HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (UCAN) -- A Redemptorist who is active in pro-life activities says people who have abortions because pregnancies affect their plans should consider that God might have a plan of his own for them.

On Dec. 28, feast the of Holy Innocents, Father Joseph Le Quang Uy celebrated a special Mass in Ho Chi Minh City for pregnant unmarried women and people from a pro-life group founded by the Redemptorists.

In this commentary, he reiterates his concern about the large number of abortions in Vietnam and the thousands of women who die when abortions go wrong.

Citing official government records, he told UCA News state-run hospitals perform 1.4 million abortions a year. But he also said local Catholic health-care workers told him the same number of abortions are also carried out at private clinics.

Father Uy, 49, questions people's personal reasons for abortion as well as common fears about a population explosion. The priest claims the earth could support double its current population or more without ill effects, through God's providence, if people did not exploit natural resources greedily and harm the environment.

On a practical level, Father Uy and his confreres provide accommodations for women with unwanted pregnancies around the country. Members of their pro-life group go to state-run hospitals and health-care centers to encourage women intent on having an abortion to change their mind. They also collect and cremate aborted fetuses.

Meanwhile, Redemptorists distribute leaflets on the harmful effects of abortion to young people in parishes and industrial zones in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest urban center, and neighboring provinces. Hundreds of thousands of internal migrant workers live in these areas.

Father Uy said they also provide sex-education courses for youths and pastoral care for mothers who have had abortions. These women, some tormented by realizing they killed their own child, are encouraged to attend retreats and prayer meetings, go to confession, apologize to their aborted children and give full names to them. So far, thousands of such children have been named by their parents. Hundreds of parents also have placed flat stones on which they wrote these names at the Redemptorist abbey.

The Redemptorists have established many pro-life groups in the provinces and cities.

Father Uy's commentary follow:

Today people tend to fear that the presence of others around them may threaten their life. They reason very well that overpopulation causes a lack of food, social welfare, health care, education, housing and other services, so they want to bring the population under control in order to live a better life and become rich.

Their mottoes sound interesting but in themselves exude fear. For example: "Whether daughter or son, only two kids are enough." This means a third child must be aborted.

Recently some Redemptorists and I paid pastoral visits to some rural northern parishes. Local parishioners told us their experiences of family-planning programs launched by the government in the late 1980s.

They recalled Catholic villagers who refused to have abortions or use artificial contraceptive methods were forced to either use a contraceptive coil or be sterilized.

Government teams, each consisting of four men, came to Catholic villages where they caught hold of women's arms and legs, carrying them like they would a pig. The victims struggled and screamed for help, but it looked like a village procession followed by curious children playing drums and mocking the victims. Women were taken to village dispensaries where they quickly had a coil inserted.

The same thing for men. Those who already had two children and had been warned by authorities, but whose wives were pregnant again with their third or fourth child, were surely grabbed and sterilized by family-planning workers, similar to how people castrate male animals.

We never imagined that people could treat each other with such cruelty. Those cruel actions are the result of fear inside people's minds. They are afraid the presence of others will threaten their life security.

Once a fellow priest told me aborting a fetus is butchering one's own child. At first, I felt the argument was too horrible and barbarous, but then I understood its hidden meaning: Adults are so afraid of losing their food that they callously kill their own children.

Many parents plan to buy a new motorbike, repair their house or go on holiday at a future time. If an unwanted pregnancy occurs, they are so worried, saying that this ruins their plans. Instead of adjusting plans to the life situation, they decide to abort. They argue that children would be a burden for them, threatening their income and future, or that they would lose face and honor.

Experts say our earth, with its huge supply of natural resources, could feed several times more than the present population if people did not exploit those resources greedily and damage the environment. God puts His plan under His providence, so there is no lack of food, but man breaks this and seeks to repair it according to his own plan.

In Vietnam, if there were no corruption, environmental damage and pollution, and if the rich shared material and spiritual resources with the poor, we could still develop richly with a population two or three times larger.

Yet due to fear, when people do not accept God's will, they become isolated and busy with their plans. At any cost, they protect their plans by getting rid of those they think could threaten their life and rights.

When fear comes, people are selfish. They pay attention only to their life, and take care of themselves, despite others' suffering.

Once some pro-life group members asked a parish priest for permission to distribute leaflets on life protection to Sunday Massgoers at his church. He refused. He said he feared he would have some trouble from the local government. At that time he was asking for government permission to go abroad and to repair the bell tower.

Many people have asked me if I fear trouble when I talk about such sensitive issues. I have replied that I fear being arrested and having trouble, because I am human too. I have been questioned by police several times. However, I only want to tell the truth. I believe that when I tell the truth, I am no longer frightened. What I bravely speak out at least dispels the fear among listeners.

Jesus told his disciples, "Don't be afraid!" May He dispel that fear among us so that we bravely follow Him, do the Father's will and live in the peace of the Holy Spirit.

We tell people that if they break their plan when they have a pregnancy, it is God who has a new plan for them, a plan of love.

END

(Accompanying photos available at here)