A Message from the American TFP to
the
Pro-Life Movement
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March for Life — January 1995 Dear fellow Pro-Lifer: On this, the 22nd consecutive March for Life, the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property (TFP) commends you for your presence. We are here to join you in a loud cry of protest on behalf of innocent human life—life that has no voice but ours. At the foot of Capitol Hill, our cry will echo the silent scream of millions of Americans who are massacred in their mother's womb. We are united in the defense of the defenseless and the protection of unborn infancy. We advocate the cause of those who are the victims of abortionist tyranny, medical cynicism and State hypocrisy. However, we must not fool ourselves—the stakes are too high! We will never win the fight for life unless we attack the Culture of Death at its roots. To be truly and consistently pro-life, it is not enough to oppose abortion. We must also combat: * Moral permissiveness Fornication and adultery break the sacred bonds that bind human sexuality to procreation and the family. Abortion is the ultimate guarantee of the sterile, lifelessness of sexual freedom: the utter and inconsequential carnal pleasure of "free love," devoid of the responsibility and commitment of marriage. As Pope Pius XII declared, "Marriage alone safeguards the dignity of husband and wife and their good estate, and is of its nature the only guarantee of the children's well-being." Since sexual immorality severs the marital act from its divinely ordained purpose, to defend the sanctity of life, we must uphold the sacred covenant of marriage. * Contraception Contraception-on-demand logically leads to abortion-by-choice. Couples who practice contraception are far more likely to resort to abortion in the case of an unplanned pregnancy as a means of post-conception birth control. In fact, most modern contraceptives are abortifacient, i.e. they abort the unborn child. As Pope Paul VI proclaimed, in his life-affirming encyclical Humanae Vitae, "Each and every marriage act must remain open to the transmission of life." Since abortion thrives on the contraceptive mind set, to oppose the slaughter of abortion effectively, we must oppose the anti-life mentality of contraception. * Homosexuality Besides paving the way for abortion and the break-up of the family, the contraceptive mentality promotes the tolerance—even acceptance—of homosexuality. As the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith warns: "At the present time there are those who, basing themselves on observations in the psychological order, have begun to judge indulgently, and even to excuse completely, homosexual relations between certain people. This they do in opposition to the constant teaching of the Magisterium and to the moral sense of the Christian people. (...) But no pastoral method can be employed which would give moral justification to these acts on the grounds that they would be consonant with the condition of such people. For according to the objective moral order homosexual relations are acts which lack an essential and indispensable finality. In Sacred Scripture they are condemned as a serious depravity and even presented as the sad consequence of rejecting God. [cfr. Rom 1, 24-27; 1Cor 6, 10 and 1Tim 1, 10]." Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, advocated "voluntary association" between sexual partners. Abortionists are consistent when they demand homosexual "rights," for nothing can be more diametrically opposed to the fertility of life than the sterility of this unnatural union. Since homosexuality mocks life, the family its protector, and God its Creator, to defend the fruitfulness of life we must oppose the barrenness of this unacceptable lifestyle. * Euthanasia If man does not defend all innocent human life as sacred and inviolable, no man's life is safe. Just as the defenseless babe in his mother's womb is sacrificed to the self indulgence of our death-worshiping culture, the lives of our infirm, impaired, and aged fall victim to the same false gods. As Pope John Paul II warns, "Further delays and negligence could result in the suppression of an incalculable number of human lives and in a further serious degradation of all society to still more inhuman levels." Since the abortion holocaust inevitably leads to the euthanasia holocaust, to defend all innocent human life, we must oppose abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia without compromise or exception. * Conclusion To be pro-life, we must combat moral permissiveness, contraception, homosexuality, pornography and euthanasia with the consistent; and constant vigilance with which we oppose abortion. As the Holy Father reminds us, "Faithfulness is consistency to live in accordance with what one believes; to adapt one's own life to the object of one's adherence. To accept misunderstanding, persecution, rather than a break between what one practices and what one believes: this is consistency." May Mary, our Mother, the living example of faithfulness to Christ, help us bear consistent witness to God's gift of life in all we do!
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