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

The Ghost of Margaret Sanger

Planned Parenthood of Greater New York announced that it would remove Margaret Sanger’s name from its Manhattan Health Center. This is an interesting shift from just a year ago, when Clarence Thomas was criticized for citing Sanger’s writings to suggest that abortion in America today reflects a kind of structural racism — an inherited tendency, which persists even without racist intent, for pro- abortion policies to reduce minority births more than white births.

Planned Parenthood had eugenic ideas close to its root, and while Sanger herself was pro- contraception rather than pro-abortion, her successors championed both abortion rights & global population control policies that were racist by any reasonable definition. Then when abortion was legalized in the United States, with Planned Parenthood’s strong support, its initial effect was a sharp decline in minority births. Fifty years later, the abortion rate is five times higher for African- Americans than for whites.

Further, Roe v. Wade and the sexual revolution changed family structure as well, as George Akerlof and (future Fed chair) Janet Yellen argued in a 1996 paper, by creating a wider space for men to expect sex without commitment and to behave irresponsibly toward pregnant woman. Like the abortion rate itself, this trend — the long rise of fatherlessness — has been steeper in poor & vulnerable communities. So it, too, has helped to sustain racial inequality, by reserving to the whiter upper classes the socioeconomic advantages that two-parent families enjoy. [excerpted from NY Times, Russ Douthat, 7/25/20] Ed. note: Despite this continuing discrimination by Planned Parenthood, our federal taxpayer monies still flow to the agency each year.

A Marriage-Based Culture

Modern social science research reveals clearly that intact marriage makes children (1) happier (mental health), (2) physically healthier and (3) better learners. They become much better citizens, better spouses, parents, workers, soldiers, savers, builders, and caretakers.

It is worth remembering that when Christ formed His first disciples most of the world — in matters sexual – lived polymorphously as Marx, Engels and Lenin envisaged and as we are now living again. Christians born in the West up until recent times have lived in the comfort of a Christian-molded legal order that protected women and children by expecting, and (where necessary) enforcing, monogamy. That day is gone. Welcome back to a hard and violent world of polymorphous sex, where the lifestyle of a Christian can be dangerous according to society’s new rules.

But as followers of Christ, for the good of the child, who from the moment of conception has the right to demand of its parents their lifelong monogamous marriage, we will continue to promote the value of monogamous marriage. [Pat Fagan, Ph.D., The Phenomenal Rise & Fall of a Marriage-Based Culture, www.marri.us/blog, 6/21/20]

Pro-Life Teen Wins Settlement

Covington Catholic High School teen Nicholas Sandman won a second defamation settlement against the Washington Post. The first was against CNN. The pro-life teen was the target of mislead ing, biased news coverage during his Kentucky high school’s trip to the March for Life. In the lawsuit, Sandmann accused the newspaper of “wrongfully targeting and bullying” him “because he was the white, Catholic student wearing a red ‘Make America Great Again’ souvenir cap on a school field trip to the January 2019 March for Life in Washington, D.C.”

Many news outlets implied Sandmann and other Covington students were racist based on a short video showing a brief confrontation between them and Native American protester Nathan Phillips near the Lincoln Memorial. The negative publicity led to death threats & temporary closure of his Catholic high school for several days due to security concerns. Later, however, longer video footage of the incident disproved many of the claims against Sandmann & other school students. A report by Greater Cincinnati Investigation, Inc. states that the pro-life teens did not initiate the confrontation or use any racial slurs against Native American Nathan Phillips or the Black Hebrew Israelites group. Lawsuits against other news outlets are still pending, including NBC, ABC, CBS, Rolling Stone, Gannett & the NY Times.

After the initial publicity, Sandmann said he was confused by the whole incident and he smiled only to let the other protesters know that he would not be intimidated. “I am a faithful Christian and practicing Catholic, and I always try to live up to the ideals my faith teaches me – to remain respectful of others, and to take no action that would lead to conflict or violence,” he said. [excerpted from www.LifeNews.com, M. Bilger, 7/24/20] 

Improving Catholic School Education

New standards to improve Catholic school education were issued by the Cardinal Newman Society. The Catholic Curriculum Standards take into account guidance from Church documents regarding Catholic education:

• To involve the integral formation of the whole person, body, mind, and spirit, in light of his or her ultimate end and the good of society.
• To seek to know and understand objective reality, including transcendent Truth, which is knowable by reason and faith and finds its origin, unity, and end in God.
• To promote human virtues and the dignity of the human person, as created in the image and likeness of God and modeled on the person of Jesus Christ. [www.CardinalNewmanSociety.org ]

Ed. Note: Public schools also seek to achieve the first standard, and generally fall short on the other two.

Choose Life Banners Seen Everywhere

The Life Education Council makes available pro-life banners that are typically displayed on church lawns & buildings. Many women have been helped by calling the number shown on the banner. While there is no charge, a donation would be welcomed. Get one for your church today at www.LifeEducationCouncil.com

Teen Health

Psychiatry Research (May 2020) published an article on “Sexual behavior and suicide attempts among adolescents aged 12–15 years from 38 countries.” The authors studied adolescents using data from the Global School- based Student Health Survey 2009–2016. Their key finding was: Engaging in sexual intercourse in early adolescence was associated with increased risk of suicide attempt. And, having had multiple sexual partners may increase the risk of suicide attempts.”

Manifesto from Long-Time Pro-Lifer

The pro-life movement has proven capable of longsuffering in the fight to end abortion. Many of us have been in this fight for decades. I stand on the shoulders of giants who came before me and began their work long ago, & the next generation of pro-life activists is already rising up to carry on the mission. Our ability to adapt and evolve despite lost Supreme Court cases, the silence of religious leaders, and the betrayals of politicians is a testament to the trajectory of this movement toward victory. The pro-life movement will persist until abortion is rejected by both our laws and our culture.

The pro-life movement is outfunded by the abortion industry by orders of magnitude. Our political power is outflanked by pro-abortion super PACs, and tech giants and mainstream media outlets work to silence or mischaracterize us on a daily basis. Yet the truth that it is wrong to kill the innocent is written so deeply into the human conscience that our victory over Big Abortion is only a matter of time. We need only call out what humans know to be true: All of us are equal, and it is wrong to do fatal violence to our society’s youngest, most defenseless members.

America has always led the world in defending human rights. We can restore the paradigm of protection of the preborn child and the dignity of mothers for the rest of the world. What is required of us in these moments, when we feel we have lost a battle, is to recommit ourselves to waking up every morning and saying Yes to winning the war. [Lila Rose, Big abortion may win battles; The pro-life movement can win the war, Voices, 7/7/20]]

What’s Life All About Anyway?

Dr. Edward Sri, Imprint, Summer 2020

Author, Who Am I to Judge?

Jesus Christ said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (Jn 14:6) He’s the fullness of Truth. The truth isn’t simply that abortion and pornography are wrong. That is true, but it’s not the whole gospel message. The whole truth is that God loves you.

Judy Heumann on Disabled People

I was 18 months old when my parents learned I had polio. It was 1949, and things that were typical for children were not so typical for me. I was denied the right to go to school because the staff did not know how to accommodate a student who could not walk. This discrimination continued when I eventually pursued my teaching career. Though I passed all my exams, I was denied a teaching license in 1970 because NYCity’s Board of Education thought I could not safely evacuate my students in case of a fire. Years later I worked to get the Americans with Disabilities Act passed. It opened building doors, allowed us to be educated & made it illegal to discriminate against a qualified person for employment.

But there is still work to do. The way society thinks about disability needs to evolve, as too many people view disability as something to loathe or fear. By changing this mentality, by recognizing how disabled people enrich our communities, we can all be empowered to make sure disabled people are included. [NYTimes, 7/26/20]

This free monthly newsletter is used by dozens of churches as a bulletin insert, and has over 30,000 readers. To receive a free copy in your inbox, email editor Frank Tinari, Ph.D. at tinarifr@shu.edu