Making Abortion Unthinkable - 2004

Thus, the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) joins with all in the pro-life movement to face these new and urgent threats.

Defending Marriage and Family
By its very definition, the anti-abortion struggle has always been pro-marriage and pro-family. This is because abortion is unthinkable within the context of a truly Christian family.

Indeed, the unborn child is the fruit of a sacred union, inviting his parents to assume yet another lifetime pledge of sacrifice, fidelity and love.

The unborn child is so special that his future can only be properly secured in the sacred bond of an indissoluble marriage where a man and a woman make exclusive commitments to one another. Together, they provide a stable and loving climate for the development and well being of their children.

Society has always recognized the need of this special environment. On its part, the State too has always acknowledged this, enacting laws aimed at protecting and promoting marriage and the family.

A Misdirected Freedom
We live, however, in a culture where personal freedom is made the highest value. Many wrongly interpret this freedom to mean the rejection of any restriction, moral principle or commitment.

Using this distorted concept of freedom, the “pro-choice” movement refuses to accept the enormous responsibility of the unborn child seen as a restriction on personal happiness. Thus, the abortionist’s knife not only terminates the life of the innocent baby; it severs the restrictive yet affectionate bonds of fidelity, commitment and love.

In this way, marriage and family clash head-on with this misguided concept of freedom and the culture of death it generates. Therefore, it is not surprising that the latest development in the Cultural War is a direct attack on these very institutions.

Judicial Activism
Indeed, since the last March for Life, we have seen court decisions that, in a flourish of judicial activism, are now calling into question the very existence of morality in law and the definition of marriage and family.

On June 26, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Lawrence v. Texas turned morality on its head when it granted constitutional protection to sodomy. In its November 18 decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court declared that two individuals of the same sex had the right to marriage under the constitution of the Bay State, thus delivering a major blow to traditional marriage. The moral and social consequences of these decisions threaten to be far worse than those experienced with Roe v. Wade.

The American TFP protests against these decisions and repudiates the distorted concept of liberty behind them. We hold that moral liberty is not meant to subsist in a vacuum. It must be understood within the framework of a moral order, within the context of a natural moral law that itself is anchored in the eternal law established by the Creator and which governs the order of the universe. When moral liberty is detached from natural and divine law it soon degenerates into license.

Defending a Higher Law
In defense of marriage and the family, the American TFP is publishing Defending a Higher Law: Why We Must Resist Same-Sex “Marriage” and the Homosexual Movement. This book exposes the false myths surrounding the same-sex “marriage” debate. It presents compelling arguments that demonstrate why public morality, so necessary in the struggle against abortion, must be upheld.

More importantly, this book reaffirms the perennial teachings of natural law and the Catholic Church, providing answers to the arguments raised by those who undermine marriage and family and promote the homosexual agenda.

As we join in this 31st March for Life, we pray that God, through the special intercession of Mary Most Holy, the Blessed Mother, will grant the pro-life movement total victory in its fight for the unborn: making abortion not only illegal, but unthinkable.