Home Page Dr Pravin Thevathasan's Reviews page   Dr Pravin Thevathasan's home page The pro-life movement: one way ahead by Dr Pravin Thevathasan I must admit that I had not really thought much about the abortion issue until I went to study medicine. I was fortunate enough to reside in a hall of residence where I was introduced to the pro-life cause. My first pro-life witness occurred when I told fellow students the reasons I opposed abortion. Some who went to see the procedure told me that they would not have anything more to do with it while others felt that they had no choice but to participate even though they were "personally opposed." What can we realistically do to promote a culture of life? I am going to focus on three things we all can do: prayer, education and helping women with crisis pregnancies. Father John Hardon used to say that our most powerful pro-life resource is the Holy Eucharist. I think the second most important resource after the spiritual one is education. I recently gave a talk on abortion to a group of young people. Frankly, most of them did not seem too interested and it was by no means my best talk. But then I told them about the large number of abortions taking place in the UK. Many in my audience appeared to be genuinely shocked. They had been given an impression by the media that abortion is something rare, almost always because of rape. We also need to support women with crisis pregnancies. In this Year of Mercy, it would surely be appropriate for each diocese to have a house supporting women who need practical help to continue with their pregnancies. Dare I say it, give them a genuine choice, something so many feel they do not have. We also need to reach out to women who have been hurt by abortion. Another important point: women who have abortions are not our enemies. So many of these women are hurt by abortion. They need healing. They need our support. We are pro-woman and pro-child. It is the pro-abortionists who try and portray them as opponents of each other. On our side, we have to keep the conversation about abortion going, at a time when universities and other bastions of free speech are trying their utmost to suppress the conversation.              Copyright ©; Dr Pravin Thevathasan 2016 Version: 15th April 2016 Home Page Dr Pravin Thevathasan's Reviews page   Dr Pravin Thevathasan's home page