The numbers of people infected with and who have died of COVID-19 are staggering. The world has mobilized great resources to battle it. A few people have raised a question: every year millions of pregnancies are terminated by abortion – why are the resources not mobilized for
this global tragedy? In recent years 40-50 million babies have been aborted, annually, worldwide. This is approximately 125,000 abortions per day.
Abortion affects the immediate family as well as others. So, the question: are we mobilized sufficiently against the tragedy of abortion?

My response when asked why there is so much emotion and passion to quell an unexpected pandemic on the one hand, and the ineffective
measures to end the on-going tragedy of abortion on the other, is that our love is inconsistent. We arrive at this present moment, with its unique
challenges, somewhat unprepared. We must begin early in a child’s life to help them arrive at adulthood with a deep respect for the gift of life, their own and others. We cannot teach respect for life and at the same time show racist attitudes, or teach violence as a solution to disagreements, or condemn the poor for their poverty, etc. We must teach our children respect for self and others as a matter of daily habit and as a Christian value. Then, we hope that in their adult life they will apply loving and respectful Christian principles to the world in which they live.

The fundamental commandment from God is to love God above all things, and to love our neighbor as our self. Jesus’ ministry included the “excluded,” and the apostles preached to people at the far reaches of the known civilization, to outsiders. Still today, too many people of faith are not convinced to accept the other and abandon prejudice. So, when it comes to abortion, something about which Jesus never explicitly taught, how will we teach the children to respect life, all life, when so many adults clearly do not respect life as witnessed by their racist actions and words?

I am saying that the life-disrespecting sin of racism is on the same continuum with abortion. I am saying that for many people the value of respecting life is short-sighted. Stanley Hauerwas, moral theologian, says that we need to stop talking about “wanted and unwanted” pregnancies. We need to talk about what kind of people we need to be in order to welcome children into the world! We need to be people that are ready to love, respect, and care for that child AND be ready to teach that child how to love, respect, and care for her/himself and others, as Jesus taught. Such respect for life is hard and necessary and transformational.

We must fight diseases, racism, and protect life at the same time.
We can do it.

Peace, Fr. Andy