Let’s talk about Planned Parenthood (gag). There is nothing I despise more than talking about Planned Parenthood, Nancy Pelosi, and crimes against children. But, here we go!
Whhhhhhhhy? Yes, why oh why do we have to continue to turn our heads toward the ugly nastiness that is taking place behind the PP doors?
Maybe it’s because almost 94 percent of Planned Parenthood’s services for pregnant women are abortions. (Yes, they like to say that they offer many other services, but their own numbers don’t lie.) Or maybe, it’s because they still offer an award in honor of their eugenicist founder. (If you guessed Nancy Pelosi was one of the distinguished recipients…you were right!) Margaret Sanger “contributed to compulsory sterilization laws in 30 U.S. states that resulted in more than 60,000 sterilizations of vulnerable people, including people she considered “feeble-minded,” “idiots” and “morons.” Sanger even presented at a Ku Klux Klan meeting.
Or perhaps, and currently appropriate; it is because Planned Parenthood has recently made media headlines for the brazen videos of several doctors discussing the sale of intact fetal tissues and parts. This done leisurely, over drinks, and escalating to haggling over the prices of “less crunchy” means of attaining intact fetal parts. As if this isn’t sick enough, Dr. Mary Getter ends the negotiations by joking that she “wants a Lamborghini.”
For the love of money is the root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs. ~1 Tim 6:10
If your stomach is churning right now (as it should be), you certainly don’t want to talk about ice cream. But, some do! An ice cream shop in Portland, OR, which received national criticism for their Rose City Revolution flavor, in honor of PP, has once again been inspired. They released their Taste of Victory flavor, the week the videos were released, donating 10% of proceeds to PP Advocates of Oregon.
If you feel disgusted and mind-boggled by any of this information, including the video itself; then you may still have a strong foothold in the culture of life.
What is the culture of life, as opposed to the culture of death? It is the belief and practice that life is sacred; from conception to natural death. That all people have dignity, and therefore great worth. By virtue of our position as children of God, our lives are eternal. All human beings have this basic right to life, and it is a grave evil to destroy life; to rob another of the fulfillment of their destiny. The culture of life does not subscribe to putting greater value on one life above another, including the perceived nuisance of the one upon the other (fetus/elderly/unstable/unsound).
The culture of death erodes society from the inside out, like a cancer. It attacks what is weak; the pregnant woman without means or support, the over-crowded elderly home, the immigrant, the angry young man plotting to make a violent statement. These people are not foreign to us. Rather, they are the subject of many recent news reports. In fact, it seems we haven’t made it one month without the panic of a random senseless act of violence, often ending in the perp taking his own life. But then again, what is life anyway?
The question begs an answer, and the answer is becoming unclear.
It should not be terribly surprising that the same Planned Parenthood selling the line about “the product of conception” not being a baby, also freely talks about the sale of these (not) human “body” parts. Perhaps, it shouldn’t even shock us that they sell the parts in the first place. You see, evil works like that. What is disturbing however, is all of us.
That’s right! Planned Parenthood receives a third of its funding from government grants and contracts, a.k.a. our tax money.
While I am not advocating tax resistance (although many believed that not funding war was a just cause for this), I am advocating the recognition that we are at war. Not only with an evil outside of us, but also an evil within. The little voice that says, “oh that’s horrible, now turn the channel.” The desensitized lukewarm spirit that desires comfort over justice. The storehouse of gossipy news tidbits without the flame to move toward change. The fear of fully embracing the culture of life.
How do we respond physically, spiritually, and emotionally, when we hear the abortionist stating, “I’m going to basically crush below, I’m gonna crush above, and I’m gonna see if I can get it all intact.”
What is it? Do we have to wonder?
The plague of Planned Parenthood is an evil, contagious among moral weakness. I turn to wisdom and comfort from the teaching of JPII on this, who talks about the need to address the root of the cultural darkness. The elevation of secularism, and the diminishing of God.
We have to go to the heart of the tragedy being experienced by modern man: the eclipse of the sense of God and of man, typical of a social and cultural climate dominated by secularism, which, with its ubiquitous tentacles, succeeds at times in putting Christian communities themselves to the test. Those who allow themselves to be influenced by this climate easily fall into a sad vicious circle: when the sense of God is lost, there is also a tendency to lose the sense of man, of his dignity and his life; in turn, the systematic violation of the moral law, especially in the serious matter of respect for human life and its dignity, produces a kind of progressive darkening of the capacity to discern God’s living and saving presence.
Goodness is contagious to all, because God made us good. Now is the time of greatest need for renewal of the culture of life; within our own hearts, our families, and Christian communities.
The first and fundamental step towards this cultural transformation consists in forming consciences with regard to the incomparable and inviolable worth of every human life. It is of the greatest importance to re-establish the essential connection between life and freedom. These are inseparable goods: where one is violated, the other also ends up being violated. There is no true freedom where life is not welcomed and loved; and there is no fullness of life except in freedom. Both realities have something inherent and specific which links them inextricably: the vocation to love. Love, as a sincere gift of self, is what gives the life and freedom of the person their truest meaning. ~St. John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae
Are you fully embracing the culture of life?
Kimberly Cook
Writer, Podcaster, Mother, & Catholic Apologist. Meet Kimberly
