It can be difficult to save lives in a society that doesn’t always value them, Theresa Claybaugh lamented.
"There are days when we leave here drained and tired," said Claybaugh, executive director of Women’s Care Center, a crisis pregnancy center in Charlotte.
Yet, even though the job can be exhausting, she and her volunteers know that at the end of the day, they’ve made a difference by giving women help, referrals, support, baby clothes, formula, diapers and other aid from the center.
"We counsel women compassionately, nonjudgmentally, while holding to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church," Claybaugh said.
The challenges for the center are many. Demand for services continues to rise, as does the need for money, donations and volunteers. Past benefactors of the center also have had to cut back on giving due to the economy, Claybaugh said.
Finally, the center is working against a society that has allowed abortion to become commonplace.
Protecting life "is an uphill battle," Claybaugh said.
This year in the Diocese of Rochester, about 5,000 pregnancies — or approximately one in every four — will end in an induced abortion, according to 2005, 2006 and 2007 statistics from the state health department. In two of the diocese’s 12 counties — Monroe and Tompkins — the ratio is even slightly higher. In Monroe County alone, 3,400 abortions are performed annually.
Pro-lifers say they spend much time, money and energy fighting to end abortions. This year, many said they have been depressed by a wave of political change they believe will make the fight tougher.
"With the inauguration of a new president and Congress as well as very significant changes in the state Legislature, the people of New York certainly have had special challenges presented to them," said Jann Armantrout, diocesan life-issues coordinator.
Challenges to life
Since taking office in January, President Barack Obama has called several times for those on opposite sides of the abortion debate to seek common ground. That, in fact, was one of the main messages of his controversial commencement address in May at the University of Notre Dame, a Catholic college.
Since taking office, however, Obama also has taken steps to greatly expand international funding for abortion and for embryonic stem-cell research. Indeed, much debate over his health-care reform initiative has centered on questions of whether it will promote euthanasia and the expansion of abortions and embryonic stem-cell research.
When Obama’s administration took office in January, many pro-lifers feared that the Freedom of Choice Act — a proposal that would establish a federal protection of abortion as a "fundamental right" throughout all nine months of pregnancy — would quickly be passed. Obama had been a cosponsor of the bill in 2007 when he served in the U.S. Senate.
Although that legislation has not advanced in Congress, just three days after his Jan. 20 inauguration, Obama reversed the "Mexico City Policy," a policy that had forbidden the federal government to fund international programs that promote or perform abortions. The ban was first instituted by President Ronald Reagan in 1984, was reversed by President Bill Clinton in 1993, and then reinstated by President George W. Bush in 2001.
The Obama administration has reinstituted U.S. funding for the United Nations Population Fund, which pays for artificial contraception and abortifacients in addition to maternal- and child-health programs around the world. In August, Obama also requested that Congress eliminate abstinence-only education programs from the 2010 federal budget.
Abortion is not the only reason many in the pro-life community are concerned about the administration. In March, Obama signed an executive order calling for an expansion of federal funding for research on new embryonic stem-cell lines, reversing Bush’s policy and allowing future use of stem cells from cloned embryos created specifically for research.
A nationwide debate raged this summer over health-care reform proposals and the possible implications they would have for those who want to protect life.
"It’s been such a confusing year for so many people because the debates have been heightened — specifically health care," Armantrout said. "It’s hard for people to even keep up on that."
Pro-life officials with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have expressed concerns that reform proposals may reverse existing federal bans on abortion funding and sweep away federal conscience protections for health-care workers. Other pro-lifers have questioned what types of end-of-life choices and counseling might be included in reform proposals. The fear, Armantrout explained, is that under a proposed public-insurance option, care might be rationed to those who are the least expensive to treat.
"As long as we can make a value judgment on the cost of treatment, you will have some people deemed not worthy of life," she stated.
Debate about life issues also heightened at the state level in June when Gov. David Paterson called for the introduction of the Reproductive Health Act. The legislation would legalize abortion through all nine months of pregnancy and, according to the New York State Catholic Conference, effectively prohibit such abortion limitations as parental-notification and informed-consent requirements.
It was rumored that the act was poised to pass the state Legislature, Armantrout said, then work in the Senate halted for the remainder of the session after turmoil erupted over Senate leadership.
"I think people are left with a poor understanding of where we are in these (legislative) processes," she said.
Also in June, the state-funded Empire State Stem Cell Board approved a plan to pay women to allow their eggs to be extracted for embryonic stem-cell research. Armantrout noted that this step allows some scientists to create human embryos that would subsequently be destroyed by stem-cell research. The payment program also could facilitate the exploitation of poor women who would sell their eggs out of desperation, she said.
"We need to do a reality check in our minds as to whether we can justify the means of scientific research by the ends, which is always a very dangerous thing to do," Armantrout said.
Taking action
With the myriad challenges to life arising this year, what type of action is available — and ethical — for a pro-life Catholic to take?
Armantrout noted that questions such as this should be answered through prayer and consultation of resources from the USCCB.
"It’s important not to be on the defensive or what is perceived to be as aggressive in terms of challenges and responses to the challenges," Armantrout said.
She said one example for people to follow was set by Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago, who, when faced in 2000 with an Illinois proposal to force Catholic hospitals to provide abortifacients in cases of sexual assault, told the American Medical Association that such proposals will force the closure of all Catholic hospitals. A majority of the association’s members ultimately agreed, and the Illinois legislature allowed for a compromise that didn’t force the hospitals to provide abortifacients.
Violence, such as the May 31 murder of Kansas abortion provider George Tiller, should be shunned because it tarnishes the pro-life cause as a whole, Armantrout said.
"When something as horrendous as the assassination of George Tiller takes place, there seems to be an impulse in the media to portray all pro-life activists as murderers," she observed.
Although the clinic Tiller operated remained closed following his death, the pro-life community roundly condemned the use of violence to bring about this end. Following the Sept. 11 murder of Michigan anti-abortion activist James Pouillon, Obama also noted that violence is not the answer to the abortion debate.
Indeed, how pro-life activists deliver their message may be as important as what they say, Armantrout said.
"We are living at a time when speaking out may be labeled as disruptive or meriting government surveillance," she noted.
According to the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., the Department of Homeland Security in April sent to state, local and tribal law-enforcement authorities around the nation a report on guiding them on monitoring so-called right-wing extremists. The document singled out groups and individuals who are anti-government or who oppose such issues as abortion, immigration, same-sex marriage and gun control.
The document did not correspondingly single out radical left extremists, leading the Thomas More Law Center to file a lawsuit in federal court, calling the report a political "tool of intimidation."
"We are on the lookout for criminal or terrorist activity, but we do not — nor will we ever — monitor ideology or political beliefs," U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement on the report.
An ethical alternative to violent activism is peaceful, prayerful pro-life groups or advocacy, said Armantrout, who cited Stations of the Cross devotions on Good Friday; such abortion-awareness campaigns as Silent No More, Life Chain and 40 Days for Life; and the March for Life in Washington every January.
The March for Life "is another very peaceful activity where thousands and thousands of voices are joined together to say every human life matters," Armantrout said.
Deacon Laurence Feasel, who spoke at the Sept. 22 kickoff for Rochester’s 40 Days for Life campaign, suggested that pro-life adults continue faith formation; participate in rosaries, Benedictions and other spiritual-growth opportunities; and monitor the charities to which they contribute to ensure that those charities promote and protect life.
Political advocacy also is very important, he added.
"Does your elected representative know where you stand on abortion?" Feasel asked the group assembled for the kickoff session.
Armantrout recommended visiting www.nyscatholic.org to sign up with the state Catholic conference’s Catholic Advocacy Network, which disseminates e-mail alerts about pending state legislation and issues updates and assistance for Catholics to easily contact state legislators. Among other pro-life activist groups in the diocese that monitor legislation are Feminists Choosing Life and Rochester-Area Right to Life.
It is most important that Catholics continue to live out their faith, Armantrout said.
"If the people of God are able to live in their communities in accordance with the principles of Catholic moral and social teaching, they are at least on that slippery slope where one can get a hand hold and not go cascading down the valley," she said.
