Blessed Pope John Paul II in his book "Memory and Identity - Personal Reflections" compared the politics surrounding abortion to Hitler and the Holocaust. At the time, his comments caused some controversy.
He lamented that contemporary democratic governments which legalised abortion were a new totalitarianism "insidiously hidden behind the appearance of democracy." He reminded readers that in a similar way, a legally elected German parliament gave Hitler the power which led to the creation of concentration camps and ultimately the extermination of millions of Jews.
"Parliaments which create and promulgate such laws must be conscious that they are abusing their power and remain in open conflict with the law of God". (Blessed John Paul II, Memory and Identity - Personal Reflections)
Cardinal Edward Egan of the New York Archdiocese, writing in his weekly column on 23rd October 2008 also likened abortion to Hitler’s Holocaust and Stalin’s Communist atrocities. “It is high time to stop pretending that we do not know what this nation of ours is allowing – and approving – with the killing each year of more than 1,600,000 innocent human beings within their mothers,” Cardinal Egan said. “Hitler convinced himself and his subjects that Jews and homosexuals were other than human beings, just as Stalin did with the Cossacks and Russian aristocrats.”
“We have all sorts of technology that clearly reveals that you have a human life in the womb and to turn a blind eye to that and be divorced from that reality to say that this [abortion] is simply a question of choice, involves the same type of blindness, the same type of denial of fundamental dignity and fundamental rights that characterize the treatment of Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, and other classes and groups of people that were discriminated against and basically denied fundamental human rights (by the Nazis),” said Timothy O’Donnell, president of Christendom College in Virginia USA.
Both deception and denial played a major role in allowing the Holocaust to continue. Jews herded onto trains were not told that they were going to death camps and many people were in denial about their systematic extermination.
Today, proponents of abortion also use deceptive tactics. In the documentary, "Blood Money", a former abortion clinic owner tells how young girls who came to her clinic for contraceptive advice were deliberately given very low dose contraceptives so that they would, in fact, fall pregnant thus "needing" an abortion.
Women have been likewise deceived when told that abortion "is no big deal". The latest issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry reports the findings of the most comprehensive study into the link between abortion and mental health. Professor Priscilla Coleman's research reveals that abortion is associated with a 34% increased risk for anxiety disorders for post-abortive women, a 37% greater risk of depression, a 110% greater risk of alcohol abuse, a 220% greater risk of marijuana use and a 155% greater risk of attempting to commit suicide.
Today's society remains in denial as to the mass extermination of the unborn and the overwhelming grief of post-abortive women.
Abortion is above all a spiritual battle and therefore spiritual weapons are needed to combat it. The Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mother is the spiritual weapon par excellence in the battle against this evil.* On his October 2008 pilgrimage to Pompeii and the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, Pope Benedict XVI gave to each of us the task of praying for the exorcising of evil from the seats of power in the world and from every human heart, stating: "The rosary is a spiritual weapon in the struggle against evil, against all violence, for peace in hearts, in families, in society, and in the world.” (October 19th, 2008)
In praying the Holy Rosary, we become like the German industrialist, Oskar Schindler, who’s saving of eleven hundred Jews was depicted in the Academy Award winning film "Schindler’s List".
Schindler's humanity is awakened at seeing the increasing violence and killing of Jews by the Nazis and, in order to rescue people of the Jewish faith, he gives away expensive goods as bribes. He then allows these rescued Jews to work in his factory to keep them safe.
In one of the last scenes in the film, as Schindler prepares to flee from the Allies, the Jews who have been saved give him a gold ring engraved with a quotation from their sacred Talmud—"Whoever saves one life saves the world entire.” They wanted Schindler to know that by saving them, he had saved humanity.
Nevertheless, despite all his efforts Schindler was heartbroken. "I didn't do enough!" he laments. He reasoned that he could have saved more if only he had sold his car and that even his Nazi lapel pin would have saved at least one life!
Itzhak Stern, spokesman for those rescued by Schindler, tries to console him saying: "There will be generations because of what you did."
By praying the Holy Rosary, we can help save children from abortion through the powerful intercession of Our Lady and therefore ‘save generations’. One saved child means that one less woman is subjected to the grief experienced through abortion.
Here are some suggested intentions for each decade:
- Pray for the protection of the unborn, for Jesus to cover every unborn child with His protective precious blood.
- Pray for the conversion of all those involved in the abortion industry and mothers considering abortion.
- Pray for the conversion of every father and family of the child in the womb, that they protect their unborn child from abortion.
- Pray for the conversion of all government leaders who support abortion.
- Pray for all religious leaders to speak out against abortion.
*Padre Pio called the Rosary a weapon of extraordinary power against Satan.
Father Gabriel Amorth, chief exorcist of the Vatican, has stated: "One day a colleague of mine heard the devil say during an exorcism: 'Every Hail Mary is like a blow on my head. If Christians knew how powerful the Rosary was, it would be my end'." (March-April, 2003 issue of “Echo of Mary, Queen of Peace)