My dearest Preborn Baby, the headlines in Oregon this week tell a sad story about your moms and you. The Portland city council just approved changes in its bereavement policy that encourage public employees to take time off after their abortion. That means, Baby, that Mama can now pay to have someone kill you and then take time to recover from your death.

The policy, similar to one enacted in New Zealand, says the three days of bereavement leave can be taken if a woman has had a miscarriage, stillbirth, or any other type of pregnancy loss. According to the city council: “Loss of pregnancy incorporates abortion ‘irrespective of whether deemed medically necessary.’”

The baby to whom we write this tale of woe represents so many millions of children whose lives have been dismissed under the guise of an expectant mother’s decision to end her pregnancy. But the twist in Oregon is that in a rather macabre way the city council is recognizing the personhood of the child who is killed. Otherwise, bereavement—“the state of being sad because a family member or friend has recently died”—would not be needed!

So does the Portland policy actually recognize the fact that abortion kills a member of the human family? It certainly would appear so. How ironic, and yet how sad.

This comes at a time when religious leaders like Rev. Erika Forbes are claiming to do God’s will by fighting against the Texas law that would stop some abortions. And Portland, Oregon’s, Rev. Chuck Currie, of the United Church of Christ, argues that Christians should be pro-“choice,” saying “Jesus affirmed the moral agency of women.”

It seems that words themselves—including those of Christ, our Lord—have become twisted into personal opinions. This is why babies are having such a hard time in our culture today. The truth is distorted, ignored, and ridiculed. And the babies’ defenders often become victims themselves of this tragic war on their individual identity as human persons.

Into this tangle of deceit come pastors who lead their flocks with love rather than lies. But sometimes they do so without the favor of their bishops. I think of Fr. James Altman, who argued forcefully that no faithful Catholic could in good conscience vote for anti-Life Joe Biden. He said:

You cannot be Catholic and be a Democrat. Period. Their party platform absolutely is against everything the Catholic Church teaches. So just quit pretending that you’re Catholic [if you] vote Democrat.

In response, his bishop, William Callahan, refuted him and removed him from his parish, but everyday Catholics like you and me celebrate his courage. Speaking truth, as we said, is not acceptable in our moronic age.

But never fear, heroic priests continue to spread the word. Fr. Jerry Pokorsky, pastor of St. Catherine of Siena Church in Great Falls, Virginia, is one such priest and writes in “Follow the Science”:

Unborn babies—every unborn baby regardless of heritage, regardless of physical or mental characteristics—need our protection and love. And we need them to fill the earth according to God’s plan of marriage. We rejoice in science, the study of God’s handiwork. Life is beautiful, and God is great. Denying the humanity of an unborn baby and insisting we can choose our gender identities are anti-scientific superstitions.

“And he took a child, and put him in the midst of them; and taking him in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.’” (Mk 9:36-37)

And that, Baby, is the answer. The science tells us who you are. The words of Christ tell us how precious you are. And frankly, common sense tells us that you deserve to be protected as members of our families.

Receiving the children reminds us that each of them is a “manifestation of God in the world, a sign of his presence, a trace of His glory.” When that happens, those who love the truth and embrace the most vulnerable in our midst thrive and prosper because their wisdom is disseminated to others, especially those who are currently wallowing in the darkness of the abyss.

Hello Baby, that is you, and we hear you. We love you, and we will never stop defending you.