It took me a couple of days to decide.
I had contributed money to a pro-life group at Mass one Sunday, and in the packet of information representatives gave to donors was a small bumper sticker.
The white bumper sticker simply said “Pro-Life” in large blue print and the name of the Crossroads organization in a smaller size.
I thought about going right out and putting it on the naked bumper of my Toyota.
I surprised myself. I hadn’t thought about doing something like that in years.
It was about three decades ago that I swore off bumper stickers, especially ones that espoused a “cause.”
I was in college at the time, studying journalism. Journalism. Freedom of the press. Freedom of speech. They were as big to me then (and now) as freedom of religion.
I was also pro-life. So one day, I placed a bumper sticker on my behemoth of a Plymouth: “Never to laugh or love. Fight abortion.”
Someone ripped it off my car.
I was upset to say the least. I also was angry. My car. My bumper. My bumper sticker. My opinion. None of your business.
As a practicing Catholic, I was offended. As a pro-life supporter I was offended. As a young future journalist I was shocked. I swore I never again would put any bumper sticker on my car, and for three decades I lived up to that with the exception of briefly sticking an innocuous beach saying on the left rear of a later vehicle.
Something changed when a guy who was part of Crossroads came to my parish. This kid was a member of a group walking across the country to call attention to the topic of abortion and more.
And I had his bumper sticker, a bumper and some lingering trepidation.
After a few days, I pasted it on.
For me, it was an act of faith and also an act of defiance.
Faith: I believe God calls me to be respect life. I also believe that if I were an atheist I still would feel a need to be pro-life. Killing our children, in very simplistic terms, just does not make sense. If you must, forget the religious grounds. Forget the moral grounds. There is just something instinctively wrong with murdering unborn babies.
Defiance: I know someone may hit my car again. I cannot stop that. I shouldn’t let that stop me, either.
I am pro-life.
I also am pro-choice: my choice is to voice and show my opinion and hope others will respect that I have the right to do so whether they agree with me or not.
I look at that bumper sticker every day just to make sure it still is there. I marvel that it is. I suspect one day it might not be.
If that happens, I will have more bumpers in my future. More bumper stickers, too.
Patricia Quigley is a freelance writer and a member of Incarnation Parish, Mantua.
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