Holy Cross’ mission states that the “College should lead all its members to make the best of their own talents, to work together, to be sensitive to one another, to serve others, and to seek justice within and beyond the Holy Cross community.” As our friends at The Spire stated, we are indeed called to be men and women for and with others, and as a Christian institution, we are to value family, community, service, and life.
Despite what the authors at The Spire said, Christians do not need to pick between supporting those in poverty and being advocates for life from the moment of conception until natural death. As members of the Holy Cross community, we should always stand with others, and part of this is supporting women who find themselves pregnant under difficult circumstances. This is part of our Christian mission, and we should always be sources of comfort to those who need it. This, however, does not require us to be advocates of abortion.
First of all, simply supporting abortion in politics does nothing for those in need and definitely doesn’t make someone a man or woman for and with others. If one truly cares for those who are less fortunate, that person would be pursuing community service that directly assists the underserved. Volunteering for food banks, shelters, and English Language Learning (ELL) nonprofit organizations are just a few examples of how those who are passionate for service can serve those in need, and all of these do more than just adopting a pro-abortion stance on social media.
Policy-wise, there are also better alternatives for lifting those out of poverty or closing the black-white income gap than legal abortion. After nearly 50 years of the forced legalization of abortion nationwide, there has been no concrete benefit to the poor and no concrete benefit to the prosperity of black Americans. If abortion was such a factor in the equality and economic development of black Americans, we would have seen a closing of the wealth gap between white and black Americans since 1973, yet we have not.
Instead of resorting to promoting the deaths of children of the less fortunate and calling it a “human right,” we should pursue policy that actually allows people to pull themselves out of poverty. Lifting regulations off of small businesses and startups, lowering taxes, funding and promoting education, and partnering with nonprofit service organizations are much more effective ways of helping those in need than advocating abortion’s legality.
Abortion is indeed a human rights issue. However, the issue is not the banning of abortion, but rather abortion itself. Abortion is the murder of a child who has no voice and no ability to defend him or herself. The child is not given a voice in government, has no choice in his or her own fate, cannot arm him or herself, and cannot have his or her day in court.
Abortion is not only a human rights issue, but also a social justice issue. It is a social injustice that black babies are disproportionately the victims of abortion, and since Roe v Wade, 20 million black babies have been aborted. That is 2 million more than the total black population in America in 1960 (18 million). Black Americans make up 13.4% of the US population, yet they accounted for 36% of abortions in 2015 while white Americans accounted for 37% of abortions while being 77% of the US population. 25 black children are aborted for every 1,000 pregnancies, compared to 6.8 aborted white children for every 1,000 pregnancies.
This is a tragedy. Women, especially women of color, should not feel like the solution to unwanted pregnancy is abortion. Instead of shaming young mothers, we, as Christians and as Americans, should always do what we can to support them in concrete ways so that they do not feel like their only option is to abort their child. We need to build a society that is accepting of young mothers who find themselves pregnant under difficult circumstances. Giving emotional, financial, and physical support is how we show love to those who are underserved – not advocating a policy that sacrifices so many innocent lives, especially black lives, and does not even perform the supposed function of pulling women of color out of poverty. We must promote a culture of life and love – not death and despair.