‘Here we are on an island that’s supposed to be Catholic, and yet the pro-abortion forces within the Catholic community are so strong here. It’s just shocking … It’s a nominally Catholic island, but is it really Catholic?  No, I don’t think so.  Most people who get abortions here are Catholic.’

Grace O. Garces | For The Pacific Voice

Dr. Marjorie DeBenedictis, spokeswoman for citizen group, The Esperansa Project

One of the main voices behind a group of volunteers that created the strong base needed for one lawmaker to push successfully for pro-life measures wanted to be an abortionist early in her medical career.

Dr. Marjorie DeBenedictis, spokeswoman for citizen group, The Esperansa Project, admits that as a medical student at the University of Southern California, she didn’t always have pro-life values.   She learned how simple it was to perform abortion procedures, and thought she would specialize in Ob-Gyn and do abortions. “It’s so easy. A slam dunk,” she said.

“I went to a pro-abortion medical school and we learned how to do suction D and Cs — dilation and curettages — on miscarriages.”  She said the method is used in early abortions and miscarriages.  “You stick in a very thick, hollow rod with a little bit of a scrape in one end and you just suck up the contents of the uterus.”

Ultimately, it was her reasoning that led her to be fierce in spreading the message that abortion is wrong. “Certainly the religious arguments against abortion are compelling, but science itself proves abortion is an abomination against life.  Any atheist can tell you that it doesn’t make sense,” she said.

“When you just look at the straight facts of it — that it’s a human being you’re killing — you absolutely can’t argue with that. And so all the other arguments crumble.  Because I couldn’t support the logic of it, I went the other way,” said Dr. DeBenedictis of her change of heart.

She decided to specialize in ophthalmology, and has been a stalwart in pro-life legislation.  In the less than three years the group has advocated under name, The Esperansa Project, it has made notable strides garnering the attention of Guam’s mass media; educating the community on the realities of abortion; and organizing a citizen’s guide to elect candidates whose legislative record, personal comments, and survey score closely matched pro-life values.

The medical practitioner said Guam continues to host the most unregulated abortion industry in the nation.  “Here we are on an island that’s supposed to be Catholic, and yet the pro-abortion forces within the Catholic community are so strong here,” she said.  “It’s just shocking.”

A bill that Esperansa had been waiting for legislative passage since it was introduced in February 2009 would have turned into a victory for Guam’s unborn babies.  Instead the victory for Bill 54, also known as “The Women’s Reproductive Health Information Act 2010,” was its ultimate veto.

Governor Felix Camacho vetoed Bill 54 on December 13, 2010 after learning from the group that the bill had been amended several times to materially change its original intent.  “We’ll start over,” said the Esperansa spokeswoman.  “I’m glad that what had become a lousy bill was vetoed,” she said.

Dr. DeBenedictis is dismayed at how difficult it is to pass pro-life legislation, and equally so at the number of Catholics who have aborted their babies.  “It’s a nominally Catholic island, but is it really Catholic?  No, I don’t think so.  Most people who get abortions here are Catholic,” she noted.

According to the group’s website, there were 327 abortions in 2008 and 266 in 2009.

The answer to end abortion, she said is catechism.  “Fundamentally, the answer is a strong family life where the family prays together and goes to Mass together,” she said.

“The church teaching is education begins at home,” she said.  “The primary responsibility for education lies with the parent.  Teach your children what it means to pray, what it means to respect life, and that’s where it starts.”

A call to the clergy

She also suggests that the clergy preach from the pulpit on the value of life. “The problem is the Church too. When was the last time you went to Mass and the priest said anything about contraception?”

She recalled that in her whole life living in various areas, there was only one Mass where the priest catechized from the pulpit.  “It was here on Guam, and it was an off island priest — it was the only time I’ve heard a priest talk about contraception.  It’s a difficult subject but I think it’s something the clergy really needs to tackle because abortion is just part of the continuum on the contraceptive mentality,” she said.

And lastly she suggested, “Be an integrated person and view your spouse as an integrated person.”

“We are beings to create. God’s first commandment is to be fruitful and multiply. He never rescinded that. That’s what men and women do:  they meet each other, they fall in love, they get together and they raise citizens for Heaven.  That was the first mandate ever given by God. To separate the functions of marriage — to be in love and be together physically and to make life and separate those — it ends up being a rejection of the complete human person.”

As the Spanish translation of Esperansa is “Hope,” Dr. DeBenedictis still holds hope that more people embrace their true Catholic values by respecting life, and help end abortion.  Through pushing legislation and continuing to inform and educate through e-mails and newsletters, the group in its Sept. 30 2010 newsletter said, “Abortion will not be stopped until more people know what abortion looks like. Where abortion is hidden, abortion is tolerated.”

As a mother herself, the medical practitioner says the most important thing that women do is bring life into this world. “What’s more important than being a mother?”

Esperansa is an unincorporated group of volunteers from Guam dedicated to protecting unborn children.  For more information, visit www.esperansa.org

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Next week, Part II: Looking to St. Lucy and other saints, DeBenedictis helps people in the community with her private eye clinic.