I’ve been going through some news stories from over the summer as I prepare the next issue of Catholic World Report and this story leapt out at me.
Peruvian and international pro-abortion groups are complaining that the current government is too closely aligned with Catholic teaching on abortion, and praises the former authoritarian government of Alberto Fujimori, even though that government is accused of forcibly sterilizing up to 200,000 women! But this paragraph takes the cake:
On July 14, the International Planned Parenthood Federation said, “The government of Peru has put forward a conservative Catholic-oriented stance on reproductive health. ... Thus, women—especially the poor—are denied access to information on artificial birth control and are encouraged to believe age-old Catholic teachings that babies are gifts from God to be protected even before birth.”
God forbid that people believe that children are gifts from God! How arcane and backward. Why, we in the enlightened First World believe that children, and adults for that matter, are disposable units of economy, easily sacrificed at the first sign they are burdens or unwanted in any way.
As Mark Shea says, “Show me a society that despises virginity and purity and innocence, and I’ll show you a society that despises children.” America, look in the mirror.
