This is the essay I wrote for this year's Knights of Columbus Respect Life essay contest. So far, it's won 1st place in my grade level at the regional level! Now it will go to be judged at the diocesan level, and if it does well there, it will continue on to State.

*************************************************************************************

In the early part of 2009, a lot of media coverage was given to the Freedom of Choice Act (commonly known by the acronym FOCA). There hasn’t been much media coverage of it in recent months, but it seems to have reappeared in objectionable proposed legislation in the National Health Care Reform. It’s important that the pro-life community knows what dire effects this legislation would have for unborn children, and how we should go about fighting it.

Like the national Health Care Reform, FOCA has a very disturbing agenda that would have many terrible consequences for the unborn. One of the worst things would be the reversal of the Health and Human Services Federal Refusal Rule, which protects physicians who object on moral grounds to providing abortions or birth control. With this rule gone, doctors would be faced with a terrible choice: give up their hard-won practices, or go against their Hippocratic Oath and kill unborn children.

The bill also suggests making contraceptives cheaper and more easily obtainable on college campuses, and eliminating funding for abstinence-only programs in schools. This would cause so many young lives to be ruined – both the unborn babies, who would not even have a chance at life, and their mothers and fathers, who in later years may very well be haunted by remorse at the thought that they had killed their own children.

FOCA also proposes cutting down the laws requiring minors to have parental consent for an abortion, and suggests increased funding for Planned Parenthood, federal funding for abortions in all 50 states, and federal funding of abortions in other countries. These propositions would make procuring an abortion so much easier and spread more death to children in the womb, and in the end the parents would suffer, particularly the mothers. The pro-abortion agenda never speaks of the terrible guilt and mental anguish, usually leading to depression, that many women eventually suffer at some point after an abortion. There are also numerous health risks involved for the mother, as an abortion is a very invasive surgery.

What can we do to stop FOCA from taking effect and making such monstrosities possible? There are many ways to take action! Writing letters to statesmen and the newspapers is one powerful means of educating the public on the truth of the matter. The Internet is becoming a very important tool. You can do a lot of good through forwarding pro-life emails, and if you have a Facebook or blog, they are very good places to fight for the unborn.

Finally, we must never forget or underestimate the power of prayer. If we pray and trust that the side of the True and Good will win in the end, there can only be certainty in our hearts that the pro-life cause will triumph. There are many ways of using this subtle but powerful weapon to counteract the enemy: participation in the Forty Days for Life program, spiritually adopting an unborn child, or offering Masses, rosaries, and Holy Hours for this intention.

When the valiant efforts of those actively fighting this terrible agenda are united with the prayers of thousands, we can have hope that a great change will come. Our country, and one day our world, will come to realize that every human life is a treasure from God that’s not to be wasted; that immaturity and irresponsibility are things to be fought, not encouraged; and that America must return to her promise of giving all her citizens life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If we stand strong and fight against FOCA and whatever other anti-life bills are put out there, we will see this day soon.