Mother Teresa and Abortion

“I walked out as if nothing in my life had changed but everything had”

By Dave Andrusko
Editor’s note. We are rapidly approaching the 42nd anniversary of the infamous 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. This month we are re-running posts from past editions of NRL News and NRL News Today. In January we will begin posting new stories about this tragedy. This op-ed ran in 2013.

Mother Teresa

As we move closer to the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, I will be offering more contributions from a great pro-life resource– “40 years of Roe v Wade: 40 Days of Prayer & Reflection,” provided by the Nebraska Catholic Conference which began December 12 and ends January 22. As is our habit, I’ll be quoting two days’ worth of entries.

January 9 [Day 27] is a quote from Mother Teresa:

“America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has shown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father’s role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts ~ a child ~ as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the independent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters. And in granting this unconscionable power, it has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or other sexual partners. Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being’s entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign.”

January 10 [Day 28] is a statement from a woman who has undergone an abortion. Her words illustrates the profound disconnect between what she was told and what she is experiencing.

Everything I read on abortion before I experienced it told me that 99.9 percent of women who have abortions do not suffer from depression or regret afterwards. In fact, the information told me I could expect to feel relieved. Where did they get all that from? I will never be the same again. Soon the relief wore off and I felt increased self-loathing. At first it was more of a relief. Now I am overcome with grief and sadness. I walked out as if nothing in my life had changed but everything had.

Source: NRLC News