“Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin” (Jn 8:34)
In one of those sadistic ironic twists, The Boston Phoenix published an article about sex trafficking. For those who don’t know, The Phoenix is the tabloid the best man gets when he’s planning a stag party for the bridegroom. They advertise strippers and “escort” services.
It’s an interview of Derek Ellerman who became interested in the topic of sex trafficking after the police raided a massage parlor in Providence, RI in 1998. “[S]ix Korean women [were] living a life of forced sexual servitude.”
It came to my attention in a private forum when a liberal goaded me into providing my solution to the problem. It should be obvious from the text that she believed that ending economic oppression and social injustice were the solutions. It’s my opinion that she did not place the banning of abortion high enough on her list of priorities. She disagreed, claiming weariness over my presentation: “it is a weariness of your constant nagging, harping, grinding, one-track, narrow, repetitious, shrieking on the issue.”
My response follows:
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I won’t deny that the end of abortion is a priority for me. It should be a priority for everyone else. We can bloviate on grand subjects such as social injustice, health care, and support for the poor, but it’s all just hot air while abortion is enshrined as a right in our laws. I didn’t make that last part up. It’s Pope John Paul’s idea in Evangelium Vitae.
I’m not prepared to get all the little duckies in a row for social justice or health care or helping the poor before we start planning for the eventual banning of abortion. I’m not prepare to wait that long, because if these are the conditions then that day will never come. Sure, eschatologically the Day will come, but I don’t intend “never” in that sense. And I’m aware that you will counter that you are advocating a holistic multi-front simultaneous action against injustice. It might surprise you, but so am I.
Why do I believe this?
Abortion is an instrument of oppression.
Let me repeat that.
Abortion is an instrument of oppression.
The only solution is the Body of Christ, the Church, the Bride of Christ. Those women were slaves to sin. Those men who oppressed them were slaves to sin. Yes, I wrote that. Those men who oppressed them were slaves to sin.
The Enlightenment was improperly named. It’s more properly called the Endarkenment. The Twentieth Century was the bitter fruit of that dunghill covered in snow. Hilter? Stalin? They don’t hold a candle to the slaughter which happened after them. Everybody thought that there was no harm in contraception. Everybody thought there was no harm in free sex, pornography, ect. They were wrong.
The fairest thing that could be said of Pope Paul VI is that he never met a change he didn’t like. If he could have turned Tradition upside down, he would have. The Christian world held its collective breath, for the anticipated change in Humanae Vitae. But the world shrieked in outrage when they read the final product. Liberal theologians nagged, “who does that old fart on the seat of St. Peter think he is?” People constantly harped about the old fashioned medieval Church. When was She going to leave the Dark Ages? They were on one-track, repetitiously demanding sexual liberation. Nothing could move their narrow minds from the topic concerning the lower half of their bodies.
Pope Paul made a prediction:
Consequences of Artificial Methods
17. Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings — and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation — need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.
Doesn’t this just jump out at you? — “Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.”
I dunno, does sexual slavery fit the description?
Far be it from me to make any theological pronouncements of certainty, but in my mind — despite the many legions of naysayers who claim Humanae Vitae was not an infallible document — in my mind, Humanae Vitae was certain proof that the doctrine of Papal Infallibility was a correct doctrine. It’s proof that the Holy Spirit guides the Church.
Furthermore, I had this nagging idea that contraception and abortion were inseparably linked. Imagine what I thought when I first read this in Evangelium Vitae:
But despite their differences of nature and moral gravity, contraception and abortion are often closely connected, as fruits of the same tree. It is true that in many cases contraception and even abortion are practised under the pressure of real- life difficulties, which nonetheless can never exonerate from striving to observe God’s law fully. Still, in very many other instances such practices are rooted in a hedonistic mentality unwilling to accept responsibility in matters of sexuality, and they imply a self-centered concept of freedom, which regards procreation as an obstacle to personal fulfilment. The life which could result from a sexual encounter thus becomes an enemy to be avoided at all costs, and abortion becomes the only possible decisive response to failed contraception.
The close connection which exists, in mentality, between the practice of contraception and that of abortion is becoming increasingly obvious. It is being demonstrated in an alarming way by the development of chemical products, intrauterine devices and vaccines which, distributed with the same ease as contraceptives, really act as abortifacients in the very early stages of the development of the life of the new human being.
Duuude! Blow my mind!
“Self-centered concept of freedom.” Again, does sexual slavery fit the description? You bet, though it may not be obvious at first.
For those men abusing those women, with their hedonistic idea of sexual freedom, is it not a “[s]elf-centered concept of freedom?” Well, you might say, “Whoa there! You’re forgetting about the Libertarian golden rule: ‘Your right to swing your fist ends at my nose.’ Those women are being oppressed by those men. That’s not properly called freedom!”
No, I haven’t forgotten it. I’ve been “harping” about it. It’s abortion. Some children will never see the light of day.
Abortion is an extension of the contraceptive mentality. It’s that mentality which says women are sex toys. The link between sexual slavery and abortion? It’s obvious.
I say again. Abortion is an instrument of oppression.
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