Am I extra punchy lately? And, defending life...

I don't know what it is, but Facebook has been bringing me more angst than good the past few days. Yesterday, it was contraception, and today it's abortion. Just the sorts of uplifting conversation pieces we like to dwell on.

You know what it is? I don't use Facebook to post about my political and moral leanings. And I kind of wish other people didn't either, but hey, to each their own. It just seems like lately, I'm seeing all kinds of "much further than I am left" posts, and the problem with that for me is that oftentimes, the posters seem to think that anyone they could possibly be friends with must completely agree with them. Because their tone isn't always so nice and understanding. At least, that's my impression.

I hesitated to write this post addressing my feelings on today's topic of the day, because I like to keep it light-hearted on here. But life isn't always light-hearted, and this is a blog about the life of this Catholic librarian, so there you have it. This is, after all, MY blog. If I feel a need (and it has to be compelling for me to talk about a downer topic) to post about something, I can do that. Sometimes I restrain myself a bit too much I think. This is also a CATHOLIC blog. So I'm certain everybody can surmise what my position is on life issues.

And today, I do feel so compelled. I saw lots of posts today about the Susan Komen Foundation withdrawing their funding from Planned Parenthood, and many expressed their opinion about how outrageous they found this. They're entitled to their opinion. But I'm entitled to mine. And I felt that it would be worthwhile to write briefly about why someone could support such a withdrawal, since it appeared to me that my friends who wrote about this news piece were incredulous that anyone who called themselves pro-life could favor withholding funding from an organization that provides free breast cancer screenings to women.

Well, I'll tell you why. Planned Parenthood is an organization that performs abortions. I don't care what percentage of their business entails performing these abortions. To the extent that they perform any abortions at all, when you believe (as I do) that human life begins at conception, even one abortion is too many. Therefore, they may do all the philanthropic work in the world, and I still cannot support them. Are free breast cancer screenings a good thing? Yes, of course they are. And if that was the only service they provided, I'd be all for it. However, that is not the case. Even though part of what they do may be good, they also do evil, and this I cannot abide. I cannot defend the indefensible.

I certainly hope that I haven't offended anybody. In everything, I aim to be fair and charitable. But I felt that I had to express the other side of this issue.

It is my deep feeling that many people consider themselves pro-choice because they have been touched by abortion in some way. They may know someone who had an abortion, they may have helped a person procure an abortion, and/or they may have had an abortion. Please know that I do not condemn you in any way. Not a single one of us is perfect. Although I have no personal experience with abortion, I have chosen to do things in my life that I am not proud of. Every single one of us needs the saving grace of God. Nobody here is "holier" or "better" than anybody else. I pray that we can all find healing and comfort from Him, and from each other.

And once again, I'm going to be revamping my Facebook settings. It's bad enough that I get so little sleep at night, I *really* need more uplifting news from what is supposed to be my relaxation portal...