I think it is true to say that people who have dedicated their lives to the pro-life cause often feel pessimistic about the success of their efforts.

The news seems always to be bad.  There are more and more abortions and an even like the Beijing Conference does not augur well for the future of unborn life in Third World.

But the news is not all bad an recently a few things have occurred which have given me hope that the future is not all dark.

The U.S.A.

Just last week I read that the American House of Representatives voted by 288 to 139 to make the shocking D & X or “Partial Birth” abortion illegal.  It has to go before the Senate and could be defeated, but it is an indication of a change of heart and head in American Thinking.

In case any readers may not know about the D. & X operation, it means that the baby is pulled from the womb, but before its head had emerged, the doctor pierces the skull with an instrument and sucks out the brain.  I have read that the brain tissue is to be used for people who have Multiple Sclerosis.

There is absolutely no difference between murdering a preborn baby of one day after conception, or one of nine months.  But the “Partial Birth” procedure sounds more shocking, and could, perhaps make people sit up and take notice.

Ontario Youth for Life

The second occurrence, which made me optimistic, was meeting a very personable young lady named Kathleen Ross, who is president of “Ontario Students for Life.”

This movement is rapidly gathering numbers and enthusiasm, and Kathleen, who has been accepted for university, is postponing her entry for a year so that she can devote her full time to organization.  Kathleen works from the Right to Life office in Toronto.  At he recent RTL Annual Conference, June Scandiffio, he President, spoke with great enthusiasm about the growing awareness of young Canadians to he horror of abortion and their great desire to take practical action and make personal sacrifices to save the babies.

Joe Scheidler’s Tape

I am a “car-tape-aholic.”  I have literally dozens of tapes in my car, and when I am driving (especially on the 401) and one tape is finished, I just grab another from the back seat and push it in, often without reading the title.

A few days ago I put in a tape without looking at the title and it turned out to be a talk given a year or so ago by Joe Scheidler, one of the greatest pro-lifers in North America, if not in the entire world.  In his talk, Joe struck an optimistic note.  He compared he present American attitude towards abortion with the American attitude towards slavery in the last century.

At that time, slavery accepted by American society just as abortion is today.  But some “religious fanatics” began opposing the pro-slavery laws as being against human dignity and justice.  They were sneered at, imprisoned, and some were even executed.  But by their faith, courage and perseverance, they eventually succeeded in changing the attitude of Americans towards the whole concept of slavery.

Would any American today boast that he or she had slaves in their home?  People now look back at the time of slavery and wonder how any American could have treated human beings as animals.  Joe Scheidler believes—and so do I—that the time will come, probably not in his lifetime or mine, when Americans and Canadians will look back on the present period in history and ask. “How could they have done it?  How could people, who call themselves Christians and civilized human beings, have accepted laws which allowed defenceless little babies to be torn from their mothers’ wombs in pieces and dumped in the garbage?  How could politicians most of whom were Christians and many of them Catholics, have formed laws which allowed the brutal murder of defenceless babies?”

When will society begin to ask these questions?  I don’t know, but I do know that the time factor will be, to a great extent, determined by prayers and actions of those of us who are prepared to face ridicule, hatred, and like Linda Gibbons, even our personal freedom, in defence of he defenceless.

The tunnel is long and dark, but there is a flicker of light at the far end.