Optimism reigns at first ‘post-Roe’ Pro-Life Conference

By PAUL BINZ

The Valley Catholic

McALLEN  —  The Diocese of Brownsville’s 2022 Pro-Life Conference began with one remarkable difference from all its predecessors.

“It is a great honor and pleasure for me to be addressing the rest of you today in the first-ever conference after Roe v. Wade was overturned!” Father Derlis Garcia, director of the Diocese of Brownsville’s Pro-Life Apostolate, exclaimed in opening the conference July 9 at Our Lady of Sorrows School.

“It is a great source of joy for me after so many years of expectation and, truthfully, suffering … that finally, after 49 years, the terrible decision of Roe v. Wade was overturned!” he said.

Legalized abortion in the United States flourished after the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. Almost 65 million abortions have been performed since then. But abortion is now prohibited in almost half the states since the modern Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade June 24.

The mood at the Pro-Life Conference was lighter than in years past, more celebratory, reflecting the culmination of decades of efforts to end abortion and support life. But the keynote speakers tempered the celebration by pointing out the work yet to be done: The issue is not yet settled; more court and legislative battles are ahead; and abortion is still legal in some 28 states.

The pro-life crowd of some 300 participants heard presentations from Father Garcia and McAllen attorney Ysmael Fonseca, a constitutional expert and former presiding judge of the 464th state District Court; from pro-life activist and author Patricia Sandoval, who urged renewal of family values; and from U.S. Rep. Mayra Flores, newly elected to Texas’ 34th Congressional District. Flores recounted how walking out of an abortion clinic as a teenager led to her happy marriage and motherhood.

Speaking last, Bishop Daniel E. Flores said that supporting life should continue to focus on supporting expectant and new mothers, babies and families. He praised “the day-to-day work that goes on in supporting mothers and children.”

“This is what we’ve been doing in the Valley, and this is what we have to keep doing, and do more of,” he said. “… We’re not going to say, ‘You’re on your own, Cada quien por su lado.’ That’s never the message of the Church.’

“It’s ‘how can we help you?’”

Bishop Flores said he was particularly concerned about women and babies in the colonias, and pushed for action there.

“We need better prenatal care,” he said, “and the colonias worry me a great deal because (the undocumented residents) are scared to go to the doctor. … One of the crises in our culture right now, que las mamas jovencitas no saben cuidar un niño porque nadie quiso enseñar (that these young mothers don’t know to care for a child because nobody wanted to show them.) But we have so many mothers, so many grandmothers who have so much wisdom to pass on.

“As the Holy Father says, we have our elderly who after they’ve raised their children are relegated to the side – but have so much to contribute! Especially to the young – the young mother, the young father, who want to know how. ‘Nobody showed us.’ And we can do that. It’s part of the resources that we have – the recurso de comunidad. The great resource of the Church is the community, when we actually try to help each other …

“Un encuentro. It can change a life – ‘that somebody took me under their wing, when I had nobody to talk to, when I was ashamed, when I was scared.’”

Bishop Flores urged the faithful to maintain focus and perspective, and to continue their efforts.

“… Our work, the law, has changed the conversation, and it’ll be a rough conversation for a long time,” Bishop Flores said. “But we have to maintain our peace, maintain our calm, and our focus. It’s about the good of our future as a people who try to take care of each other, who try to help each other, especially in the difficult circumstances. … The difficult cases are what really test our sense of what’s at stake.”

“I know in this diocese what the pro-life movement has meant. It has been the work, the prayer, the work of accompanying mothers expecting a child so they won’t be alone, that’s been going on for decades. … It’s a work of great love that pleads with mothers to accept the option and the gift of life.”