Award-winning journalist Sue Ellen Browder opened her presentation at this year’s Legatus Summit by saying, “If you don’t tell your story—no one else will.” Her topic, “How I Helped the Sexual Revolution Hijack the Women’s Movement,” was both eye-opening and alarming as she revealed how propaganda has driven the outcome on the abortion issue, including the U.S. Supreme Court decision. She defines propaganda as “partial truth about the world—false truth, half-truth, and truth out of context.”
Browder worked for Cosmopolitan Magazine, where she said the propaganda belief that Cosmo promoted was, “sex without the kids and hard work would set you free.”
In reality, the Cosmo philosophy was a spiritual attack (1) on Mary and (2) on the motherhood of both the Catholic Church and Mary because it essentially stated that the “two things a woman could not be was a virgin and a mother.”
Browder explained that while the women’s movement started off with two aspects—first, to expand women’s rights which included many women who were and continued to be pro-life, and, second, to bring about a sexual revolution, it did not stay anchored in these two aspects.
She described how Larry Lader, a population planner and biographer of Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, along with Dr. Bernard Nathanson, founder of NARAL (National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, formerly National Abortion Rights Action League) and Betty Friedan, President of NOW (National Organization of Women) joined forces to make abortion legal.
In 1966, Lader, assisted by Cyril Chestnut Means, wrote a book titled “Abortion.” At a crucial meeting on November 18, 1967, in the Chinese Room of the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D. C., an eight-point Political Women’s Bill of Rights was presented. Plank 8 brought abortion and contraception into the Women’s Movement. That plank 8 split the movement with only 57 of the 100 women present voting for plank 8. More than one-third walked out and resigned. The media did not report this walk-out, nor that there were just seven votes over 50%. Yet that critical vote became the impetus for seeking to have all abortion laws repealed.
Judge Warren Burger assigned the Roe v. Wade case to Judge Harry Blackmun, who allowed his law clerk George Frampton to draft the opinion. Frampton relied on the book “Abortion,” written by Lader and Means.
Lader became the accepted authority on abortion and 2000 years of Catholic theology for which he had no rightful basis. The book “Abortion,” a propaganda instrument to promote abortion on demand, became the quoted source, even though unreliable, for the Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions. Seven intellectuals and members of the U.S. Supreme Court accepted the propaganda in this book, which resulted in overturning the abortion laws in the U.S.
Looking back, this is almost hard to believe and diabolical. In sharp contrast to the propaganda-filled “Abortion” book, it is to Sue Ellen Browder’s great credit to have done credible research in writing her book, “Subverted,” on how the scourge of abortion has spread across the U.S. and much of the world.
Being where we are in 2018, what can be done?
Browder sees the following steps as viable actions:
- Reclaim the true history of the Catholic Church and facts on Christian Pro-Life feminism;
- Turn off the lies of the secular media;
- Humbly pray the Rosary every day for the end of abortion.
Browder’s presentation at the Legatus Summit was greatly beneficial to all in attendance. As Catholic business men and women, we can use this information to explain to others how propaganda was used to advance the terrible acceptance of abortion on demand.
Let us remember this quote: “I do not believe the promises of this Declaration of Independence are just for the strong, the independent, the healthy, they are for everyone—including unborn children,” said former President George W. Bush.
Who is your role model?
Over the Christmas holidays, sitting around the table after lunch, one of our grandsons suggested we play a game in which each person shares who, in their opinion, is a person living today whom they would wish to be?
It was an interesting question. It got me thinking. Initially, I did not have an answer for another person I wanted “to be.” Instead, I thought about all those people who did things I admire. Changing the game to “persons whom we admire” made for an exciting discussion.
This brings up the subject of “role models” – there are pluses and minuses.
According to Bob Gass, “We all need good role models. But when you devote your life to being like somebody else, you risk becoming something God doesn’t want you to be. The danger in hero worship comes from forfeiting your individuality and missing the path God has mapped out for you personally. Some of the lessons God teaches us may be similar, but another person’s purpose, gifts, journey and time-frame will be different from yours. He wants to protect you from anything that would rob you of your uniqueness or threaten your relationship with Him. Bottom line, if you want to be on safe ground, make Jesus your role model, you’ll win every time.”
So, some questions for you:
- Are you ready to be a role model?
- Can you use your knowledge of Jesus Christ to help you create the right image for others to follow?
- Will you take up the cross of Christ to encourage others?
- Will you “be not afraid” to stand up for the dignity of the human person from conception to natural death?
If your answer to these questions is “yes,” then you are on the way to helping others, saving our Judeo-Christian values and overcoming what propaganda has done to weaken respect for life and love for our neighbor. Let’s be bold and courageous together.
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Timothy Von Dohlen is the founder and president of the John Paul II Life Center and Vitae Clinic in Austin, Texas. (www.jpiilifecenter.org) For a more robust bio, click here. – www.catholicbusinessjournal.biz/content/tim-von-dohlen. He may be reached at Timothy@CatholicBusinessJournal.biz
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