Even If Roe Ends We Still Have a Culture of Death

This is exactly the point I was trying to make in my post on why reversing Roe would make little difference. It is the culture we have to convert!

From Catholic Stand

By Rob Marco

In the 1992 movie Singles, urban planner Campbell Scott is having a passionate conversation about the future of transportation with Kyra Sedgwick in his apartment. His dream is to transform Seattle with his idea for a “Supertrain”:

Scott: “Let me ask you a question. You think about traffic? Because I do, constantly. Traffic is caused by the single car driver. Single people get in their cars every morning. They drive and wonder why there’s gridlock. 

“This is what I’ve been working on. If you had a Supertrain…you give people a reason to get out of their cars. Coffee, great music…they will park and ride. I know they will.”

Sedwick: “But I still love my car, though.”

Scott: “Well… Oh.”

There’s another, similar, scene in the movie where Scott has a sit-down with the mayor of Seattle. He gives the same pitch and receives the same response: People love their cars. He gets flummoxed, his pitch-window closing quickly.

It’s as if he couldn’t believe that people would hold such an illogical view (driving a car) in the face of all the seemingly “obvious” advantages of public transportation.

The Pro-Life Analogy

I’ve thought about that scene a lot over the years, and more recently, in light of the work of those involved in the pro-life movement. I’m sure those working tirelessly to support pregnant mothers, found crisis pregnancy centers, change legislation, and provide alternatives to abortion have found themselves at times feeling like their pitch to choose life hits a wall similar to that of the transportation planner in the film. And the wall is this:

People choose abortion because they want abortion.

Despite Natural Family Planning being healthy, natural, effective, and virtually free, less than 2% of the U.S. population practices it.  The “inconvenience” of unwanted pregnancies in most people’s minds far outweighs any potential advantages this system of regulation of births promises. It’s a tough pitch to skeptics because it requires a metanoia of mind and heart – in how we think of children, the Natural Law, and the means and ends of human sexuality, and the nature of personal sacrifice.

Abortion as Birth Control

I bring up NFP because, for many people, abortion has served as a kind of backup birth control in today’s culture. Abortion-as-contraception doesn’t prevent pregnancy, obviously; it prevents the live birth of a child.

I understand that not all those who abort their children do so willingly: some are coerced by family members or boyfriends, even if they would in fact want the child. Yet many, perhaps the majority, choose abortion freely as the most convenient, lowest-cost, least intrusive way to deal with an unwanted pregnancy.

That is, even when they have the option to give up their child for adoption, or receive help in raising it, they still choose abortion because, well, they just want it.

I also get hot under the collar when I think of all those couples who do want children but can’t conceive and are open to adoption. Is it a question of supply and demand that creates huge financial and bureaucratic barriers to doing so? Even when a couple would be willing pay for everything and beg and plead with an abortion-vulnerable woman to have the child, it is rare that the woman decides to offer the child for adoption. She may not want to carry to term or want people know she is pregnant.

Abortion is convenient, easy. It makes the “problem” go away.

The Double Death

Abortion ushers in not only the death of a child but the death of the soul. Abortion is physically and psychologically unhealthy. It deforms cultures and warps consciences.

Yet, when contrasted with the vocation to parenting – namely, the sacrifices called for, the commitment and potential difficulties – is it any wonder abortion is chosen as the “path of least resistance,” the most convenient option? That doesn’t make it good (an evil that can never be justified).

Why Are We Surprised

But, then again, why are we surprised when people of a wicked generation choose what is wicked, even when presented with life-giving and live-saving alternatives? Why are we surprised that abortion grows in a culture where 98% of people actively work to prevent pregnancy in their relationships through contraception, and when that fails, always have abortion as a “backup?”

Maybe it’s not a fair analogy, but sometimes I believe the pro-life message is like that Supertrain pitch to try to get people out of their cars. Public transportation is a good thing in a lot of ways; it’s efficient, it makes sense. And yet, people love their cars. They won’t easily part with them.

In other words, even if Roe is eventually overturned, we still have to deal with our rampant culture of death and the fact that people want abortion as a component of their lifestyle.

Prayer for Conversion

I hope I’m wrong. I wish we would have a mass-conversion away from the scourge of abortion-on-demand and a transformation to a culture of life. I don’t know if this is the ethos of organizations like Live Action and others, but I have nothing but the utmost respect for those fighting in the trenches day after day, proposing alternatives and doing the good work. They are up against a lot.

But people want abortion because their ways are evil. Try to take it away and see what happens. We will not be delivered as a generation, but by grace.

I have to think that the words of St. Peter are a sober reminder: “And if a righteous person is saved with difficulty, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” (1 Peter 4:18).

We must pray for the conversion of hearts regarding the killing of the innocent. God wiped out humanity with a flood because of their wickedness. His patience will not last forever (Romans 9:22-24).