March 22nd saw the anniversary of America’s Roe v Wade decision (1973) which made abortion legal in the United States.
For 39 years, thousands have marched in Washington DC on this day, speaking up for those who have no voice. Asking that abortion be eradicated from their country.
As someone who lives outside of the States I believe these people also march for the defenceless in other countries. For it is the Roe v Wade decision that opened up abortion in many countries. New Zealand’s own law legalising abortion in certain circumstances (which is now exploited as abortion on demand) was passed in 1977.
On the weekend I watched “A Courageous Heart”, a movie about the work of Irena Sendler, a Catholic social worker in Poland during WWII. Irena knew that she had to protect the Jewish children from certain death. She saved 2,500 children smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto and placing them with Christian families. This was only possible by the great effort of many, many people who placed their own lives at risk if found out by the Gestapo.
Irena eventually was found out and taken for questioning. She would not betray those who had helped her save the children and suffered greatly for it. While Irena never died for saving the children, some of her co-workers did.
It is this great courage of conviction that each one of us needs today. Every individual must make the choice to defend life each and every day, never counting the cost. The circumstances have changed, but the urgency is just as great. During World War II, it was the Jewish people, the disabled, the artists and the gypsies who were targeted as being “not fit”. Today it is the most vulnerable – unborn children, the disabled and the elderly who are targeted as “not fit”.
Let us have one voice, defending life in New Zealand and throughout the world. Each of us working in the areas that have been placed upon our hearts. Let us not be afraid. Let us be strong, faithful and steadfast, never counting the cost.