Thursday, 20 September 2012 09:06

By Bonnie Toombs
Abortion takes the life of a child of God. As a diocese, we march on our nation’s capitol to give witness to the fact that a policy that allows the killing of thousands of innocent children a day cannot, will not, and must never be accepted passively by the people of any civilized country.
The Diocese of Wichita annually takes several buses every January to participate in the March for Life in Washington, D.C.
For families who are experiencing financial hardships, the Diocese of Wichita provides a limited number of $100 scholarships to be applied toward the March for Life registration fee.
Eligible recipients must be high school youth attending the pilgrimage with the Respect Life Social Justice Office and Office of Faith Formation. Requests for scholarships are due by Oct. 15. Recipients will be notified by Nov. 1. Scholarship applications received after Oct. 15, will not be considered. The scholarship forms can be found at www.respectlifesocialjustice.org
In January 2013 we will observe the 40th anniversary of Roe v Wade, the decision that created current abortion law in the U.S. In the 1973 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that women had a constitutional right to abortion and that this right was based on an implied right to personal privacy emanating from the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments.
In the decision, the court said that a fetus is not a person but "potential life," and thus does not have constitutional rights of its own. The court also set up a framework in which the woman's right to abortion and the state's right to protect potential life shift: during the first trimester of pregnancy, a woman’s privacy right is strongest and the state may not regulate abortion for any reason; during the second trimester, the state may regulate abortion only to protect the health of the woman; during the third trimester, the state may regulate or prohibit abortion to promote its interest in the potential life of the fetus, except where abortion is necessary to preserve the woman's life or health.
Toombs is director of the diocesan Respect Life & Social Justice Office.