Kathryn Jean-Lopez’s latest update from the National Review Institute‘s Center for Religion, Culture, and Civil Society arrived in my inbox. It included a great example of a new aspect of the Culture of Life:
Just a few days ago, I had the privilege of co-hosting Sister Magdalene Teresa of the Sisters of Life Visitation Mission in Washington, D.C., at the Heritage Foundation. The occasion was an event trying to help people see all the alternatives to health care and pregnancy help rooted in the culture of death. Sister Magdalene described some “typical” days at the mission, where women come through their doors looking for a listening ear and a real choice, as she put it.
Women often come through the door of the Visitation Mission in New York feeling like their lives are over. “Every woman has great dreams. These dreams do not have to end when she becomes pregnant,” Sr. Magdalene says.
The Sisters of Life exist to change her reality – to show her there are people who love her and will help her. They – and their network of 10,000 coworkers (who build cribs, are friends and mentors, and offer free medical help and legal advice), are hope for a culture of life, for a culture that embraces and encourages and heals. “Abortion fails women at every level,” Sr. Magdalene says. The Sisters are a beacon to help with flourishing.
As undercover videos continue to shine a light on the miserable details behind an industry poisoned by a business model laced with the death of innocence, the Sisters of Life exist to offer something better. People want something better. Women need something better. Human life needs something better. They are just one among the beacons of life in our country who we need to know, encourage, and support.
The idea that abortion is ever a necessity for living a full life? What’s implicit in that idea is that there is no real freedom to choose. If abortion is the only option that preserves a good life, we’re failing to create a meaningful spectrum of choice.
Affirming men and women where they are, and supporting them without precondition or political judgment, are two ways the Culture of Life can create a better reality than the one we’ve got.