This has been a dark year in New York State. I weep sometimes thinking about it. Andrew Cuomo has been intent on expanding abortion and codifying it in the state constitution and he did it. He has been so callous in the way he talks about people who oppose him on the protection of vulnerable unborn human life. In many ways, he is what is wrong with the Democratic party today. There’s little to no sense of regret about abortion. Abortion is an agony in women’s lives, family lives, and our culture. How about expressing a little moral lament, as Michael Wear has talked about? (I talk about this in my syndicated column this week, noting a Cory Booker tweet on abortion that left a lot to unpack.) Instead of lament, Cuomo celebrated abortion and on the Freedom Tower, which always drives me crazy.
I mention all of this because in the midst of this misery, this doubling down on death, we are called to be light! We have opportunities to help, and I hope that’s what we’re doing on Monday night in Manhattan. National Review Institute and The Human Life Review are teaming up with The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture for a National Adoption Month event. It’s a screening of a short documentary, I Lived on Parker Avenue, and a discussion afterward about adoption. It’s the story of a young man who meets his birth mother for the first time. It’s a life-giving story of gratitude and courage and love. It’s inspiring and educational. I hope it’s healing, too. The Sheen Center happens to be on the same block as Planned Parenthood. (I wrote about a recent encounter there here.) And it’s a privilege to be able to not only share life-giving testimonies and options there, but a necessity. The darkness is crying out for people of goodwill to work together on fronts like promoting adoption. It doesn’t have to be the way it is for too many — feeling all kinds of financial, cultural, personal pressure to abortion. And we all have to do our part.
Anyway, that’s all a long way of saying: Please consider coming to our event on Monday night. You’ll meet the executive producer of the movie. You’ll meet a young woman who was once in the foster system. You’ll meet a foster and adoptive mother. I think you’ll come away inspired and challenged in the best of ways or consoled if you’re already living the challenges that can come with foster care and adoption. I hope to see you there. And please pass word of the event on to anyone who might be interested.
Details here.