Abortion has become so mainstreamed in this country and much of
Western Europe, the word and its euphemisms can lose the force of
reality.

Here’s a bracing smack of reality.

The prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and
Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal Antonio Canizares, asserted on
Monday that Spain’s laws, which “must protect the defenseless, are
being used today to eliminate those who are weak, innocent and
defenseless.”

During remarks at King Juan Carlos University, Cardinal Canizares
said, “Medicine must be for curing and not for killing. Laws must serve
to protect the defenseless but they are being used to kill these human
beings. The present situation reminds us precisely of the gravity of
abortion, a reality that reflects so many things.

“Without a doubt nothing else more clearly manifests the crisis of humanity we are suffering,” he said.

Abortion is a “very grave” problem, he said, and humanity needs to
be aware that the greatest crisis we are suffering is the “47 million
legal abortions” that, according to the World Organization of Health,
take place each year. “This is something unprecedented in the history
of humanity,” the cardinal noted.

He ought to come to the US, where the Obama administration and many
members of Congress are trying to rush through a health care overhaul
that will mandate taxpayer funded abortion and spread its access
widely. The word “abortion” is nowhere in the dense bills, but all
kinds of provisions are there requiring unfettered access to it as a
“reproductive” and “essential health” service.

This cardinal calls it what it is:

“This practice is a crime, the killing of a human life,
an innocent, weak and defenseless human being. Is there any other
greater atrocity?” he asked.