We have proof, hope and duty to spur us to daily pro-life action

It's great to read that the Mexican state of Guanajuato (coat of arms pictured) has amended its constitution to protect "all human beings from conception to natural death”. At least nine other Mexican states have enshrined similar protection. In the midst of frequent, even daily, setbacks experienced in the fight against the culture of death, pro-lifers often overlook the reality that pro-life lobbying and complementary efforts actually work. Here is a list, in no particular order and by no means complete, of some other pro-life victories in recent years:

• British government dissuaded from accommodating pro-abortion amendments via the HFE bill, such as extending the Abortion Act to Northern Ireland.
• defeat of the Joffe bill to allow assisted suicide and of Diane Pretty's legal challenge
• the Republic of Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty and the 2002 abortion referendum
• total ban on abortion in Nicaragua
• various laws and policies passed under former US president George W Bush (e.g. partial-birth abortion ban, defunding of international pro-abortion groups, protection for children surviving abortion, etc.)

As well as the solid grounds for hope which the pro-life victories in Mexico and elsewhere provide, those who defend the sanctity of human life also have the call of duty to spur us on. Archbishop Raymond Burke, a fearless pro-life advocate, spoke recently of:

"our responsibility as citizens to work tirelessly to change unjust programs, policies and laws ... In the present situation of our nation, a serious question has arisen about the moral obligation...to work for the overturning of the Supreme Court decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. There are those who would tell us that such work is futile and, therefore, is to be abandoned, so that we can devote ourselves to help prevent individuals from choosing abortion. [W]e can never cease to work for the correction of gravely unjust laws. Law is a fundamental expression of our culture and implicitly teaches citizens what is morally acceptable. Our efforts to assist those who are tempted to do what is always and everywhere wrong or are suffering from the effects of having committed a gravely immoral act, which are essential expressions of the charity which unites us as citizens of the nation, ultimately make little sense, if we remain idle regarding unjust laws and decisions of the courts regarding the same intrinsic evils. We are never justified in abandoning the work of changing legislation and of reversing decisions of the courts which are anti-life and anti-family."

So we have proof, hope and duty to spur us to daily pro-life action.