Is the pro-life movement really successful?

In one sense certainly. No other organization has consistently brought several hundred thousand people to the capital consistently for nearly 40 years, not that I've ever heard of anyway. Moreover, the Pro-life movement in particular places offers real solutions for women, through crisis pregnancy centers, post-abortive counseling, gifts, donations, adoption etc. In my estimation these are the real successes.

The successes however, sadly don't overshadow the striking failures of the movement politically, and these are due to two factors: 1) A faulty grasp on the real nature of the problem and 2) absolute dependence on the Republican party which does not care. Thus we can say that the pro-life movement is successful socially with all of the good it is able to do for women in need, but not politically.

In the first place, we must correctly realize why abortion in this country (let alone in Europe) came into being. It did not come in with the legalization of contraception 6 years earlier, nor did it come in because of Margaret Sanger who was a socialist and a Nazi supporter. It did not even come from Eugenics.

Abortion came from Capitalism's betrayal of the family. The assault of liberalism realizes itself as economic before it does as political. Until the pro-life movement comes to the realization that abortion is wedded to our economic system, it will fail each and every time. Moreover, as long as it is beholden to the Republican party, which by and large is a party wedded to free market capitalism (the source for abortion) then the cause of ending abortion will never find realization.

more...

http://athanasiuscm.blogspot.com/

It took Catholics three hundred-some years to get the Romans to quit killing them. Yet we continued to charge the hill empty-handed until we won.

The other thing I'm always reminded is that we're not called to be successful, we're called to be faithful. And if you want to know what faithful looks like, sit with John and Mary at the foot of the cross.

Stand with Saint John and Holy Mary at the foot of the Cross!

Atta boy! Like your Distributist angle, btw.

I don't completely disagree with this and I'm delving ever deeper into our Church's teaching on economics, but as a practical matter, unless and until we launch a Catholic political party we are stuck with the two major ones for the time being. That being the case only one of those two parties has as a consistent plank in it's platform opposition to abortion...

Republican Party Platform: Maintaining The Sanctity and Dignity of Human Life.

"We assert the inherent dignity and sanctity of all human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution, and we endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children. We oppose using public revenues to promote or perform abortion and will not fund organizations which advocate it. We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity and dignity of innocent human life."

Does that mean that their record is perfect on the issue? No, but until something better comes along, they have my continual support and my vote.

Abortion came to be legal because most of our countries have abandoned their morals. Abortion has always been around.

I would have liked to hear the writer expound more deeply on the connection between abortion and Capitalism. It isn't apparent. We don't go to work and get flyers or emails from the bosses saying "Abort your kids, we'll give you a raise!" Ya know? It's more subtle than that, and I hear it expressed that their children are such an economic drain and how glad they'll be to be rid of them so they can be free. I have heard it, in the extreme, when Fr. Pavone and others tell of women who literally have been pressured by their employers to abort, but that is not yet the norm.

Yes, absolutely! A Catholic always has to vote pro-life.