The Respect Life Ministry of the Oakland Diocese recently waged a pro-life PR campaign in BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) trains, but it was literally attacked by local anarchists.
One of the ads, “9 MONTHS,” called attention to the amount of time the Supreme Court allows abortions to take place. The other ad read, “The Supreme Court says you can choose: after the heart starts beating, after its arms and legs appear, after all organs are present, after the sex is apparent, after it sucks its thumb, after it responds to sounds, after it could survive outside the womb.” They ended by asking, “Have We Gone Too Far?”
Most of the ads were destroyed by the anarchists. But this didn’t stop the Oakland Diocese from replacing them. Many of the placards were covered with the most incredibly vicious anti-Catholic and obscene remarks, and some of them were torn to shreds.
In our remarks to the media, we said that “Most Americans, including those who support abortion rights, have serious reservations about abortion-on-demand. But not these people. Abortion is regarded as sacrosanct because it affirms their vision of genital liberation—every sexual act that can be performed must be performed, and none should be burdened by pregnancy or disease.”
The pro-life campaign by the Oakland diocese is part of a bigger effort sponsored by the bishops’ conference. If more dioceses followed Oakland’s lead, it would surely help to subvert the culture of death.
