On the "Culture of Life" as the Nation Remembers the Advent of the Culture of Death - January 22

The "culture of death," as the affluent West is commonly called in Catholic circles, did not necessarily start with the decisions of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. But who could deny that these monumental cases bolstered a cultural mentality already oriented more toward death and away from the glories of life? Pope John Paul II did much to counter the cause (worldwide) of a 'culture of death,' but especially pertaining to the affluent West where many deaths are caused, not as a result of famine or disease or some other extreme reason as is the case elsewhere, but simply as a result of "choice," a choice legally and (to an extent) morally legitimized by the two court cases cited above.

On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court effectively legalized abortion throughout America, extending the application of abortion "rights" past Roe v. Wade to entail abortion on demand for essentially any reason whatsoever for all nine months of the pregnancy.

Included in the concept of the "health" of the mother, notice the court's language.

[T]he medical judgment may be exercised in the light of all factors -- physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age -- relevant to the well being of the patient. All these factors may relate to health. Doe v. Bolton, 410 U.S. 179, 192 (1973).

So January 22 is another day to live on in infamy in American history. It is a day that gave the culture of death an enormous triumph. Now, by virtue of the loosest of all applications of a "right to privacy," the most vulnerable and innocent among us are routinely killed on a daily basis. The numbers are simply staggering: "46,000,000 unborn children in our country have been killed by abortion," reports the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta, GA.

But everyone knows that a culture opposed to celebrating life is all around us. It does not only extend to flippantly decided-upon abortions. It includes the elderly placed into homes when they become too much of a burden on their children - another instance of the apparently unalienable "right to privacy" in America? It also extends to majorly regulating births in families. The culture of life see things like the following: France is apparently supporting its own efforts at curbing the abolition of the family by giving money to mothers for their having a third child. Excuse me? A third child? Having a family of three children is today constitutive of a large family in the affluent West. "Cheaper by the trio," anyone? In the above article, France seems to boast of its birth rate - it is an amazing 1.9/family, but they still can boast of it relative to their neighboring countries in Europe (excepting Ireland). And France is not the only country offering such incentives. How incredible that only a couple of decades ago the world seemed to have overpopulation as a major concern of its own. And now, the concern in Europe is underpopulation - one cannot help but to interpret this fact as a natural consequence of a culture of death.

Before I became Catholic I could never understand the pro-life camp's opposition to taking "baby steps" in their fight against abortion and their general "all or nothing" view. It was only after I came in contact with some of Pope John Paul II's writings (especially Evangelium Vitae) that I came to understand a little better the "all or nothing" Catholic mentality often encountered in the area of abortion. He writes,

While it is true that the taking of life not yet born or in its final stages is sometimes marked by a mistaken sense of altruism and human compassion, it cannot be denied that such a culture of death, taken as a whole, betrays a completely individualistic concept of freedom, which ends up by becoming the freedom of "the strong" against the weak who have no choice but to submit.

Although I surely don't grasp this truth in its entirety, I definitely understand now that there is an approach to life which supports an abortion mentality--and this is a "culture of death." A culture which disdains any type of burdensome life - which only values that life which takes care of itself and is entirely autonomous. So, it is not simply that many (especially Catholic) pro-lifers are anti-abortion; they are, as their name suggests, completely on the side of life with all of its glories and all of its burdens. It's remarkable, if not frightening, to consider for a moment that Our Lord's two greatest qualities, which more than any others exemplified his coming and his work here on Earth - love and self-sacrifice - are in direct opposition to a culture of death. A 'me' culture - a culture sick with its own twisted sense of individualism. A culture which knows much about love of self, and next to nothing of love of others.

I do not write all this to share any deep insights. On this particular issue, I could not even compare with the vastness and profundity which has already been placed before the public in other writings. I simply want to, in solidarity with my Church, bring to my readers' remembrance the infamous events of January 22, 1973, and to further highlight what I take to be the only antidote to such reckless self-love --> a reinvigorating of a "culture of life" and the corresponding virtue of love, which itself gives rise to (and nurtures) all life.