The National Right to Life Convention opened yesterday with a three-member panel discussion featuring National Review Online editor Kathryn Jean Lopez, President of Lutherans for Life, Dr. Jean Garton, and EWTN Radio/TV host, Joy Pinto. National Right to Life President, Carol Tobias, moderated the discussion. She opened by reminding the audience of the giant lie being trotted out in the media and in American culture:” If you think unborn children deserve protection, you are anti-women.”
The discussion addressed this lie and answered these two questions: Is there a “war on women” and what are some of the arguments presented by the pro-abortion movement? Dr. Garton answered the first question by explaining how this rhetoric is really a masquerade for a very different conflict. The real war started decades ago when the U.S. Supreme Court legalized the massacre of an entire people group in Roe. v. Wade.
Unfortunately, the ramifications from that decision include everything from the brutal death of millions, to injured women and devastated families. How have they covered this up? Garton insisted that it is through waging a war against “information, facts and truth”, to serve their own agenda. She said their arguments are coming from the highly educated in order to manipulate the masses. They do this by using big token words like healthcare and rights to relay the supposed “need” for abortion.
Dr. Garton used a quote from novelist, George Orwell, to describe the pro-abortion movements infamous “war on women” slogan: “Political language… is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” The panel also mentioned Hollywood’s recent attempt to do just this in the film, The Obvious Child, which praises casual, carefree sex and portrays abortion seriously, but not tragically.
Joy Pinto and Kathryn Lopez continued the dialogue by explaining that abortion supporters often prey on women in crisis by convincing them that abortion is a “safe procedure”, and that their lives will go back to normal after they leave the abortion clinic. Lopez pointed out that many women are easily manipulated because they feel like abortion is their only option. However, they never learn about the serious physical and psychological side effects often associated with abortion, such as post abortion syndrome or an increased risk of breast cancer.
Lastly, the panel explained that abortion rhetoric is often effective because women in crisis want a solution. However, EWTN radio host, Joy Pinto, explained what she believed was the real answer. “I think the pro-life movement needs to come out waging peace on women. Abortion doesn’t have to be an option in the hearts and minds of our society. We want the bill of lies no more.”
As the discussion ended, the panelists emphasized that abortion is not the best we can do for women facing crisis. Abortion is a failure to care, help and defend the defenseless and is utterly destructive because it obliterates one of humanities most sacred bonds, the bond between a mother and her child.
