Standupgirl.com

Posted By Most Rev. John Vlazny On September 4, 2010 @ 12:00 am In The Bishops Speak | No Comments

Over the years I have met many amazing women who are adamantly pro-life and truly make a difference for life. On the national scene I think of Gail Quinn, the Executive Director Emeritus of the USCCB Pro-Life Activities Committee and Helen Alvare, Law Professor at the George Mason School of Law. Both of them have labored tirelessly and spoken out courageously as advocates for the protection of human life from conception to natural death. Here in Oregon I am impressed with the leadership of Gayle Atteberry, the Executive Director of Oregon Right to Life. Through education, lobbying and political activity she has been successfully changing hearts and saving lives right here in our own communities. I also think of Lynda Harrington, a Catholic parishioner of St. Catherine’s Church in Mill City, Gayle’s predecessor as Executive Director of ORL, who back in 1993 challenged the first United States clinical trials here in Oregon of the French abortion pill, RU-486.

All of these women do much more than talk about the right to life. They walk their talk. Let me give one very concrete and successful example. Last January at the Pro-Life Rally in Portland’s Pioneer Square, Lynda Harrington shared the success story of Standupgirl.com ^[1]. This website, a ten-year-old project of Oregon Right to Life, has saved thousands of babies and their mothers from the cruelty of abortion. Young mothers from all over the world have come to Standupgirl.com ^[1] in their search for hope and courage to stand up and do the right thing. Lynda wrote about this success story...

It was amazing to me just how fast people accepted abortion as an OK thing to do, after the law changed in 1973. For centuries, it had been considered such a heinous act, and if someone procured an abortion, they were ashamed of their actions. It has only been in the last 40 years or so that the attitudes shifted. Much of that came about as a result of the 'sexual revolution' beginning in the late 60's, when folks found out that 'free love' was a misnomer. There was always a price to pay, and that price was sometimes a baby. THAT became inconvenient for too many, and those who had been pushing the idea of sexual revolution started working to change the laws. They got the word from members of the Supreme Court that if they could get a case through the system, up to the Supremes, they could be assured that the laws against abortion would be struck down. That's how Roe v Wade came about, and the rest is history.

From 1973, until Operation Rescue, the libs had an uncontested voice in the media, and they peppered popular shows with pro-abortion messages in order to convince the people that there was nothing wrong with having an abortion, because it isn't really a baby, after all. I credit Operation Rescue with waking people up from their media induced slumber about this issue. Up until their very visual protests, many folks could be forgiven for believing that the pro-life movement was just a bunch of men trying to force women to have babies, when they didn't want to do so. What OR showed America was that pro-lifers were women, young and old, as well as men, and seeing Grannies and young women hauled off the streets by the polices was an eye-opener for many. Just before that summer of action, the polls showed majority support for abortion. After that, support has slowly eroded, so that now, the majority of Americans would consider themselves pro-life.

It will take a change in the judicial branch to insure that pro-life laws that are passed will not be stuck down, but I pray it will happen in the near future.

It was amazing to me just how fast people accepted abortion as an OK thing to do....

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I hear you. I always say the same thing regarding premarital sex and shacking up. I am a boomer, and I can remember the days when the average teenaged girl would fiercely protect her reputation as a virgin. The pro-aborts knew they had to make war on concepts such as this, and they have been quite successful. It still astounds me when otherwise respectable people are so blase about shacking up.

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