Mother Teresa and abortion

 “Mother Teresa of Calcutta, National Prayer Breakfast, Washington DC. February 1994

. . . I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love and we must remind ourselves that love means willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave his His life to love us. So, the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love, that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts.

 

By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills her even own child to solve her problems. And, by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. The father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.

 

. . . Each child is created in the special image and likeness of God for greater things – to love and to be loved.”