Twin terrors - Abortion, gunfire: Column

Rob Schenck | USATODAY

Today, I join tens of thousands of fellow pro-lifers at the 41st annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. Before the march, I will open the National Memorial for the Pre-Born at Constitution Hall by making an unconventional plea.

For nearly three decades, I have dedicated much of my ministry to the pro-life cause. I have advocated, demonstrated, raised money, lobbied, sued, been sued and done jail time pursuing my passion for the sanctity of nascent human life. But increasingly, I've come to realize our critics are right in saying pro-lifers champion the yet-to-be born while we often ignore the suffering of those already born.

In my opening address this morning, I will urge our movement to take a bold new step in its advocacy on behalf of human life.

A bloody picture

Pro-lifers have long denounced the use of instruments of death against the child in the womb. We have boldly displayed the bloody photos of post-abortion fetal remains. Yet, we have ignored other victims of violent death. Among them are the real and potential victims of gun violence.

The pro-life movement must bring its voice of conscience into the conversation and debate over the ominous proliferation of guns — licensed or unlicensed — in our society. Respect for human life means challenging the conscience of every American citizen when it comes to the use of lethal force against those we perceive to be a threat to our way of life, whether they are in the womb or out of it.

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Gun violence should be of particular concern to the pro-life community because it touches us directly, just as it does everyone else, every day. Pro-life activists have been menaced and even shot by gun-wielding assailants. Sadly, a few of our own have even done the shooting, killing doctors and injuring others. We must pray and work to ensure no one is put at risk because someone decides that a firearm can settle political or social differences.

As pro-life activists, we do what we do because we care deeply about the well-being of women and children. The presence of a gun in the homes of women and children suffering the scourge of domestic violence makes it five times more likely that the woman will be killed.

Accidents also plague our communities. Almost two children are killed every week in unintentional shootings, and nearly two-thirds of these unintended deaths take place in a home or vehicle that belongs to the victim's family, most often with guns that are legally owned but not secured. And then there is suicide, which represents more than half of annual gun deaths.

Life, chosen, then lost

This issue changed from abstract to very real for me when I met Lucia McBath, the mother of Jordan Davis, 17. Lucy is pro-life in the purest sense: She fought through a high-risk pregnancy to bring her miracle baby to birth, then raised him as a home-school divorced single mom, only to lose Jordan to a man who, because he carried a (legal) sidearm in his glove compartment, thought he could end an argument over loud music in a convenience store parking lot with a lethal weapon. Lucy will mourn Jordan as we march together for life in Washington today.

The bullet-riddled body of a teenager in Jacksonville, Fla., the images of two officers slumped over in their parked cruiser in Brooklyn, N.Y., the blood-stained floors of an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., and 76 shell casings strewn across a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., are as much the images of a society run amok as anything in the aftermath of an abortion.

It's time for the pro-life movement and lovers of life everywhere to expand our vision of the sanctity of human life. It's past time to defend the full spectrum of life, from the tiny unnamed pre-born in the womb, to an oversized Michael Brown, to a New York cop doing his duty, to any young black male who strays into the path of an armed vigilante with a concealed carry permit.

Pro-lifers have been way too loud on some things and way too quiet on others. The time is now for us to bravely overcome our fears and generously lend our voices and actions to protect the whole of the human family — womb to tomb.

The Rev. Rob Schenck is president of the National Clergy Council in Washington, D.C.

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