“I cry for help but you do not listen! I cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not intervene. Destruction and violence are before me.”

Such is the cry of the prophet Habakkuk in our first reading this weekend. Around 600 BC, God’s people had been unfaithful, and, as a deserved punishment for their sins, God permitted a pagan nation, Babylon, to invade Jerusalem. The Babylonian armies were utterly brutal and overly aggressive. To Habakkuk, it seemed that God was strengthening the arm of injustice in permitting the excess of His people’s enemy. Hence, he cried out, “Violence!”

This may be too much of a stretch but I cannot help but imagine a child in the womb who, under threat of abortion, also cries out: I cry for help but you do not listen! I cry to you, “Violence!” but you do not intervene. Destruction and violence are before me… The child in the womb asks his mother carrying him in the womb why destruction and violence are upon him. The child in the womb begs those in medical profession to listen to her cry. The child in the womb appeals to all people of good will to intervene on behalf of him/her. Will you?

This weekend is Respect Life Sunday. It is an opportunity for us to listen to the cry of people whose lives are under grave threat. It is an opportunity for us to intervene and to stop the culture of death. Every life is precious. Every person is an irreplaceable gift from God. “Even the weakest and most vulnerable, the sick, the old, the unborn and the poor, are masterpieces of God’s creation, made in his own image, destined to live forever, and deserving of utmost reverence and respect.” (Pope Francis)

There are many threats to life nowadays. Contraception and sterilization, euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, poverty and malnutrition, capital punishment and war, and lack of education and growth opportunities, are among the many. Nothing is more pressing than abortion. It is the single greatest threat to human life in history if we go by the numbers. But more than that, the issue of abortion is so fundamental because right from the beginning, the innocent child is deprived of his/her right to live, and consequently, all other rights.

“The issue of life has come before us in a very central way this year… Sadly, political leaders [have filed] a proposal to make abortion permanently legal, without any restrictions, in our State Constitution.” (Bishop Alberto Rojas) By “no restrictions,” it means that “for any reason, at any time, even moments before birth,” the direct and intentional killing of an unborn child becomes legal.

We cannot allow this. We have an obligation to protect human life and oppose all attacks against it. While voting NO on Proposition 1 will not remove abortion, its passing would permanently expand and increase it. This is an important moment. We need to stand up and oppose it because “God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can, in any circumstance, claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being.” (Donum Vitae no. 5)