Abolishing Abortion (Thomas Nelson)

Before I begin my review of Abolishing Abortion, allow me to share a quote with you from the Introduction. "I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?" This profound quote is from the Blessed Mother Teresa, and it speaks volumes to the pro-death culture we currently live in. In it, she equates abortion to murder, which it is. She also likens it to war, though, which is a way I never saw before. The only part of the quote I disagree with is that she only blames the mother for this crime. The father is nowhere to be found in her quote, but he too is equally guilty.

After the introduction, the book begins by talking about the public square, separation of church and state, Roe v. Wade, and how the political landscape has changed over the past 200 years. We went from life being an inalienable right to all men, to babies never even having the chance to that right. Chapter Three was a bit of a troubling read to me. Fr. Pavone talks about how people ask him what their first spiritual duty is on the abortion issue. Instead of answering prayer, he instead responds with repentance. He says we are all responsible for abortion becoming so rampant. Even if we have never had an abortion or aided someone in abortion, he still sees us as guilty, because we could have spoke out more strongly against it, but we chose not to due to cowardice. I respectfully disagree with assessment, and I think it feels over-scrupulous.

Subsequent chapters discuss what individuals and churches can do to combat abortion. He goes into speaking on the issue from the pulpit and tax-code and how it relates to whether a church can or cannot lose their tax-exempt status for speaking out against abortion. Churches cannot be afraid to stand up for the rights of the unborn over a matter of tax dollars. Chapter 9: Collision Course is one of the more interesting chapters. He points out the gap people seem to experience when they see a difference between killing a child outside of the womb and inside the womb. There isn't one! He also defends the use of graphic images on the Pro-Life side.They are disturbing and haunting to look at, but they are reality, and people need to have their eyes opened to the reality that what they are doing is murder. It is easy to ignore something if you don't have to see it as it really is, but it's hard to ignore the cold reality of images.

The book ended talking about the "Foundation of Love." "Abortion is the exact opposite of love.  Love says, 'I sacrifice myself for the good of the other person.'  Abortion says, 'I sacrifice the other person for the good of myself.' And isn’t it amazing that the very same words used by the culture of death to justify abortion are the words used by our Lord to proclaim life and salvation and love: 'This is My body!' " There were absolutely brilliant points made in this book, and there were parts of this book that got bogged down and were dry to read. However, I do believe it is a book all Christians, not just Catholics should read. If you are looking for a book to give to someone to talk them out of the abortion, this is not it. The aim of this book is not one to convince people that abortion is wrong or explain why it is wrong. Instead, the aim seems to be a calling to arms all Christians to fight in this battle for life and death, not just of the innocent unborns but of society and civilization. If we continue down this path, it will only lead to destruction. May we turn the tides before it is too late!

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