Pope Francis recently spoke out against abortion for violating women and motherhood. But, according to some in the media, those comments confirm he is really just a misogynist stirring up violence.
On Saturday, Pope Francis condemned abortion even in cases where a prenatal diagnosis shows the baby will likely die shortly after birth. In other words: the pope is Catholic.
“Human life is sacred and inviolable,” the pontiff began at a Vatican meeting, “and the use of prenatal diagnosis for selective purposes must be strongly discouraged because it is the expression of an inhuman eugenic mentality.”
That mentality, he added, “deprives families of the possibility of welcoming, embracing and loving their weakest children.”
To put the issue in perspective, Pope Francis asked his audience two questions.
“First question: Is it licit to eliminate a human life to solve a problem?” he asked. “Second question: Is it licit to hire a hitman to resolve a problem?”
No,” he answered. “Never ever eliminate a human life nor hire a hitman to resolve a problem.”
He added that every child conceived “is a gift that will change the story of a family, a mother and father, grandparents and siblings” and that he or she “needs to be welcomed, loved and cared for.”
Rather than blame women regarding the issue of abortion, he stressed that the act of abortion violates women’s intimate and natural participation in creation.
“When a woman discovers she is expecting a baby, she immediately experiences a profound sense of mystery. Women who are mothers know this,” he added. “The awareness of a presence that grows inside her pervades her being, making her not only a woman, but a mother.”
But he didn’t want expectant mothers to feel like they were alone in difficult situations. He praised the advancement of prenatal medical care and called for more assistance for families of children with disabilities, especially hospice care for newborns who are expected to die.
When doctors predict a baby won’t survive, Pope Francis suggested that abortion will not alleviate the parents’ pain. Instead, he said, welcoming the baby can bring “completion to a family’s love.”
“In fact,” he added, “taking care of these babies helps the parents work through their mourning and understand what happened not only as a loss, but as a stage of a journey taken together. That baby will remain in their lives forever, and they were able to love him or her.”
This especially concerned women, he said.
“Many times those few hours that a mother was able to cradle that baby leaves a trace in her heart that she will never forget,” the pope concluded. “She feels like a mother.”
But the media didn’t agree with the pope’s comments. Instead of valuing the feminine genius, the pontiff was participating in misogyny, they said.
“I love this pope, but ideas this ignorant are rooted in misogyny,” author Mary Karr tweeted. “A bunch of celibate men who (mostly) know zippo abt the costs of childrearing have no business legislating what happens between a woman’s waist and knees. #AbortionIsHealthCare.”
Entrepreneur columnist Paul Blanchard shared a story with the headline “Abortion is like ‘hiring a hitman,’ says Pope Francis.”
He responded to the pontiff: “No it isn’t, you deluded misogynist numpty.”
Daily Beast writer Thor Benson added in response to Pope Francis’s comments, “There’s no such thing as a ‘cool Pope.’”
Abortionist Jennifer Gunter, who has been published in the New York Times, tweeted a story with the headline, “Pope Francis compares having an abortion to hiring a ‘hit man.’”
“Pope Francis incites violence against abortion providers would be the correct title,” she recommended.
It should come as no surprise that the pope is Catholic. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, abortion is a “grave offense” and “contrary to the moral law” because “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.”
The Catholic Church takes abortion so seriously that even just driving a woman to an abortion clinic is grounds for automatic excommunication. However, as Pope Francis has stressed in the past, there is forgiveness and mercy waiting for women.
Women are victims to abortion. It not only wounds women, but also it ends the lives of unborn baby girls because they are female. It destroys the unique and natural bond between mothers and their children. It is, in short, anti-woman.