We must promote culture of life

THE EDITOR: You may publish this letter on the issue of abortion which I have written to The Hon Mr Patrick Manning, Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Dear Mr Manning, On behalf of my Commission, I write to thank you for your public support of unborn children. Your statement to the Media after your Cabinet meeting on Friday about the fact that your Government is Pro-Life and not Pro-Choice is the miracle that many of us have been looking forward to. That single statement has lifted the moral tone of our nation and makes it clear that a culture of death has no place in your Government’s 2020 vision. To achieve developed nation status our nation must bring to the market place a moral vision that is consistent with a culture of life — one that seeks to respect, preserve, protect, defend, and enhance life at all stages and in all circumstances rather than crush it. The fact that many nations currently have laws permitting abortion does not nullify the right to life which is a fundamental and inalienable right of every human individual and a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation. No one can “choose” to violate that right.

As the late Cardinal Hume said: “Moral choices do not depend on personal preferences and private decision but on right reason and divine order...Once we are convinced that we have the right of determine when life becomes human and ceases to be so...then we stand in danger of creating a society that is potentially self-destructive.” However, we must also promote the dignity of each woman in our society. We must not forget the financial, emotional, physical, spiritual, social and other needs of the pregnant mother. A culture of life must protect and promote the life of both woman and child. Issues such as poverty, employment, support for family life, housing, health and so on need to be addressed so that women and men will be able to bring their children into this world with the wherewithal to look after them. We need Government policies and programmes that would provide morally acceptable alternatives to abortion; better use our human and financial resources; and social policy initiatives which provide support to pregnant women for prenatal care and extended support for low-income women and their children.  As the latest UN Human Development Report on TT states, we need to do much more to eradicate poverty in TT and, as I have stated in my recent article in The Guardian, we need to put children and families first. The African proverb that it takes a whole village to raise a child, is pertinent here. Let’s empower our families to undertake their important duties efficiently.

Although there is enough scientific, religious, legal and philosophical evidence to prove that life begins at conception, the pro-choice/pro-abortion lobby continues to disrespect God’s creation by stating that what grows in a woman’s womb is a ‘potential human being’ and not a human being. One only has to look at the film by Bernard Nathanson entitled: “The SilentScream” (see www.silentscream.org) to see what harm is done to the unborn. Also of importance is the fact that 7 new studies conducted in the last 18 months, support previous studies showing the nature and impact of Post Abortion Trauma suffered by many women. The pro-choice lobby will have us believe that having an abortion is like going on a “Sunday School Picnic.” The fact is that all they have to offer is a dead baby, a scarred body and a wounded mind. We must continue to pray and be vigilant as many of those who are pro-choice/pro-abortion in TT are blacked by powerful US based groups such as Planned Parenthood and the Alan Guttmacher Institute. There is sound evidence that such groups have not only had a racist past, but that their work across the world continues to be underpinned by racist philosophies. One only has to read the books of George Grant: Grand Illusions: The Legacy of Planned Parenthood, 2nd ed. (Franklin, Tennessee: Adroit Press. 1991) and Carlisle Peterson: The destiny of the Black Race: Planned Parenthood (1992), to realise that we cannot divorce the work of these organisations from the work of groups such as ASPIRE, the look group that is affiliated to these organisations and which is lobbying for abortion law reform in TT.

It is impossible to sever Planned Parenthood’s past from its present. Its legacy of lies and propaganda continues to infiltrate the black community in the USA. In its wake is the loss of more than 12 million lives within the black community alone in the USA. Planned Parenthood’s own records reflect this. “Abortion is the number-one killer of blacks in America,” says Rev Hunter of LEARN. “We’re losing our people at the rate of 1,452 a day. That’s just pure genocide. There’s no other word for it (Sanger’s) influence and the whole mindset that Planned Parenthood has brought into the black community... say it’s okay to destroy young people. We bought into the lie; we bought into the propaganda. “We’re destroying the destiny and purpose of others who should be here,” Hunter laments. “Who knows the musicians we’ve lost? Who knows the great leaders the black community has really lost? Who knows what great minds of economic power people have lost? What great teachers?” He recites an old African proverb: “No one knows whose womb holds the chief.” Grant observed in his aforementioned book “During the 1980s when Planned Parenthood shifted its focus from community-based clinics to school-based clinics, it again targeted inner-city minority neighbourhoods,” he writes. “Of the more than 100 school-based clinics that have opened nationwide in the last decade (1980s), none has been at substantially all-white schools,” he adds. “None has been at suburban middle-class schools. All have been at black, minority or ethnic schools.”

Recent statistics show that the situation remains the same today. Margaret Sanger sold Black Americans an illusion. Today the veil of deception has been removed but each year the highest award given by Planned Parenthood to individuals in that organisation remains the “Margaret Sanger Award.” Records of the speeches made by those who have received this award, including past presidents of the organisation, show clearly that they are, as they say, “Proud to walk in the footsteps of Margaret Sanger.” The legacy continues! I urge you and your Government to do your best to ensure that Planned Parenthood’s eugenic past is not unleashed on TT’s community today under the guise of ASPIRE. We should all welcome this opportunity to renew our resolve to defend life in every phase as a blessing from God, never to be sacrificed, never to be compromised.
May God continue to guide you in all endeavours.

LEELA RAMDEEN
Episcopal Delegate/Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice
Attorney-at-law and Education Consultant