Some good and bad news have come lately in this area of concern. The good news is that a May 7-10 survey conducted by the prestigious Gallup Poll in the US reports that for the first time more Americans are considering themselves pro-life rather than pro-choice with regard to the specific issue of abortion.
That’s 51% pro-life over 42% pro-choice. Finer categories of the survey reinforce the same finding.
Those who consider abortion to be illegal in all circumstances are a point higher, at 23%, over those who consider it legal in all circumstances, at 22%. This is already a big change. Of course, it is still the middle ground, legal under certain circumstances, that leads at 53%.
In terms of political ideology, pro-life ranks registered a remarkable increase among the self-identified conservatives and moderates (6-7%), while the liberals suffered a slight decline of 1%. There seems to be hardening of views.
In terms of religious affiliations, a good swelling of pro-lifers can be noted among Catholics and Protestants (7-8%), while those who claim to have no religion increased only by 4%.
Just the same, I hope that even those without religion will find a way to become pro-lifers also. That slight increase offers that hope.
In terms of gender, the survey found more men and women declaring themselves pro-life than pro-choice. That’s 49% to 44% among the women, and 54% to 39% among the men. This, to me, is a most interesting finding, considering how American women are known to be strongly pro-choice.
It seems that Obama, the first pro-choice president in 8 years, with his move to fund abortion worldwide, tend to approve the controversial Freedom of Choice Act, and to rescind conscientious objections on the part of medical workers in abortion, is driving people toward the pro-life side.
We will see how this trend will develop further. But this already represents a very dramatic change in the American landscape. It’s a most welcome development, worth praying and fighting for.
The bad news is that the head of the European Commission delegation to our country, Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, has intruded in the legislative debate of our Congress over the Reproductive Health Bill.
He chided our congressmen for failing to pass the bill and linked its passage to increased foreign aid. The nerve! This guy deserves to be declared a persona-non-grata. He can burn in all that so-called European aid and wealth, but he has no right to dictate to us things that are clearly immoral.
We have been saying all along that this business of the Reproductive Health is an international conspiracy with which some of our politicians are playing footsie. I suspect they are there more for the money. It’s another act of crookery that sadly thrives in our political pit.
Reproductive Health as defined by them is what we don’t need at all. It’s a hogwash of so-called rights that are from start to finish false and without basis except in their own minds.
Yes, it can come with many legitimate things. This is what makes it very ugly, since its main inspiration and character is simply not acceptable. I’m almost sure most of its local political supporters are merely reading from the same rotten page and script written by Western ideologues.
Right now, similar features are incorporated into another bill, the Magna Carta for Women. It’s the same banana that boasts of things like freedom of choice, so-called women’s rights to their own bodies, etc.
And the authors and sponsors are also the same people whose ideology is based more on consensus, popularity and practicality, but not on an objective examination of human nature. They only consider opinions, the more popular the better. And they call this being democratic.
It seems to me that our politics has become significantly mired by ideological advocacies, many of which are imported. It’s not anymore a venue to know and monitor the true sentiments of the people.
Much less is it now our way of attaining our authentic common good. It’s built on shifting sands, with hardly any stable core that’s kept. So far, we can still manage an appearance of stability, but I don’t think this will last long.
Cracks are now visible in our body politic, and they are getting bigger and deeper. These days, we have to be skilful in resisting the clever maneuverings of immoral forces, experts in spreading sweet poison all over the world!
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Email: roycimagala@hotmail.com