In an insightful new commentary on the rise of “childlessness” in America, a Catholic woman who has experienced the joys of life as a mother of nine children and nurse addresses the pain experienced by women who “bought into the myth that contraception and abortion would liberate them for an awesome career in a ‘man’s world.”
Jennifer Giroux, Executive Director of HLI America, lays out a very strong case for the risks of deciding not to bear children. She cites recent census data that projects which groups of women are on track for “loneliness in their twilight years” due to being childless, describes the “prison of loneliness” that traps people in nursing homes or retirement centers with no children or grandchildren to visit them, and sheds new light on the Gospel of Luke that has sadly come true.
An excerpt from Mrs. Giroux’s piece:
- Jennifer Giroux, HLI America
When I was a child we lived 5 doors from St. Margaret of Cortona church. I recall how often we would walk down the street during Lent to frequently attend the Stations of the Cross. It is not until recently that I have been able to fully grasp what was meant by Our Lord as he met the women of Jerusalem on the way to the Cross:
“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed!’ “(Luke 23:28)
Let us pray for a conversion of heart for those who have bought into the myth that a lack of children will afford a better life, and ask Our Lady to comfort those who regret decisions not to bear children.
Join HLI America, a program of Human Life International, to spread the word that protecting life begins at home.
