Saint Joseph vs Today’s Dad

Sunday I celebrated Fathers Day with my parents, siblings, cousins, and grandparents. We had a barbecue and spent the day outside with all the little cousins running around eating up the attention. Earlier that morning I sat in Mass and looked at the statue of Saint Joseph behind the choir and reflected on Saint Joseph as protector of the Holy Family (Virgin Mary and Jesus). Saint Joseph’s betrothed wife was pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit, and despite any doubt, or the embarrassment of Mary being thought of as unfaithful, Saint Joseph accepted his duty as the foster father of Jesus. Even through hard times, when the Holy Family had to flee to Egypt, Saint Joseph protected his family.

As I continued to think through this I thought of the many unborn children who were aborted because of the father’s apathy or his pressuring of the mother of his child to abort. There is a big social difference between today and the time of Jesus, and it broke my heart that morning to think of all the fathers who were not celebrating Father’s Day because of their apathy; an apathy that was not known to Saint Joseph.

This has continued to be on my mind this week. . . While I was working on a "Call to Action" piece for young people to be involved in pro-life work, I asked a friend of mine what she would say to encourage others be be involved in pro-life ministry. Here is what she sent me:

“I encourage men to stand up for the women in their life, and recognize that they are needed more than ever in these decisions. There are better choices and better options (than aborton), and the baby is theirs too. Men have a say in this choice. Many women would not have aborted their children if they knew they had the father’s support. I call upon men in society to be bold, and to stand up for life!” -- Maddie Lopez Age 16

Like me, Maddie is a young woman who has sidewalk counseled many times before, and we often see women at the abortion clinic who share that they are aborting because their boyfriend wasn’t excited or didn’t care when they said they were pregnant. Sometimes the boyfriend even insists on abortion.

Similar to Maddie, I encourage men to be protectors of their children both inside and outside of the womb. The child’s environment shouldn't be the influence that determines how your child will be cared for. Think again to the example of St. Joseph, he embraced the opportunity to be a father to the baby of an unwed mother, Mary. St. Joseph can be thought of as one of the greatest of men because he said, "yes", and in doing so raised the Greatest Man of all time, Jesus. I hope to see more happy fathers next Fathers Day who are wonderful role-models just like Saint Joseph.

Saint Joseph pray for us!

Standing In Defence of the Voiceless,

Timmerie Millington

Harmonizing Mother Earth & Baby in the Womb

Last week, for the 5th consecutive year, I  joined over 30 Survivors from all over southern California to stand for the sanctity of human life in the womb at Earth Fair in San Diego.  This fair is the largest environmental fair in the world, which takes place on the Sunday before Earth Day, on April 20th, where more than 50,000 attendees from all over come together to celebrate mother earth.  Groups stood to protect whales, walruses, and a variety of endangered species where they had their usual booths informing society of their causes.  Exotic hand made items, plants, and organic materials were sold; and in the middle of the mix Planned Parenthood had their usual pink booth set up where they “educated” about reproductive issues and counseled women.  

This year, Survivors returned with two booths: one booth was surrounded by the beautiful “Watch me Grow” fetal development signs with the theme “A Person’s a person, no matter how small.” from Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who.  The goal of this booth was to teach young children the beauty of life and of the developing child in the womb.  Children learned about life in the womb and participated in numerous arts and crafts, from beading to coloring in their own t-shirts with the outline of a pro-life cartoon.  
On the opposite side of the fair a “Life Booth” was set up with educational information about abortion and contraception, and the crowds were challenged to the reality of abortion with the use of graphic images.  

I find this is the perfect opportunity to use abortion images to challenge people with the reality that abortion is the destruction of human life.  We challenged them to see that abortion is not a lesser issue than the abuse of animals and nature.  To help Earth Fair attendees see the wrong of abortion, graphic images of an abused monkey with nails in its head were set next to an image of an aborted baby’s skeleton with fingers, legs, and toes.  There was a caption above the two pictures asking if abusing monkeys is wrong, why isn’t aborting a child wrong as well? While for some, seeing the graphic images was painful, for others the images of an abused monkey next to an aborted child was shocking because they never thought of it that way.  On lookers were challenged to consider, if abusing a monkey is wrong, look at the picture of a brutally aborted 12 week old child and say that the abortion of the the child is not wrong as well.  When faced with that truth people just stopped and stared.  Some cried and others were speechless.  This opened up a conversation on the issue where countless people either changed their position, or now have a position when it comes to abortion. 

Throughout the day our group encountered some struggles from those who did not agree with the pro-life message or who loathed being told abortion hurts women and children and would try to cover or stand in front of the signs exposing that truth.  At one point two Survivors were assaulted by a young man who proceeded to kick a hole through one of the graphic signs (the man was chased down and arrested by the San Diego Police Department).  I was proud of the two young men, about 16 years old, who instead of doting on the incident and becoming angered by the assault, stepped back into the crowd and continued to have peaceful conversations where they educated the crowds about about abortion and changed the hearts of many to stand with us in protecting the right to life.

Something that was very difficult for me throughout the day was the support Planned Parenthood received all day long.  At their booth there were at least 20 people waiting at any given time to talk to Planned Parenthood representatives or to write a message that was posted on a bulletin board saying why they support Planned Parenthood (see picture below).  It made me sad to see hundreds of people voicing their support of Planned Parenthood, and hundreds of people walking around with the bright pink “I support Planned Parenthood” button attached to their shirts.  Pro-lifers had to take a bold stance, hold their ground, and reach out to people while Planned Parenthood staff sat in their booth eating up the support.  What made me even more upset was that more than I saw women wearing the pink Planned Parenthood buttons, I saw men everywhere with these buttons.  It’s not only women who love Planned Parenthood.  Men love them too because they don’t have to be responsible for their actions as long as Planned Parenthood is there to abort their children.  I know it’s not just the man involved, but it breaks my heart when I recall some of the women whom I’ve counseled outside the clinic with the common response saying that their man didn’t want the child, he was making them have the abortion, or she was terrified to even tell him she was pregnant.

I found it ironic when some of the Earth Fair participants become angered over the pro-life message because they say “there are animals being abused” or “without abortion, more children will hurt the earth because it’s already over populated”.  My response: “If we cannot even respect ourselves and what lives within us, how can we respect animals, nature, or anything else for that matter?”  Some continued to fight without any thought of abortion as being wrong, and others stopped to listen.  Some people become angered at the horror that was shown on the signs, but as some in the group will say “If it’s hard to look at, that means it’s wrong.”  The abortion images were a true aid that drew people in and caused them to contemplate whether or not abortion is right.

One of the things I love most about the Earth Fair event is that it attracts people of every age, and there are many large groups of teens and young adults.  When I call out to my generation asking them what they think of the signs or about abortion they’re open to talking.  Throughout the day I spoke to at least 20 groups of 3-6 teens, and we had pleasant conversation sharing our thoughts on the issue.  When one or two in the group said they’re impartial or pro-abortion I asked them to look at the literature and signs in front of them and I taught about fetal development, abortion procedures, and how abortion damages both the mother and child.  99% of the time all in the group walk away with a 100% pro-life stance and sincerely thankful for the shared information.

Standing for the sanctity of human life in the womb was a success at Earth Fair, thousands of people were talked to and many hearts were changed.  Seeds were planted that made people think about the issue and recognize the importance of the issue on a global scale.  It was wonderful to be surrounded by many others who support life and who were’t afraid to talk to people who disagreed with them and share why life is so precious.

Happy Easter!

Standing In Defence of the Voiceless,

Timmerie Millington

Unplanned Chapter 7 'The Code of Conduct'

It saddens me that those who work for abortion clinics are often fearful for their safety and sometimes have threats on their life. During this chapter Abby writes about the peaceful presence outside of the Planned Parenthood she worked at in Texas. Despite the peaceful presence instituted by the efforts of Coalition for Life there was a big deal made about the safely of clinic workers and the rhetoric enforced when speaking about sidewalk counselors.

The transportation of some abortionists would be such a dramatic and big deal that they would: park at a secret location, were picked up away from the secret parking place by clinic staff, then driven with a sheet covering them in the back seat, and run in a side security entrance -- before dawn-- with the sheet covering their head. Why are such drastic measures made to disguise and protect some abortionists? If abortion is legal what is there to fear? Clearly some of these abortionists are doing things illegally and/or fear for their life because of the type of work they do. Why would you take a job that brings such fear and dramatic precautions to your life? This I cannot understand.

Planned Parenthood has taught their employees rhetoric for years and Abby shares that she was trained to call peaceful sidewalk counselors "anti-choice extremists" that would harass anyone going into Planned Parenthood to take away their “right to choose”. Pro-life advocates don't need fancy rhetoric that depicts the other side as something they aren't. This reminds me that we have truth and evidence on our side, but that's not all... We want women to be confident in their choices and not weep from effect of post abortion syndrome for years to come. We want the children in the womb to be looked at with dignity and not torn apart after being called a 'blog of tissue’. Stand with women today!

Happy International Women's Day! I stand for respecting women both inside and outside of the womb!
 (Repost this on Facebook and Twitter today!)

What is something that stood out to you about this chapter? A lesson learned or something interesting?

Order Abby’s book and join this discussion: www.UnplannedTheBook.com

Checkout my reflection from:

Chapter 1, ‘The Ultrasound’

Chapter 2, 'The Volunteer Fair'

Chapter 3, 'The Power of a Secret'

Chapter 4, 'The Cause'
Chapter 5, 'The Bond of Compassion'
Chapter 6, '40 Days and 40 Nights' 

Standing In Defence of the Voiceless,

Timmerie Millington

Reflection on Abby Johnson's Book 'Unplanned'

Over the last few months I've been reading Abby Johnson's book Unplanned where Abby shares about her experience of working at Planned Parenthood then converting to the pro-life side two years ago, after watching an ultrasound guided abortion.  Please join with me in reflecting upon Unplanned by commenting and sharing your thoughts about the book.

Read my reflections on chapters 1-6 and stay tuned tomorrow for chapter 7's reflection:

Chapter 1, ‘The Ultrasound’

Chapter 2, 'The Volunteer Fair'

Chapter 3, 'The Power of a Secret'

Chapter 4, 'The Cause'
Chapter 5, 'The Bond of Compassion'
Chapter 6, '40 Days and 40 Nights'

Order Abby’s book and join this discussion: www.UnplannedTheBook.com

Standing In Defence of the Voiceless,

Timmerie Millington

Unplanned Chapter 5 'The Bond of Compassion'

Did you know that according to Guttmacher Institute two-thirds of women who have abortions are Christian? I must begin by saying that after reading a couple pages into this chapter I put the book down out of pure frustration and sorrow. . .

Abby Johnson finds herself pregnant for the second time, but this time she is coming out of a marriage with the baby's father. Because at this point she had been with Planned Parenthood for a little over a year it was easier for her to accept the idea of abortion. Abortion became an every day norm for Abby, even though she really was not a large supporter of abortion and she grew up Christian. After finding she was pregnant, Abby says in Unplanned, her mind went right away to thoughts of, “If I have this child.”

While working at Planned Parenthood Abby felt accepted, cared for, and not judged by others when she was going through difficult times. The decision to abort her second ‘pregnancy’ came easy, but the actual process wasn’t. She took RU-486 (a pill that causes one to miscarry), within a day she found herself in extraordinary pain, bleeding, completely alone, and too embarrassed to go to the doctor because she decided to abort her child. Abby was alone and sick for several weeks.

It breaks my heart to think about women who have an abortion and then turn to abortion time and time again. I’m angered by this mentality, but I understand the mentality behind having an abortion for some. This is a norm not only for those who work within the industry but for society as a whole. Even over the last three months I’ve counseled two women who have seriously considered an abortion. These were women who were pro-life, Catholic, and never would have thought about having an abortion before finding themselves in their current situation. One, found herself in a crisis pregnancy outside of wedlock; she quickly started thinking of it as pregnancy and not a child (please pray for her as she has chosen to keep her baby through difficult situations). The second woman was in extreme pain with a condition called Hyperemesis and when the pain continued she stopped saying baby and began to call her baby ‘it’ or ‘thing’. She began to prepare herself for an abortion, and kept telling herself, and me, that she did not have any emotional attachment to ‘it’ (I believe she may have had the abortion, although I’m not positive). By dehumanizing the baby growing within her, and using terms such as it, thing, or referring to her baby as a pregnancy, she was able to detach herself from an act that she believed to be wrong as she considered ending the life of her unborn child.

Please pray for all women who are pregnant and considering an abortion. Pray for consistency of personal morality and personal behavior.

"My story -- my decision to abort my second pregnancy even though I told myself I was a champion for decreasing the number of abortions -- illustrates the complexity, the confusion, and frankly, the disconnect between behavior and values that permeates our culture.” -- Abby Johnson shares in her book Unplanned.

Order Abby’s book and join this discussion: www.UnplannedTheBook.com

Checkout my reflection from:

Chapter 1, ‘The Ultrasound’

Chapter 2, 'The Volunteer Fair'

Chapter 3, 'The Power of a Secret'

Chapter 4, 'The Cause'

Standing In Defence of the Voiceless,

Timmerie Millington