Tea at Trianon: You Can’t Be Pro-Life Unless You Oppose Abortion

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, September 4, 2020

You Can’t Be Pro-Life Unless You Oppose Abortion

A good article, although I do not see how merely not voting for Biden is going to help the end abortion. People should vote against Biden by voting for Trump. From Kathryn Jean Lopez at The National Review:

This leads us to abortion. There’s a lot of dismissal of “single-issue voters” these days. Believe me, I see it in my inbox. That makes an assumption that isn’t a given — not everyone who is opposed to abortion is planning on voting for Donald Trump. There are debates about whether voting for someone other than Trump is a cop-out — “blood on your hands” some on the right will argue. But set that debate aside for a moment: In recent weeks I’ve expressed my disappointment in Joe Biden. The Democrats have refused to give an option to people who consider abortion the preeminent human-rights issue. For that, I have been told I am a “so-called” pro-lifer.

I actually agree with all those who insist that pro-life needs to mean more than defending the life of the unborn — we as individuals and as a society must do all that we can to make life plausible, to ensure that single mothers and families have a fighting chance. We can’t look away from the children in foster care who will never have a shot if someone doesn’t give them the love of a family. Absolutely, pro-life should mean more than opposition to abortion. And anyone who has been around the pro-life movement has seen that it so often is people full of love for a mom who just needs some confidence and resources — people walking with her, and, yes, for more than nine months.

[...]

The Democratic Party has chosen to double down on the death of innocents. That is what abortion is: It is a law that says the unborn can be treated as inconvenient and thrown away. The value of that human life is determined by the mother under the influence of the circumstances and pressures she finds around her. That they have to use euphemisms to make it attractive exposes the underlying rot. (Read more.)

Joseph Biden, the angels watch and so does Christ. Also from The National Review:

Yes, be not afraid to accept the teachings of Christ and the Catholic Church in which you were baptized and whose tenets and doctrines you profess to believe. Do not use and abuse the words of the magisterium of the Catholic faith but to be challenged by them. As you can see from this, John Paul II considered there to be more to the pro-life, Gospel of Life picture than simply making sure babies aren’t aborted. But we cannot abort! Innocent, vulnerable human life! Protect! I grieve when I hear Joe Biden talk this way because he should know better. Don’t use the Catholic faith to push the abortion agenda that is rotten to the core and part of the reason we are where we are today, so miserable and violent and often making no natural sense. Abortion is the opposite of health care, the opposite of love, the opposite of life. It kills. And it has hurt so many people, so many families, so many women. Joe Biden, please give John Paul II’s Gospel of Life a read instead of using him as cover for your gravely poisonous position on abortion. (Read more.)

The Trump administration has many pro-life accomplishments so that anyone who is genuinely pro-life should feel comfortable voting for Trump. From The Washington Times:

The pro-life accomplishments of President Trump and his administration have not gone unnoticed. The Catholic Association released a lengthy list of the specifics on Thursday that range from his judiciary appointments to his decision to appear at the 2020 March for Life — the first president to do so.

The lay organization titled its compilation “Promises Made, Promises Kept: President Trump Has Delivered for Pro-life Americans and People of Faith.” It also includes current new media references to each item. The complete list, along with those considered to be “top-10” by the organization, can he found here. (Read more.)