In my last post I talked about growth freedom: how all true public servers ––as all teachers are called to be–– should share a passionate call to making possible a free society for everyone: an open society where everyone can grow free, with dignity and fraternally, according to the best human growth possible…

Today I am going to talk about something that is deeply connected with freedom growth, in the opposite way: social abortion.

We all know what abortion is, but if you want to look at it further, you can do what I did just before sitting down and writing this post: seeing Unplanned, the movie that tells the story of Abby Johnson. Seeing it helped me to develop all these ideas further.

So… what is social abortion? Social abortion is when our society is aborted through dehumanization, through the systematization of violation of human rights. So, when a society normalizes the affirmation of the human rights of only some ––of those who are “convenient”, instead of affirming unconditionally all the human rights of everyone, that’s social abortion: it literally destroys the culture and the nation through systematically normalizing the denial of human rights of some citizens, like it would happen in a concentration camp. It is the exact opposite to growth freedom: social abortion selects who can be recognized as a human being and who cannot, according to what is convenient to a certain ideology or a certain interest.

To explain some characteristics of social abortion, I will use images from the movie Unplanned.

A characteristic of social abortion is, first, a society in crisis: a society that is not democratic, where human rights are just a convenience. Like it happens with abortion and women in crisis, people that are vulnerable are told that the only “real way” to solve the “problem” is through social abortion: through selecting who can be recognized as human being and who cannot, making people used to dehumanization as a “natural way” to be a society.

Another characteristic of social abortion is “dehumanizing harassment”, that can also be named “ideological harassment”: make everything happen to distract and manipulate the perception of reality according to their purposes and ideological vision.

Another characteristic of social abortion is taking all the measures to control society, the same way that the pro-abortion vision takes all the measures to promote the “control of our bodies” slogan. This means that instead of saying to a person “you can’t be human” to those they select to abort, they will create the social circumstances that “dehumanize” those who they select to abort. The movie Unplanned shows a great example of this: instead of forcing the pro-life activist to shut down their camera, Abby turned on the sprinklers, forcing them to shut down the camera. Exactly this way is how social abortion works: they only allow growth in the way that is convenient to them.

What I am going to say next can be a little tricky to understand, but I will try to explain it the best way I can

Another characteristic of social abortion is an “corrupted ontology”. Ontology is the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being. Well, from the social abortion perspective, the human being stops being “human” and instead becomes “ideology”: the very nature of the human being becomes an instrument for the ideology, “corrupting” the human ontology and literally dehumanizing the very nature of the human being…

Therefore “social abortion” is not only about “dehumanizing” those who are being denied their human rights. Social abortion is about those who commit the violation of human rights because… they are the ones that were dehumanized first, the ones whose ontology was converted into an ideology. People is made to believe that who they are depend on the ideology, what is convenient or not convenient to the ideology… losing all sense about their own humanity.

This is something that must be seen clearly: when a person attempts to dehumanize someone else, is because he or she had been dehumanized first… and when this happens systematically, that is social abortion going on. Social abortion is not just the dehumanization of some. The dehumanization of some means the dehumanization of everyone. If I say this paraphrasing Martin Luther King’s phrase, I would say: injustice to anyone is a threat to justice everywhere. The example of this shown in the movie Unplanned is quite clear: a whole business model dedicated to dehumanize human beings, dehumanizing their employees because that is what is convenient to their profits…

Another characteristic of social abortion is, said in simple words, lies that are projected as real. The clearest example of lie in the movie Unplanned is deeply related with a “corrupted ontology”: Abby telling her client that who was inside her body was not a human being, but “tissue” or a few cells. When social abortion happens false realities are told and projected once and once again… but truth can’t be manipulated: every person is a human being, no matter in which stage of development she or he is, and so is entitled to human rights. This can go to the extreme of seeing as a “medical problem” something that is completely and truly natural: fertility and pregnancy.

There is another important detail about this: sometimes people is not conscious of the lies they are made to believe, as happens when Abby says that her job in Planned Parenthood was an opportunity to “make a real difference.” Sometimes people is not even given the chance to see truth… and that is why we all must avoid any kind of judgment of anyone. People can do wrong things for all the good reasons, and all the right things for the wrong reasons.

The fact is that once the ontology is corrupted, the consequences are many. The clearest example of this in the movie Unplanned is how Abby assumes her “fight for reproductive rights” as equal to the fight against the Holocaust, slavery or racism. Shawn gets it right: the three circumstances have in common the factor of selecting the dehumanizing of some, exactly as abortion does. If you assume the human being according to an ideological growth vision, you won’t see this, but if you see the human being according to a vision of personal human growth, the fact that every person is a human being strikes you in the face like a punch of evident truth. You can’t call a “human right” to something that is intrinsically dehumanizing. The same thing applies to the “growth targets”, as they were called by the Planned Parenthood regional director: “growth” is confused with “profits” that implied forced dehumanization of some, exactly like forced slavery worked centuries ago. Assuming dehumanization ––ideological slavery–– as “corporate policy” of any business model is intrinsically evil, no matter how profitable it could be.

What is the answer when social abortion is going on? How to save a whole society ––for a teacher, this would mean his or her students–– of a social abortion, of its own destruction as a culture or as a nation?

As it happened in the last post, I can’t answer this question just as a citizen and as a teacher. I must answer it also as a Christian.

The answer when social abortion is going on is a revolution of Love: incarnating God’s Love in the personal formation and radiate His Love unconditionally, as He does, literally in every place you are, even if you are in an ideological concentration camp, or surrounded by ideological slavery, the true cause of the social abortion that is going on. When you choose to radiate God’s Love unconditionally, you go straight to the root of the social abortion and the ontological corruption: ideological dictatorship, imposing an ideology as the order of a whole society, instead of organizing society according to honoring the human rights of all the citizens, as it should happen in a democracy.

When you choose to embrace a revolution of Love you are able to create a culture of life: a culture that recognizes everyone’s humanity unconditionally, in any stage of development, from conception to natural death. This is something that is a lot broader than only defending the life of the unborn, as “culture of life” is usually understood. A culture of life affirms the humanity of every person, respecting the dignity of everyone unconditionally.

A revolution of Love radiates light in the darkness of an abortive society that promotes social abortion: a society that selects whose humanity is recognized and whose humanity is not, so “aborting” all those who do not fit in their ideological convenience, like happens with the unborn, whose humanity is consistently denied. The unborn are not the only ones that are being socially aborted, but they are the clearest and most vulnerable example of social abortion in our days. There are many ways to “socially abort” a person, beginning with denying his or her right to life. Any violation of human rights is human violence, no matter how it is done, but any systematic violation of human rights ––when the violation of human rights become socially normalized–– it becomes social abortion. I think that classifying Unplanned as an “R” movie was a right move, because abortion is violence. The same applies to social abortion.

When a revolution of Love is embraced the personal formation is conceived according to personal growth ––what helps us to become the best humanity we can be––  and according to the image and likeness to God’s Love ––what helps us to become who we are called to be–– , instead of conceiving it according to the own interests and profits. The personal formation can’t be assumed according to the ideology of some, but according to the common good of all, because the true growth target of humanity is growing in communion, growing as brothers and sisters that are free, equal and full of plenitude This is how a revolution of Love promotes a culture of life? As God teaches us to do: Helping to be, to do, to grow and to radiate everyone, affirming everyone’s human rights unconditionally, making possible that everyone can grow as a brother and a sister with the same dignity.

Every public server ––including teachers–– are called to promote a culture of life. If a public server does not have the disposition to promote the growth of everyone as human beings that grow as brothers and sisters that are free, equal and live with plenitude… he or she is not fit to be a public server. This is not negotiable in a public server. A true public server is not in service of ideologies: is in service of all citizens. When we serve the common good as public servers through the promotion of a culture of life, we make possible the development of our nation as a nation of Love that grows in communion, a nation in which everyone can grow in communion.

That is what the revolution of Love is all about: making possible that everyone can grow in communion, incarnating God’s Love in the whole growth, adoring Him with our whole growth: with how we grow according to the image and likeness of His Love, and with how we make possible a “society of growth”, a society where everyone can grow as a brother and a sister that is loved as God loves. In a Christian, this is fruit of a fecundity of the Spirit, fruit of giving life as He does, fruit of making visible His Love, of adoring Him with our whole growth. This revolution is not political: is a revolution of conversion to Love, of conversion to charity, of conversion of the Holy Spirit. If the revolution of Love has political repercussions it because it has repercussions on the person. We must stop thinking about politics as the way to “convert” society. What converts society is the conversion of persons: what helps them to be, act, grow and radiate as the best human being he or she can be, what helps them to become who they are called by God to be. When people become who they are called to be, the whole society ––including politics–– converts in the best society we can be.

When a revolution of Love is embraced, we help society to become the best we ca be through helping everyone to grow, as unconditionally as rain that falls from Heaven. God is the first one interested in helping everyone to grow with plenitude. This revolution of Love makes visible His call of conversion: his call of becoming a living icon of God’s Love, making His Love visible in such way that everyone can grow in communion, as a brother and a sister of the same human family.

You don’t need to wait to an “ideal set of circumstances” to embrace a revolution of Love. As Anne Frank said: “How wonderful it is that nobody needs to wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” Wherever you are, whoever you are, whatever you have, you can start a revolution of Love that improves your society right here and right now, through making visible God’s Love unconditionally, through adoring Him with the whole growth, though converting yourself ––through letting the Holy Spirit to convert you–– in who He calls you to be: a living image of God’s Love, a beacon of the light of God’s Love, a living star of Heaven that shines through any darkness… including the darkness of social abortion.

As the movie Unplanned shows, making choices that defy the ideology of “powerful people and business” ––like the choice of embracing a revolution of Love–– will have consequences that should not be underestimated. It is funny the way the lawyer says it: “you are a big fish, and sharks smell blood…” They will be capable of anything to threaten you, in whichever way they can. I don’t only mean legal threats.

It doesn’t matter. Really, it doesn’t. God’s Love triumphs over all. God’s mercy can reach everyone, everything, everywhere. Jesus teaches this on the cross. He also teachers us that no matter how red our sins are, they will become white as snow if we repent and convert with all our hearts to His Love. You will never be so far away of God’s Love that you will not be able to come back to His merciful arms and let the Spirit radiate you with His light, that will make possible your conversion in who God calls to be.

It is never late to embrace a revolution of Love. It is never late for embracing the beauty and the joy of keep growing until becoming who God calls to be, and so transfiguring society in the family of brothers and sisters that God call us to be, full of growth freedom and free of any social abortion and any ideological dictatorship. Ending social abortion and any kind of ideological dictatorship is not only the duty of a Christian: it is also the duty of any citizen that loves his or her country and that loves humanity. Ending social abortion and any kind of ideological dictatorship is part of making possible a society full of growth freedom, a free society for everyone.

Really, there are many ways to embrace a revolution of Love everyday. There are many ways to make possible the growth in communion of everyone everyday. Just ask yourself: how I am becoming the person God calls me to be today? How I am radiating God’s Love through my whole personal formation today? How I am adoring God with the whole growth today? How I am listening to God’s call to conversion today?

This blog post ––what I wrote, where I wrote it, how I wrote it–– is part of my today’s answer to all those questions.

Let’s keep growing!