Why this evil-disposed attack on procreation today? Procreation, the sexual activity of conceiving and bearing a biological offspring, is gradually being equalized with the phrase “profit and power at any cost”. Just look around. Big industry extending its strong influence over procreation and changing the meaning through manufacturing, engineering and controlling.
For example, babies are made by IVF. In the process, on the average of 24 tiny lives die in order for one life to survive. Another example: Desired embryos are implanted in a uterus. The big question is: Whose uterus? The mother’s? A rented one (surrogacy)? An artificial womb? Yes, we are approaching a biotechnological breakthrough. Ectogenesis, the invention of a complete external womb, could completely change the nature of human reproduction. In April of last year, researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia announced their development of an artificial womb.
More examples: unwanted unborn children are aborted up to the moment of birth (partial birth abortion), some discarded as medical waste or sold to cosmetic companies, while others put into cold storage (a commodity) or donated for research. These examples amplify only a few of the many dangers awaiting the nine-month-journey of an unborn child. In short, the first nine months in the mother’s womb are the most dangerous in the life of a person, and the odds are that a majority of these tiny human beings will not survive this brief life journey.
Recently, the trafficking of unborn babies has shown its ugly face. How is this possible, you might say to yourself? The baby is not born yet. Several weeks ago Mail Online published the following article: “Outbreak of ‘womb raiders’ in Mexico: A SECOND female killer is arrested for murdering a nine-month-pregnant woman, cutting her baby out of the womb and claiming it as her own.”
What struck me were the words, “Outbreak of ‘womb raiders’ in Mexico”. With a little research, I discovered that pregnant women are the latest victims killed for their unborn babies, not only in Mexico but other countries as well, even the United States.
This relatively new outbreak of “fetal abductions” are also referred to as “fetus theft”, “Cesarean kidnappings” and “baby snatching”. The criminals who commit these abductions are called “womb raiders”. “Fetus theft” is a relatively a new category of crime in the U.S. – the first documented case occurred in 1974. The criminals will either keep the baby or sell the baby on the black market where there is a large demand and hugh profit. Will “fetus theft” turn into another billion dollar industry? It’s still to early to tell. But one pattern is certain, for this business to thrive, the mother must be killed.
The Catholic Church proclaims that human life is sacred and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society. This belief is the foundation of all the principles of Catholic social teaching. Throughout the world, unborn babies are under direct attack from abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, “unborn baby snatching” and whatever this war on innocent life can conceive to feed its appetite for big bucks. The intentional targeting of unborn babies is always wrong. The Catholic Church and all Catholics believe that every person is precious, that each person is more important than money. The quality of our life is measured by whether it threatens or enhances the life and dignity of the human person. “Human persons are willed by God; they are imprinted with God’s image. Their dignity does not come from the work they do, but from the persons they are.” (St. John Paul II)
“When we fail to acknowledge as part of reality the worth of a poor person, a human embryo, a person with disabilities – to offer just a few examples – it becomes difficult to hear the cry of nature itself; everything is connected.” (Pope Francis) Life is a gift from God; consequently, every human life is sacred from its very beginning to its very end.
Silence is no longer an alternative to avoid protecting innocent life as Pope Francis points out. We can no longer turn the other way and make believe these problems have nothing to do with us. The first right of the human person is his life, size and age do not enter into the equation. AND this right does not belong to parents, society, nor does it belong to government. We have a duty to make courageous choices in support of life. Some day each of us will have to answer to God for these choices. “Let us love one another because love is from God.” (1 John 4:7-12)
God Bless
Jerry Novotny, OMI
