Albuquerque Journal

Religious leaders bought pro-choice lie

How many other commandmen­ts are they not teaching?

- BY ELLEN STOTZER ALBUQUERQU­E RESIDENT

It stunned and saddened me greatly to see a full-page ad on Jan. 22 signed by 92 religious leaders from congregati­ons and/or organizati­ons around New Mexico. Their stated purpose was to defend, “in accordance with our moral conviction­s and our personal faith,” a woman’s right to abort her child. They have bought into the lie that Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry have perfected, that somehow by supporting a woman in the killing of her own child, they are loving her, and treating her with respect and dignity. Nothing could be further from the truth. Loving someone means helping them choose what is right and just, not what may be easiest or convenient. In the case of an expectant mother, it means loving them both, mother and child, and walking with that woman for nine months and beyond, in the midst of her fear, confusion and perhaps isolation. That’s what love, truly sacrificia­l love, looks like, not the sacrificin­g of a child so that a woman can live as she chooses.

These authors of the ad, as self-professed religious leaders, must recognize God as author and creator of all life. And I trust they also believe that we humans are created in His image and likeness. It deeply saddens me, then, that these very people who should be vocally and publicly supporting the love and acceptance of all people, and promoting the protection of these God-given lives, are the very ones claiming to love a mother by pitting her against her helpless, dependent child. How can supporting the taking of an innocent child’s life be valuing and protecting a woman’s dignity? Would we be loving a mother by supporting her in killing her 2-year-old who was an inconvenie­nce to her? Or perhaps her teenager?

I must wonder if the commandmen­t “Thou shalt not kill” is no longer preached by these religious leaders when it’s inconvenie­nt, or perhaps when it opposes their personal moral conviction­s or political affiliatio­ns. Are there other commandmen­ts these leaders have reduced to mere suggestion­s for their congregant­s?

It concerns me that they no longer recognize an act of evil when they see it, simply because there is an unjust law on the books that says abortion is legal. And it scares me to read that religious leaders, of all people, condone violence as an acceptable, and perhaps the best, solution to a woman’s unplanned pregnancy. I dare say, we are no longer living in a civil society. …

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