Why the silence on abortion?
Monday, September 29, 2025
*Tony Magliano
There is a common complaint among Catholic social justice and peace activists, that the only life and death issue we ever hear about from the bishops in general, and from priests and deacons during Sunday Masses, is the issue of abortion.
Being a strong proponent of the “consistent ethic of life” Catholic doctrine - the Catholic teaching that sees the importance of regularly praying, educating, and acting on all the life issues, caring about all of our suffering fellow human beings and our wounded Mother Earth - I understand the feelings of my social justice and peace comrades, but not entirely.
I agree with them that yes, it is true, far more attention is placed on abortion by the clergy (and laity) than on any of the other life issues. That in fact, we almost never hear challenging homilies and calls to action concerning the many other issues of injustice like hunger, homelessness and war, to name just a few, that hundreds of millions and even billions of unseen, unheard human beings suffer every day, a suffering most of us can only imagine - if we even dare to do that.
But I also try to help my social justice and peace colleagues see that even abortion, is in fact, not mentioned that much by the vast majority of clergy and laity.
For the most part, only a few times a year is the horrible, death-dealing reality of abortion - endured by millions of unborn babies every year - barely mentioned.
In the U.S. (my country) usually only a couple of times during Respect Life Month in October might we hear something about abortion from the pulpit, and maybe in the Prayer of the Faithful. And perhaps there might be a pro-life poster or two in the church narthex, but not much more. And then around the annual March for Life in January, we might in some cases, hear about signing up for a parish bus heading to Wasington, D.C., or a state capital, to protest the legality of abortion - still a sad reality throughout much of the U.S.
But that’s it! However, that should not be all there is to it. Afterall, the unborn are people too. And abortion is the barbaric dismembering of these most defenseless tiny human beings!
And although in many of the more economically rich nations the majority of abortions -73 million worldwide every year - are now chemical abortions, abortion, including chemical abortions, is always a barbaric, inhumane practice that no civilized nation should permit.
Years ago, I attended a pro-life conference hosted by Americans United for Life (see: https://aul.org/) where the late highly distinguished French pediatrician and geneticist Dr. Jerome Lejeune - who discovered the extra chromosome that causes Down Syndrome - was the keynote speaker. After his presentation, I asked him a most important question. I said, Dr. Lejeune, when does human life begin? And with his beautiful French accent he said, “At conception, of course.” And I followed up by asking him if any of his colleagues disagreed with him. He replied, “No, we all know when life begins. But we don’t agree as to when human life deserves protection.”
For Lejeune, a devout Catholic who was declared “Venerable” by Pope Francis, it was logically and morally crystal clear that human life deserves protection at the beginning. That is, at conception! (see: http://bit.ly/3JwXkt9)
Every single baby - born and unborn - is a wonderful, unique, unrepeatable gift from the Creator. All we need do is open our eyes, minds, and hearts to know and celebrate this wonderful truth!
So, let us - clergy and laity alike - actively pray and work all year long to promote and protect the life and dignity of every baby - born and unborn!
