I didn’t expect anything different from the self-congratulating pro-life leaders in DC a few weeks ago. The bright smiles. The glib confidence. I could march along with them as science confirms what many of them know — a unique, new human being is formed from conception forward and deserves protection. For that, I applaud, but I cannot walk with them. The pro-life movement falls short when it chooses to be silent on other life issues — poverty, war, the drug war, labor rights, the environment, but especially immigration in light of the mass deportations.
How do they reconcile the contrast between their marches and the immigration raids sweeping the country that week and since then? All their rah, rah is a clanging cymbal for a “safe and approved” issue, so deemed by their financial and political backers. Not one word was said about the people being deported. Not one word about people being sent to Guantanamo Bay or being sold to prisons in El Salvador and Guatemala. Not one word about the value of their lives.
Vance spoke at the pro-life rally in DC, and I can agree with some of what he said, but I wonder how true his “pro-life” stance is because what he said in an interview afterward resounded louder and provoked a response from Pope Francis. I won’t quote Vance directly, but he said that being a good Christian means caring for your own first and then others in a self-centered twist on Christian charity, solidarity, and building the Kingdom of God. You must care for both, and sometimes at the same time—that’s the Christian call, especially when your country’s corporate-controlled policies play a significant factor in mass migration. That’s something all parties are silent on.
Venezuela and her many migrants are a case in point.
Venezuela holds the largest oil reserves in the world — nearly 20 percent. For many years, giant multinational corporations ran their industry, many of which were from the United States. When their government nationalized the oil, those companies lost out. At their behest, the US government sanctioned Venezuela and then tightened the screws in 2017 and 2019, causing Venezuela’s economy to shrink by 75 percent! That’s not an exaggeration. People starved. And many fled. Did they have a choice? Many came here. The Maduro government had a big hand in creating its problems, but the country so depended on oil exports that losing them choked the economy. Other US allies would not allow Venezuela to access its assets across the globe.
Read more on the effects of the sanctions on Venezuela at the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.
We must recognize the dignity and value of migrants, refugees, and our brothers and sisters in other countries. Being citizens of the United States does not make us superior human beings able to discard people we deem less human. However, I often hear that in the rhetoric of our politicians and the attitudes of many of our fellow citizens.
Following Jesus should make us uncomfortable, as we cannot fully side with any political idea, party, or faction. We must occupy an uncomfortable middle, lest we be used, as I often feel happens with the pro-life movement in the United States. Many pro-lifers support the only life issue their politicians deem worthy of discussion or genuine engagement. It’s not politically expedient to question how our economy works, the value of immigrants and other marginalized peoples, or bad and interfering foreign policy, as is the case with Venezuela, among many others. To recognize these issues and demand better might tarnish how we view our country and its leaders. Better a tarnished image than a blind selfishness.