Pro-life battle includes fighting discouragement

That's because she's a pro-life advocate for the New York State Catholic Conference, lobbying state lawmakers on issues like abortion and the death penalty on behalf of the state's bishops.

Being pro-life may be right, she noted, but it isn't always considered politically correct.

"I'm always being attacked for being `anti-women,'" she said, rolling her eyes and questioning how a woman could be anti-women. Pro-choice advocates "say if I really cared, I would see that abortion is necessary for women's health. I'm called an extremist."

On the parish, diocesan and state level, pro-life advocates admitted that standing up for their values sometimes means feeling discouraged. The fight to make society respect life from conception to natural death isn't easy. However, the group stressed, it is worth it.

Campus life

Life issues are "something I feel really strongly about," she told The Evangelist. As the oldest of six children, she said she's always been in an atmosphere where children are "valued for the joy they bring to life."

In addition, her grandfather lived with her family for several years before his death, and one of her sisters is developmentally-disabled, so she has seen all aspects of the spectrum of life.

"I can't believe anyone would say they have no right to be here," she said of her family members.

Discouraging

"It was discouraging. Nobody would even come and ask us" why the group chose to show the drawings, she said.

Ms. Towne herself is often uncomfortable when pro-choice friends share their views. "People who are pro-choice really think they have a compassionate view and they're thinking of the mother," she explained. "I would say we strive to have respect for all life, including the mother."

Facing bias

Aside from that, it can be discouraging when pro-life bills fail to become law, or politicians refuse to respect life.

"I've been a lobbyist for the bishops for 16 years, and in that time I've seen one legislator change his mind" from pro-choice to pro-life, said Mrs. Gallagher.

Feeling guilt

"I feel guilty. I don't do as much as I should," complained Mrs. Drislane, pro-life coordinator for Our Lady of the Assumption parish in Schenectady. "You're like Peter, denying Christ. When I do bring [life issues] up, it's at church. I'm not a proselytizer."

Mrs. Gallagher noted that she has been "attacked viciously because I don't put my body on the line blocking abortion clinics."

She reminds such attackers of a quote from St. Paul: "`There are different gifts, but the same spirit.' I write well and communicate well orally, so I use my talents in other ways."

Counterweight

"Number one is prayer, and you can pray anywhere," she stated. "People all have a different avenue. It's not like you have to do it all."

While she admitted that her work doesn't bring her in contact with critics as often as the other women interviewed for this article, she said that "everyone needs to know that even if they touch one person, then they have succeeded. The frustrations subside because you give food to a food pantry and know you've touched someone; you're nice to someone on the bus and you've touched a life."

Grassroots

Even though she just completed college and is starting a career at a local advertising agency, she plans to continue speaking to high-school students about abstinence.

Mrs. Gallagher added that "the most important communication anyone can make is sitting at a family meal and bringing up [life issues] with relatives who don't agree with you -- or at the Little League field, or wherever you happen to be. People need to be educated one-on-one."

She joked that Thanksgiving dinner with her extended family is always "very heated" because she shares her pro-life views, but said "that's how you plant seeds."

Mrs. Drislane agreed that everyday life brings many opportunities to promote life.

"I'm involved in public school, baseball, PTOs," she noted. "When somebody brings up abortion, I tell them I'm against it. That's how I handle trying to make it politically correct -- by making people see I'm a normal person, making people realize you're part of mainstream society, and you know it's wrong."

Slow success

"I believe we're going to make a difference -- probably not in my lifetime. But look at how long it took the abolitionists to end slavery," she stated. "It's the same kind of mission."

As medical technology gives more and more access to life inside the womb, the lobbyist believes people's attitudes toward life issues will begin to change.

"That's got to have an effect on people's consciences," she said. "A lot of the problem with abortion is `out of sight, out of mind.'"

Support system

"If you don't have faith and prayer, it's hard to keep from getting discouraged," Mrs. Gallagher said. "Those are two essential elements. I love that quote from Mother Teresa: `We're not called to be successful; we're called to be faithful.'" Arguing for life "is daunting, but it's the right thing to do."

(07-06-00) [[In-content Ad]]