by Frank Tinari, Ph.D., Life Education Council Board of Trustees

The Birth of the Doctor’s Own Child Ended Her Killing Any More Unborn

A former abortionist told a massive crowd at the 46th March for Life: “A woman cannot kill her child & remain unscathed. Millions of women in the USA have had abortions. Post-abortive women are hurting and need pro-lifers’ help and compassion. They need to hear that God wants to heal & restore them,” said Dr. Kathi Aultman.

“I used to feel that abortion is a woman’s right,” she said. “This belief became strengthened when I got pregnant & made the decision to have an abortion, a decision I terribly regretted later.”

“Medical students and residents are taught that abortion is a normal part of women’s health care. The pro-life view is discouraged.” She said it is difficult for pro-life students to get into medi- cal school and residencies, especially obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN). Medical professors can lose their positions if they express pro-life opinions. “The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, who should be the most pro-life, is staunchly pro-abortion,” Aultman revealed. “All OBGYN residents are required to do abortions unless they opt out because of conscience. But that is discouraged, and we need to protect those civil rights.”

The first time Aultman felt qualms about doing abortions was during her neo-natal rotations when she was trying to save babies of the same gestational age as the babies she was aborting. “I finally made the connection between ‘fetus’ and ‘baby’ and could no longer do abortions. The fact that the baby was unwanted was no longer reason enough for it to be killed.”

Believing the lie that having a baby out of wedlock inevitably destroyed a young woman’s life, she continued to refer for abortions. But her view changed: “I noticed that those who kept their babies did well in contrast to those who were dealing with the physical and psychological consequences of abortion,” she said. “My perspective was challenged as I watched children in my church who were almost aborted grow up.”

“It’s much easier to accept ‘terminating a pregnancy’ than it is ‘killing a baby’,” she noted. Aultman asked her listeners to “help people see that what’s in the womb is a person with their own unique characteristics and potential, not just a blob of tissue.” She thanked the massive crowds for their activism “for protecting those who cannot protect themselves, those who wouldn’t have a chance to live if you did nothing.” [Dorothy Cummings McLean, LifeSiteNews.com]

Assisted Suicide is “False Compassion”

The idea that assisting a suicide shows compassion and eliminates suffering is misguided. It eliminates the person, and results in suffering for those left behind – grieving families and friends, and other vulnerable people who may be influenced by this event to see death as an escape.

The sufferings caused by chronic or terminal illness are often severe. They cry out for our compassion, a word whose root meaning is to “suffer with” another person. True compassion alleviates suffering while maintaining solidarity with those who suffer. It does not put lethal drugs in their hands and abandon them to their suicidal impulses, or to the self-serving motives of others who may want them dead. It helps vulnerable people with their problems instead of treating them as the problem.” [U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, To Live Each Day with Dignity: A Statement on Physician-Assisted Suicide]

Primary Elections Coming in Many States

According to the U.S. bishops’ 2015 document, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship (or FC), four principles of Catholic social doctrine are key to making practical judgments to do good and avoid evil in voting:

1. Promoting and defending the dignity of the human person

2. Supporting the family and subsidiarity in local, state and national institutions

3. Working for the protection of human rights and meeting basic responsibilities

4. Concern for all as our brothers & sisters, espe- cially the poor and most vulnerable [FC, Nos. 40-52]

All of these issues are important, but they are not all morally or ethically equivalent. “The direct and intentional destruction of innocent human life from the moment of conception until natural death is always wrong & is not just one issue among many. It must always be opposed.” [No. 28] At the same time, issues such as war, the death penalty, racism, care for the poor and the immigrant are enormously important. “These are not optional concerns which can be dismissed.” [No. 29] So, before voting:

• Inform yourself about the Church’s teachings. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is a great place to start. In your church’s men’s & women’s groups, discuss Church teachings in relation to the candidates or policies.
• Inform yourself about the issues. Read the Catholic press. See where the candidates stand on critical moral and social issues.
• Seek input from Catholics you respect.
• Pray. Take your hopes, concerns and worries to the Lord and ask for His guidance.

Free issues of EWTN’s National Catholic Register It’s not easy to find a trustworthy source for Catholic news and information. For over 90 years, Catholics have turned to the NCR for reliable, timely and relevant news. So, try 6 issues FREE! If you continue your subscription after your trial, you will receive 26 issues in all for just $49.95. Otherwise, just cancel.

Youngest Planned Parenthood Director Quit, Became ProLife Activist

While running her clinic, Abby Johnson would remove & collect medals that pro-life protesters left in the flower beds. When she came to the realization that her clinic was killing developing human beings, she took her personal items and the jar holding the medals and left, never to return. “I didn’t know what they were but I was compelled to keep them in my office.”

Johnson later converted to Catholicism. She is now familiar with the history of the Medal of the Immaculate Conception which, due to countless reported miracles, came to be known as the Miraculous Medal. “When I look back, even to my childhood, I see that the Blessed Mother was always there with me. My Baptist mom told me that she used to come home & find me watching Mother Angelica on TV with a towel draped over my head like I was a nun.”

Calling herself a “testament that conversion is real,” Johnson today works to help others leave the abortion industry. Her ministry, And Then There Were None, has helped more than 500 clinic workers leave including several abortionists who have “put down their abortion tools to defend life.” [Joe P. Brown, Miraculous Images Found in “Unplanned” Our Sunday Visitor, 5/11/19]

The movie Unplanned tells her story in a compelling way. Though Hollywood has given it an R-rating, and Google’s biased editors call it ‘propaganda’, it’s a professional, well-done, must- see film for all who have a concern for the sanctity of human life.

Some Facts of Life

†   Over 3,000 pro-life crisis pregnancy centers exist in the U.S. offering support to women and their babies.

†   Over 2 million couples are willing to adopt – and that includes children of all races and those with special needs.

†   Abortion is legal through all nine months of pregnancy, which is not true in most of the rest of the world.

†   After 18 days in the womb, a baby’s heart begins to beat. After just 9 weeks, a baby has unique fingerprints. At 12 weeks (3 months), a baby can suck his or her thumb.

For College Students & Young Marrieds

“We live in a hookup culture that fears authentic intimacy above all else. What kind of problems does that cause in marriage? And how can sacramental marriage heal those wounds? That’s what we’re talking about in this episode with Dr. Timothy O’Malley, author of Off the Hook: God, Love, Dating and Marriage in a Hookup World, the book we wish would be used everywhere for marriage prep.”

“Tim is a husband, father of two, and the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life as well as academic director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy. He and his family live in South Bend, Indiana.”

“In this episode we discuss how married sex can be overemphasized as the center of married life, how the true nature of marriage is communion and deep friendship, and how raising children fits into everything. We also chat about misconceptions about marriage we have personally suffered from and how a Catholic view of marriage as two people helping each other to heaven differs from the cultural concept of marriage as achieving personal fulfillment. It’s a great conversation so grab a cup of coffee and listen in!”

[The full interview of O’Malley by Christy Isinger can be listened to anytime on your device at: https://fountainsofcarrots.com/?powerpress_pinw=13 54-podcast]

In his popular undergraduate course, “Nuptial Mystery: Divine Love and Human Salvation, ” O’Malley learned that the hookup culture is present in all his students’ lives, whether they’re hooking up or not. Some students approach sex and love as transitory and fleeting transaction—they love the idea of romance; they love the sexual chase; and they crave the hookup, but not the commitment. Others have come to idolize the mystery of marriage. This group lacks understanding about what real love and intimacy demand of two people in everyday life.

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Editor since 2005, Frank Tinari, Ph.D.