Black Lives Matter, Me Too, and efforts to protect unborn children
By Archbishop Michael Jackels
Witness Publisher
Unless you live under a rock, you have heard about the popular movements called Black Lives Matter and Me Too.
These movements work to call attention to how certain peoples, such as black people and women, seem to matter less than, say, white people or men, and are made to suffer things like sexual abuse, sexual harassment, brutality, or even to be killed.
These movements don’t mean to ignore other classifications of people, as if to say that only certain groups of people matter; in truth, they insist that all lives matter, including black people and women.
The creation of these movements is understandable: too many of certain groups of people (one is too many) are being victimized in terrible ways.
There is no moral justification for mistreating and disrespecting the life and dignity of black people, women, or any other person, and there should be no tolerance of it. Enough already.
All that being said, the anniversary on January 22 of the Roe v. Wade decision calls attention to yet another group of people: unborn children.
For 45 years there has been a popular movement called Respect Life or Pro Life. This movement has worked to raise awareness that unborn people matter too, calling attention to how unborn children seem to matter less than others, and are made to suffer, even to be killed.
This movement doesn’t ignore other classifications of people, like women in general, or unwed mothers, or children suffering poverty and abuse. No, there is respect for all, caring about all, and so caring for all; in truth, all lives matter, including the unborn.
The creation of this movement is understandable: too many unborn children (one is too many) are being victimized in terrible ways.
There is no moral justification for mistreating and disrespecting the life and dignity of unborn children – not personal freedom, or sovereignty over one’s own body, or a commitment to feminism, not even the fact that abortion is legal – and there should be no tolerance of it. Enough already.
There is another level of sadness to the issue of abortion, in addition to the actual killing of unborn children, namely, that after 45 years it is still necessary for the Pro Life movement to insist that unborn lives matter too. Hopefully movements like Black Lives Matter and Me Too won’t have to wait that long or fight that hard. Please, God.
