And what happens to the doctor? After watching and listening to Gianna's presentation, he just stands confused in front of the shaving mirror the next morning, somehow finding it difficult to look into the familiar eyes facing him.

In his opening speech at the summer conference of the American Conservative Union (CPAC) in 2022, Viktor Orbán said, among other things, that thanks to his government's policies

"in the last ten years, the number of marriages has doubled and the number of abortions has halved in Hungary."

Glad to hear that, really, at least it is for all patriotic people.

It is part of the history that in Hungary, from June 1956, at the request of the mother, artificial termination of pregnancies was allowed practically without any further steps. From then on, for 15 years, there were more abortions every year than the number of children born. From 1974, the number of births exceeded the number of abortions every year, albeit to varying degrees.

However, in my opinion, this was not due to the change in the "abortion culture" at the time, but to the fact that the number of children increased in the following three years as a result of Ratkó's directive from the Minister of Health in 1953. And those born at that time reached the age of starting a family in the 80s and 90s - all this makes the more favorable statistical ratios three decades later understandable.

Despite this, the number of abortions in 1995 was still close to 80,000.

This "unfortunate state" - due to the family policy measures introduced by the conservative government - began to improve, and according to the 2017 data of the National Statistics Office , the figure measured in the mid-90s almost halved in the following two decades, from 80,000 to 40,000.

This symbolically means that the population of Hungary would increase by one city of forty thousand each year.

Yes, but we lost the same amount. Every year, a city the size of Veszprém, Cegléd, Gödöllő, Pápa or Mosonmagyaróvár is removed from the map of our country!

The following part of the KSH 2017 data should be highlighted: "The number of induced abortions per 100 live births reached its highest value in 1964 with 140 terminations of pregnancy..."

This means that the country lost 140 fetuses against 100 babies born in the 1960s.

The KSH data continues as follows: "In 2016, the value of this indicator was 33, which means that there was one induced abortion for every three births."

In addition, this is a very big and positive change.

Still, each induced abortion means the end of a child's life. Of a man who, if he could speak, might be able to tell us something important. As abortion survivor Gianna Jessen did in a deeply moving performance at Queen's Hall in Melbourne, Australia. Because he survived the chemical abortion performed on his mother and grew into a human, that's why he was able to speak his mind.

Thoughts that not only whipped up the emotions of many mothers, but also tore up their most intimate and painful memories, banished to the depths of their consciousness.

In fact, what a denial, being a man even evoked unwanted memories in me. Even when I was young, I considered this intervention to be, if not murder, at least to a certain degree evil, in Budapest, during World War II. In the operating room of the Women's Clinic, as a strict doctor, I once had to assist with an abortion. To put it in professional terms: I am camping.

There were just two women whose children would most likely have been born sick. At least that's what I tried to do to calm my conscience. And in my youthful enthusiasm, I felt that these mothers "have the right" to their decision, and that I, the doctor, "just help them". After all, the doctor's job is to help, that's his profession!

Yet if we think about it, as a result of this "help", dozens of Hungarians of the future generation die every day in the country's gynecological operating rooms.

Of course, I didn't see this so clearly before either. I did feel that something was wrong with this "help", but I couldn't formulate what exactly at the time. Because it's a cliché, but there are always two sides to the coin. However, I can state this much - and now perhaps again to calm my own conscience - that during my long and varied medical career, if someone was preparing for such a decision and asked for my advice, I almost always argued in favor of the child to be born. Almost always…

And when not? When the mother herself was still a child. I was standing next to him then. In addition, in addition to the 13-14-year-old "child", whose parents - the potential grandparents - brought me to me in desperation, teary-eyed, to give me some good advice.

So am I guilty too?

The answer is difficult, because in this case one sees that the Good Lord, by bestowing upon us free will, has also placed a huge responsibility on our shoulders. Because what happens when someone - a parent or a doctor - decides to take the fetus? And now I'm only thinking about the variation in which the child to be born would probably be born sick.

In this case, I see three possibilities, theoretical considerations and attitudes.

If I believe in reincarnation, I am faced with an interesting thing. I will not give the soul to be born, which this time would have the opportunity to correct the mistakes made in its previous life, to do so. I postpone the possibility of a solution until a later time, that is, I delay the ennoblement of the soul.

If I don't believe in reincarnation, but I believe in the teachings of the Christian faith, then the situation is different.
I am not facing a soul, but a divine decision. With a divine decision, which wanted to send a soul in human form, at the cost of such difficulties, to the material world, thus wanting to test it and thus wanting to make eternity available to this soul. Because it is well known that the smooth road does not always lead to our goal. Therefore, a crippled, mentally single-minded person may not be more worthless in God's eyes than a beautiful model with a perfect body and a possible IQ of 140. The point is not the body, but what is covered by the material shell.

On a smooth, paved road, one can easily slip, lose direction, and not reach the destination, while on the other hand, on a bumpy road, one can always find a handhold, even though it is a more difficult road. I learned all this when I visited Csíksomlyo in 2005. Because this Golgotha ​​of Csíksomlyó was something very special!

At night, in the pitch dark, sliding on pebbles and stepping on increasingly steep rocks, we moved higher and higher in the direction of the Salvátore chapel. There was no built road or stairs there, not even a road sign! Only a tiny flickering candle light indicated the direction, which the intercessor placed in front of the cross when we reached the first station. And in this pitch darkness, where only this one cross lit up near and far, it was so quiet that we only heard our tired panting. Then we prayed aloud and rested. Yes, we rested in front of the cross of the station, only to start again even higher, up, stumbling, towards the next faintly glowing cross. And finally up, all the way up at the end of the road, all of us, without exception, collapsed in the wet grass, exhausted, and panting, silently glad that we had finally arrived and reached our goal.

And it may be that we take away the opportunity from such a shuffling, stumbling, panting soul to be able to happily say: I have arrived at the end of his life, having reached his goal.

Do I have the right to do this? Do I have the right to deny him life? Or take it away?

The third option is the materialistic approach. And this is our trap. Our training is based on this perception and outlook on life, from our elementary school days until the end of our natural science studies. We start on this track when we step out into life, and doctors are no exception. The body is reality for them, just as it is for the "Great Average", while the soul, on the other hand, is only an assumption. We have to look at their behavior and decisions from this point of view, even when they are faced with a young girl, a mature woman, or a mother with several children. All three of them visit the doctor to get rid of the blessed burden that has unexpectedly fallen into their laps. Because at that moment, each of them feels hopeless about their future.

The girl wants to continue her education, but she is afraid that her parents will find out what happened to her, she is afraid that she will not be able to go to university, and she is afraid - perhaps not without reason - that her partner will be afraid of the responsibility, will not stand by her, and will eventually leave her.

And the mature woman just got the job that she had set her goal for a long time after her vocational training or university graduation. And now he finally got it. Finally, the situation is ripe! - the jubilant feeling washes over him. It made sense to give up the vacations and travels of the previous years, perhaps even the breakup that happened with the love of his life, since he didn't want to get married just because he didn't want to be tied down. But now you have the job you've been waiting for. And then - like a bolt from the blue - he tells her that she's pregnant! He feels that his life has been derailed and that everything has fallen apart.

And the mother? That certain third woman? What about him? What happened to him? After all, if nothing else, at least he would know what a joy a child is! You know, except that this would be the fifth, and the father of her children has not been able to find a job for two years, and they only make ends meet from odd jobs. What will happen to us - they think - if this fifth baby is also born, and maybe it won't even be healthy?

And all three, all three expectant mothers, look to the doctor as their only hope, while feeling that they have the right to get rid of their blessed burden, since in modern societies, based on the letter of the law, this may be possible for them. And the doctor decides... And "helps".

Then a few days pass, everything slowly falls back into the old routine. It was "only" a week or two of sickness, no more. Then, as if nothing had happened, life goes on, as and where it left off.

But is it really so? Does life go on as before? Have they really been relieved of a burden?

This is difficult to answer.

Then unexpectedly, years later, lo and behold, a "burden" that was accidentally left alive suddenly appears on the Internet, and with his words he rips open wounds that were thought to have been healed long ago.

And what happens to the doctor?

After watching and listening to Gianna's presentation, he just stands confused in front of the shaving mirror the next morning, somehow finding it difficult to look into the familiar eyes facing him.

He then thinks he discovers a vague writing on the forehead of his reflection. "Guilty," he spells it out. Then, confused, he rubs the mirror to see if it's just the glass's vapor causing this strange refraction, but to no avail. That "Sinner" - as if an invisible hand gently rubbed it into the material - remains there. He bends down nervously, starts washing his face, then rubs his forehead hysterically, but that doesn't help either. The stamp will remain the stamp, and from now on, you will see it every time you look in the mirror.

Why did I listen to Gianna's lecture? - he thinks with a sweaty forehead, then finally gets into his car and heads to his workplace, the clinic.

To where the young pregnant mothers are already waiting for him in front of the operating theater...

Can we really not learn? Not even at our expense? The question remains a question.

And look, this is what the introduction of fetal heart sounds in 2022, for those waiting for an abortion, against which the left fights so ferociously, would serve. And yet this voice is the one that can ring into the souls of those waiting for surgery and turn them into mothers.

Either way, we have to do something! Or we shouldn't.

(TTG)

Featured image source: Vatican News