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Refute pro-abortion myths, Father Wilde urges

Fr. Denis Wilde's Defend Life-sponsored lecture tour "planted some great seeds" in the pro-life vineyard, says Defend Life Director Jack Ames.

The Priests for Life speaker delivered 11 compelling talks on abortion, beginning at St. Augustine Catholic Church in Elkridge on May 17 and ending with a Luncheon for Life for priests at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Lutherville May 20.

"We haven't heard preach­ng like that in a long time!" several enthusiastic St. Augustine parishioners told Father Wilde.

Father's talks before hundreds of students at Towson Catholic High School, St. Vincent Pallotti High in Laurel, and The Catholic High School in Baltimore "were 'Abortion 101 ' : he covered all the main points about abortion," says lecture tour coordinator Cookie Harris.

Father Wilde stressed the importance of chastity, and showed students a 7-minute video in which speakers rebutted all the standard pro-abortion arguments, as well as a shorter video showing a baby in the womb.

At St. Joseph's Church in Cockeysville May 19,  s at all the churches at which he spoke, Father Wilde began with some sobering facts about abortion in the Free State.

The abortion rate in Maryland is the eleventh highest of all states. We have the fifth highest teenage abortion rate in the country.

Seventy-six percent of Maryland's abortions are repeat abortions, compared to an average repeat abortion rate in the u.S. of about 47 percent.

No parental consent is required in Maryland. The state does not require any reporting on the number or types of abortions. No information on abortion's risks and dangers is required by law to be given to women seeking abortions.

Nationwide, said Father Wilde, certain pre-suppositions or "myths" about abortion have embedded themselves in our culture, and it . is our job to refute them.

Pre-eminent among them is the myth that, when abortion was illegal, huge numbers of women died in "back-alley" abortions; therefore, we can never go back to those horrible days.

That myth has been exploded by the pro-life convert, Dr. Bernard N athapson, one of the founders of the National Abortion Rights Action League, who admitted that he had simply made up the huge numbers.

Abortion is also marketed through the "problem-solving" myth, which says, "If you're pregnant, we can take care of that; you can get an abortion and 'get on with your life.' "

"For a young person, that sounds very attractive," said Father.

Then there's what he called "the ticket in one's pocket for a rainy day" myth, which says, "Nobody likes abortion, but we need to have that 'ticket' to use when things get bad"-for example, a father may be opposed to abortion, but he wants that alternative available if his daugh­ter gets pregnant.

The words we use are a powerful tool in shaping the way a society thinks, and none has been so powerful in legitimizing abortion as the word "choice."

"Take the word 'pro-choice' out of your vocabulary; use 'pro­abortion,'" Father Wilde urged.

Unfortunately, pro-abortion jargon has even worked its way into Supreme Court language, he said.

A prime instance occurred in Stenberg v. Carhart, which struck down Nebraska's ban on partial­birth abortion. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote: "This court has determined that the Constitution offers basic protection to the woman's right to choose."

But the Declaration of Independence, rooted in 1,700 years of Christianity, declares that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are inalienable rights that no government gives us and no government can take away, said Father Wilde.