Abortion remains a major issue for many conservatives. Many pro-life thought leaders continue to work diligently, and commendably, to advance the pro-life cause. While they fight for changes in law, let me introduce a complementary note.
The fight between those who claim abortion as a right and those who fight abortion as a wrong tends to obscure its tragic nature. Holding that to the light could bend the arc of justice toward protection of the lives of unborn children without impugning in the least expectant mothers who sometimes find themselves in desperate circumstances.
A simple image coupled with a simple citation could change the culture.
The image? Michelangelo’s Pietà.
Michelangelo’s Pietà, St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican
It goes without saying, of course, that Mary faithfully brought the Beloved Son to term. Put aside the theological implications and consider that the Pietà touches us with a double tragedy, a tragedy for the mother and the child alike.
The citation? “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
No need to get argumentative over this. It simply bears witness to what too often is glossed over: the tragedy.
What is the shortest sentence in Scripture? “Jesus wept.”
Now is a perfect time for tears. The life of “one of the least of these” has been taken, and at the instance of his or her mother-to-be. If we assimilate the stark reality, we will know it as a tragedy.
#share#This tragedy is one endured, in America, a million times a year. Behold, a million pietàs. Viewing the tragedy through tears, we might shift the conversation, infusing it with compassion both for mothers-to-be and for unborn children. We avert our gaze from a million tragedies a year. It has been too much to take in.
One does not expect those who seek to eliminate abortion, or those who seek to preserve it as a legal right, to become any less militant. That said, reframing the conversation could be powerful.
Acknowledging the tragic nature of abortion could open doors to new perspectives and new conversations.
Militancy takes places within a context. Acknowledging the tragic nature of abortion could open doors to new perspectives and new conversations. It is harder to sustain credibility, and social support, when the right one advocates is “freedom to make a tragic choice” rather than “freedom of choice.”
Understanding that pro-life advocates are motivated by a compassion born of the impulse to protect both mother and child from tragedy may soften the image of the pro-life movement and intensify the culture’s appreciation of its good work. People respond differently when confronting naked tragedy than when confronting bare statistics.
There is the matter of scale. “The war?” wrote German satirist Kurt Tucholsky, whose remark is often attributed to Stalin, perhaps not incorrectly. “I cannot find it to be so bad! The death of one man: this is a catastrophe. Hundreds of thousands of deaths: that is a statistic!”
A million pietàs, one by one, just might touch enough hearts to remove this massive misery from the realm of statistics and place it in the realm where it belongs: tragedy. One pietà at a time. Where shall we begin?