kemper, Director of Rock for Life, tells kids all across this nation that they are the survivors of Roe v. Wade/Doe v. Bolton, and that it is their friends who are not here today because they were killed by abortion. When this sinks in, dramatic changes are made in the way young people view abortion — they do take it very personally.
Q. Soon after the Pope published his 1995 encyclical, The Gospel of Life, ALL produced a study guide to accompany it. Please explain how this important encyclical can be a resource for pro-lifers at the parish level.
Brown: American Life League actually published four study guides, including a Bible Study, a classroom-style examination of The Gospel of Life, section by section, a guide for those with limited time to study, and a topical guide with a complete index. These are most helpful in RCIA classes, high school religion classes and have also been used in general educational programs for people of the parish. The Encyclical itself is, after all, a blueprint for replacing the culture of death with a culture of love and life. So anything that we can do to advance the Holy Father’s remarkable encyclical is worthy of pursuit.
Q. A much debated paragraph from the encyclical (Evangelium Vitae, par. 73) says that one may in conscience support the passage of an imperfect law which does not prohibit all abortions, but still is “aimed at limiting the harm done” by pro-abortion laws. This is sometimes called the “incremental approach,” but the idea is often misunderstood. What sort of “imperfect laws” should Catholics not support while trying to restore legal protection to the pre-born? What sorts of incremental laws are acceptable?
Brown: The sad thing about those who use this section of the Gospel of Life to advocate exceptions to abortion in certain cases, such as rape, incest or life of the mother, is that they have confused incrementalism with pragmatism. And as Pope John Paul II tells us in Fides et Ratio, pragmatism is:
an attitude of mind which, in making its choices, precludes theoretical considerations or judgments based on ethical principles. The practical consequences of this mode of thinking are significant. In particular there is growing support for a concept of democracy which is not grounded upon any reference to unchanging values: whether or not a line of action is admissible is decided by the vote of a parliamentary majority. The consequences of this are clear: in practice, the great moral decisions of humanity are subordinated to decisions taken one after another by institutional agencies. Moreover, anthropology itself is severely compromised by a one-dimensional vision of the human being, a vision which excludes the great ethical dilemmas and existential analyses of the meaning of suffering and sacrifice, life and death (89).
In other words, the tenets of the natural law do not change because of political realities or opinion polls!
It is ethical and moral to pursue actual incremental steps toward ending the murder of the preborn, such as legislation that requires informed consent and sonograms in every abortion mill, health regulations, waiting periods — any sort of legislative proposal that helps in the goal of protecting innocent preborn children. However, when a proposed law enables the abortionist to use a specific reason to abort, that law is actually harming our quest to restore personhood to every human being from conception. Why? Because when we say in the law that abortion is “banned except …”, we are saying that there are some cases in which it is legitimate to murder. This is wrong — dead wrong.
Finally, one must ask those who claim that the Holy Father favors the legislative approach that contains exceptions, “are you suggesting that the Holy Father, by authoring Section 73, paragraph 3, in the Gospel of Life, meant to approve even one abortion?” That is impossible.
Q. In The Gospel of Life the Holy Father says that, in order to work for a culture of life, Catholics must begin by “forming consciences” (EV par. 96). Could you please comment, in this regard, on the widespread contraceptive mentality?
Brown: I defer to one of the Holy Father’s most eloquent theologians, Father Gino Concetti, because his definition of the contraceptive mentality is awesome. “The mass availability of contraception was the first step on a path of death. This quickly led to a broad contraceptive mentality, i.e. a widespread attitude of rejecting any unwanted children, thus paving the way to a broad social acceptance of sterilization and abortion. The latter in turn is becoming the premise for the social acceptance of euthanasia and its legalization.”
Clearly, even among Catholics, and because of the lack of proper catechization that I referred to earlier, contraception is accepted, thus predisposing Catholic couples and the general public to a negative attitude toward children. Until this changes, abortion cannot be definitively stopped.
Paying Attention to the Language
Q. For the past decade many hospitals have urged patients to draw up a “living will” as a way of dealing with end-of-life medical decisions. Do you think that this has had the effect of raising public consciousness about the dangerous trend toward euthanasia?
Brown: We know that the language of documents like the Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney is often vague, and can actually be used as a tool to prematurely end the life of a patient. Proponents of euthanasia happen to be, in so many cases, the same people who advocate the Living Will. There are excellent documents available that align with Catholic teaching and are not designed to be used as death warrants. But once again, Catholics are not taught why they should be wary of Living Wills, and they are not taught why an ethical document such as American Life League’s Loving Will will at least protect them — we hope — from premature death by acts of euthanasia.
Q. Much of the politically correct language about “tolerance” and “diversity” which is heard on college campuses and in the media is actually designed to exclude traditional morality from public debate. What should be the response of Catholic lay people?
Brown: It is incumbent upon us to take Christ into the public square; to teach and preach our Catholic faith and not to be cowed into silence by those who confuse truth with “intolerance.” We are obligated, as Catholics, to expose sin, to assist others in understanding that their choices will in fact result either in their spending an eternity of joy with God or else suffering with the devil himself. It is out of our sense of love for God’s people that we share the truth. To be “tolerant” of sin is in itself evil. Again, I quote John Cardinal O’Connor:
It seems to me that the real means that the devil used to dupe Adam and Eve was to blind them to the glory of being human. In their lust for power, they lost sight of their own sacredness as human persons. They already had free will to choose between good and evil; they wanted to be the sole authority of what is good or evil, so that no other authority could tell them what they must do or not do.
Q. You were appointed a corresponding member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, an international group of theologians, physicians, and activists. What can we learn from the pro-life movement in other nations?
Brown: The members of the Pontifical Academy for Life are committed to the magisterium of the Church and spend their lives doing all they can to spread these truths in so many ways. What we can learn from people like these is that, regardless of the price one might be asked to pay in human terms, it is a great blessing to stand up and defend the Church, for therein lies the greatest blessing we can possibly imagine. Pro-lifers the world over look to the United States as an example of how to do battle with the evil of abortion; and therefore we are the ones who must be at the forefront of defending the truth which we know and believe will, in the final analysis, overcome the culture of death.
Q. During your audiences with the Pope, has the Holy Father given you any special message to convey to pro-lifers in North America?
Brown: Over the years the Holy Father has repeated, “Defending life is the most important occupation you can ever have. Do not be discouraged and know of my prayers for you and your supporters.” I know that it is his leadership, even during the times of his most excruciating suffering, that inspires so many of us to strive harder, work longer and pray with greater intensity, so that we might always imitate Christ and seek to do His will.
Michael J. Miller translated the books entitled New Saints and Blesseds of the Catholic Church Vols. 1, 2, 3, and Married Saints and Blesseds for Ignatius Press.
This article appeared in the October 2003 issue of Catholic World Report and is used by permission.
