In her 1979 Nobel Peace Prize address, Mother Teresa of Calcutta warned the world of a dark moral logic that would follow the acceptance of abortion.
“I feel one thing I want to share with you all, the greatest destroyer of peace today is the cry of the innocent unborn child. For if a mother can murder her own child in her own womb, what is left for you and for me to kill each other?”
Her words were not only about abortion; they were a warning about what happens when a society loses its sense of the sacredness of life. According to a recent LifeSiteNews report, that prophecy echoes today in the disturbing normalization of violence in public life. The article connects this growing tolerance for violence to the same ideology that once justified the killing of the unborn.
When the Boundaries of Life Blur
As LifeSiteNews notes, “If we can kill millions of children, even after the point at which they could survive outside the womb, for ideological reasons, then why not those who are politically and ideologically inconvenient?” According to the report, recent years have seen violent threats against judges, pro-life advocates, and even public figures, signs of a deeper moral corrosion.
The story of Dolly Kay Patterson, a California woman sentenced for threatening a federal judge who ruled against the abortion pill, is one of several examples cited by LifeSiteNews. Similar hostility was directed at Supreme Court justices after the overturn of Roe v. Wade. In each case, the target was someone who defended the unborn or questioned abortion’s moral legitimacy.
Mother Teresa foresaw that this breakdown in respect for life would not stay confined to clinics. Once human life can be defined as disposable, society becomes vulnerable to justifying other forms of violence and vengeance. As one pro-life writer quoted by LifeSiteNews observed, “In the long term you cannot have war in the womb and peace on the streets.”
A Call to Rebuild the Conscience of a Nation
For Catholics, the lesson is clear. The fight for life is not only about laws, it is about conversion. Mother Teresa’s words were always paired with action:
“We are fighting abortion by adoption … We have saved thousands of children.”
To rebuild a culture of life, Catholics must renew their commitment to mercy, prayer, and moral clarity. The solution is not vengeance but love, offering women and families real help, offering children hope, and reminding the world that human dignity is not conditional.
The LifeSiteNews article concludes that “the destruction of tens of millions of helpless babies does something profoundly horrifying to the conscience of a nation.” According to Mother Teresa, the antidote is simple but costly: the courage to love when the world chooses power.
From the Womb to the World
The red thread connecting abortion to social unrest is not political; it is spiritual. Every act that devalues human life diminishes peace. As Catholics, we must remember that peace begins where life is cherished. When we defend the unborn, we are not only saving children; we are protecting the moral foundation of civilization itself.
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