A little over two weeks ago a deranged man opened fire at a public event in Tucson AZ killing 6 people, including a nine year old girl, and wounding 13 others. Searching for answers in the wake of the tragedy people wasted no time assigning blame, mostly to “violent” political rhetoric on the right. I’m not writing here to get into that whole argument. But, as we mark the 38th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that declared abortion a constitutional right, I am thinking about the real violence that plagues our nation (not mere rhetoric) and definitely has negatively impacted our society.

Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. ~Blessed Mother Teresa speech to National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C. 2/3/94

One of the greatest tragedies of Roe v. Wade, besides the innocent lives that have been lost in its wake, is the fact that it made murder acceptable. The law is a teacher, and, by declaring abortion a legal right, Roe taught many women, physicians and others that killing an innocent human being is an acceptable answer to a wide range of problems. We have decided that it is perfectly fine for a whole class of human beings to be stripped of their humanity and executed when they become inconvenient. So, is it any wonder that we see violence in the streets when “the most wondrous and sacred human space – the womb – has become a place of unutterable violence?” (Pope Benedict, World Youth Day 2008 opening address)

This is not to say that abortion is the direct cause of other acts of violence in our country any more than Sarah Palin’s use of cross hairs in a political ad is. But it certainly doesn’t help matters. After all:

[I]f we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? -M. Teresa

Every child conceived is an invitation to love. Since the passage of Roe v. Wade there have been over 52 MILLION abortions committed on American soil, with the full blessing of the law. With such a massive rejection of life and love, how do we expect to foster peace in our land?