The Consequences of Rejecting God

“On some positions, cowardice asks the question: Is it safe? Expediency asks the question: Is it politic? Vanity asks the question: is it popular? But conscience asks the question: Is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic nor popular, but he must take it, because conscience tells him it is right.”

― Martin Luther King, Jr.

There is no greater civil right than the right to life. Yet, tens of millions of preborn children do not enjoy this most basic and fundamental of human rights. Abortion is a modern-day genocide, condemning an entire category of human beings, the preborn, to death. This is an extraordinarily grotesque violation of everything that is good and sacred.

However, this did not stop Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, a pro-abortion advocate, from recently signing a proclamation that declared March 10 “Abortion Provider Appreciation Day.” Not only did the governor reaffirm her administration’s commitment to maintaining unlimited access to abortion services in Oregon, but she also repeats the pro-abortion narrative:

Here in Oregon, we understand that abortion is healthcare, and providers are appreciated and can continue to provide care without interference and intimidation. To our providers and to the patients who live in Oregon or have been forced to retreat to our state for care, know that I continue to have your back.

Science is clear. At the moment of fertilization (i.e., conception), a new, unique, living, and whole human being comes into existence. Pregnancy is not a disease. Abortion is not health care.

Science Proves True

Every health care professional knows that when they care for a pregnant woman, they are caring for two distinct individuals whose interests must be served—mother and child. The preborn child is a genetically distinct living organism who is always to be respected. The sole intent of abortion is to end the life of a preborn child. It is a grave legal injustice against nascent human life that deprives preborn children of their right to life.

Abortion is always fatal for at least one party involved; the child who receives no benefit but only death. By definition, “every procedure whose sole immediate effect is the termination of pregnancy before viability is an abortion, which, in its moral context, includes the interval between conception and implantation of the embryo” (Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, no. 45). Catholic teaching has consistently rejected the suggestion that an embryo has no moral status. Once fertilization takes place, human life is present and must be respected “in an absolute way” (Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and On the Dignity of Procreation, § 5).

Abortion is currently legal up to the moment of birth in Oregon, with no gestational limits, no mandatory waiting periods, and no parental notification requirements for girls as young as 15. Governor Kotek’s proclamation and comments show that Oregon has doubled down on providing and promoting legal abortion access, with the state’s popularity as an “abortion tourist spot” steadily growing since the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.

In 2022, for example, there were 1,036 abortions for women who traveled to Oregon for abortions. This increased by 60% in 2023 with 1,661 abortions performed for out-of-state residents. And according to the Oregon Health Authority’s preliminary 2024 report, there were 8,977 abortions with 1,669 being from out-of-state, reflecting nearly 1/5 of the abortions. Statistics also indicate a rising portion of abortions are from chemical abortions (i.e., RU-486 or the abortion pill).

Not only is Governor Kotek’s desire for increased access to abortion becoming reality, but the data also shows that “abortion tourism” is steadily increasing. For the pro-abortion lobby, Planned Parenthood, and other abortion providers this is good news.

While this well-financed lobby advances its view that a preborn child be nothing more than an easily disposable nuisance, pro-lifers must be more vigorous in resensitizing society to the humanity of the preborn child and its fundamental right to life. We must counter the strong social pressure to normalize abortion, making no apology for protecting the weak, the unwanted, and the defenseless from this devastating harm. This is the greatest human rights issue. It requires the pricking of consciences that have become callous and spiritually blind.

Challenging a Cultural Mindset

To facilitate this cultural transformation requires hearts and minds to change. This is why the pro-life movement must work to awaken society, to resensitize it to the immutable dignity of every person, preborn and born, regardless of their race, size, medical condition, or development. In such a healthy society, instead of promoting and enabling abortion, every level of influence—social, legal, economic, political, medical, etc.—would pursue creative solutions that respect human dignity and lead to better outcomes for both mother and child.

There is something contradictory in a society, like we see with Governor Kotek’s proclamation, that claims to be welcoming and protective of the vulnerable but that shows a callous indifference to the fate of innocent human beings before the moment of birth. Archbishop Alexander K. Sample of Portland describes this in his Pastoral Teaching on the Sanctity of Life as “a kind of spiritual blindness so thick that what should be self-evident—the sheer wonder and worth of a human life—is obscured entirely.”

There is something grave and sinister in a culture that celebrates the evil of abortion. As the archbishop warns: “The idea that those who make a living ending innocent, unborn life should be publicly honored. Thanked. Applauded. This isn’t just moral confusion. It’s something deeper.” It is a moment “when you realize just how far culture can drift from reality,” said the archbishop.

True Freedom in Human Dignity

A pro-abortion politician like Governor Kotek believes that women should have the “freedom to choose” abortion if they like. They say that we shouldn’t inhibit their “freedom” by limiting or outlawing abortion. The root of this mentality is a perverted understanding of the nature of freedom. According to this erroneous notion, freedom is simply the “right” to do whatever you want, regardless of whether it is the right thing to do or not.

As Archbishop Sample says,

The language of ‘rights’ and ‘freedom’ in these conversations sounds noble. But strip away the rhetoric, and what’s left? A world where the strong decide the fate of the weak. Where those with power have permission to eliminate those without it. Where human worth is conditional—based on ability, autonomy, wantedness. A return to humanity’s oldest, darkest impulse: might makes right.

In the Gospels, Christ speaks of the Good Shepherd as the one who leads His sheep through the gate. Being told to go through a gate may seem restrictive. The sheep would be freer if they just go wherever they choose! However, Christ adds, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved” (Jn 10:9).

Going through the gate, in other words, is not restrictive, it is the only path towards life and freedom! The guitar player does not complain that he must follow the notes on a music sheet. The notes free him to produce beautiful music. Similarly, we should welcome the guidance of the Church and shepherds like Archbishop Sample who exhort us to follow God’s laws. They are not binding us; they are showing us the path to life.

Living a True Life

In fighting for the Culture of Life, it is important that we constantly remind others that we are not interested in telling them what to do, or in “controlling” their lives (as pro-abortion activists so often accuse us of doing). Quite the contrary, we are anxious to help them live truly free lives, to “step out of the lie and into the light,” says Archbishop Sample. “Choose to see reality as it truly is. To embrace the mystery, the beauty, the wonder of existence itself,” he said. “Because life—every life—is a gift. And a world that forgets that is a world that has lost its soul.”

In closing his pastoral, Archbishop Sample makes the case that abortion is a spiritual issue, because it’s not about politics, law, or ethics, but “how we see reality itself.” The reality that a preborn child is a living being is a truth that cannot be erased. “And that’s why, no matter how loudly abortion is celebrated, something feels… off,” the archbishop says. He then exposes a profound truth that is often missed:

The need to frame [abortion] as a social good, as a moral necessity, reveals the guilt just beneath the surface. If abortion were truly nothing, no one would need to justify it. No one would need to celebrate it. The fact that it must be ritualized as progress is itself an admission of its darkness.

Thank God for good shepherds like Archbishop Sample who know that they would be betraying their role were they to remain silent as souls committed to their care enslave themselves to sin and error.

Natural Goodness in Precious Human Life

The child in its mother’s womb is a precious gift. The mother’s role is to welcome, nurture, and protect that child. The father’s role is to support and protect the woman bearing his child. And it is the role of all of us to create the social and political conditions to ensure that every single child, born and unborn, is loved and protected.

However, we cannot end the evils like abortion or other intrinsic evils that violate human dignity with a wave of our hands. Evil will never end until every Christian and man and woman of good will consider it a personal responsibility to do whatever is reasonably in their power to protect life.

Because the darkness of evil like abortion is so deeply embedded in our culture, we cannot expect a mere change of the laws, or the correct public relations “strategy” executed by large pro-life organizations to loosen its stranglehold. What we need above all is conversion of heart, on a societal scale. And unless people like Archbishop Sample challenge the cancerous mindset shaping modern-day society, and people like you and me continue to defend human dignity, nothing will happen to eradicate this deep-rooted evil that plagues our societies and cultures.

Next week, I will address a worrying trend that contributes and exacerbates this problem.