Published February 4, 2007

‘We Create Our Own Misery’
Doctor: Reclaim Value of Life, Sex

By Ray Dyer
Sooner Catholic

OKLAHOMA CITY — Dr. Mary Martin finds it more than a little ironic that our culture throws a fit when it learns a prominent sports figure has used steroids in an effort to enhance his athletic career. Some Babe Ruth wannabe shoots himself full of cancer-causing chemicals so he can run a little faster or hit a ball a little further and it makes headlines for weeks. The news is so shocking Congressional hearings are held. Elected leaders point their fingers  at red-faced sports celebrities and demand that the American public be told the truth. After all, our national honor is at stake. Good, clean sports is what the American public demands.

At the same time, the media or talk show hosts barely offer a  whimper when a
lawmaker introduces              Mary Katharine Hufnagel, 16 months old, attending her second Sanctity of Life Mass. legislation that would promote poking needles into young girls under the guise of protecting them from sexually transmitted diseases that can cause cancer. Martin says she finds it especially disturbing that the substance being touted as the preventative medicine for these, if not already, obviously soon-to-be sexually active girls has only been tested for about four years. She wonders how we as parents and as a society could  be willing to gamble the long-term physical and mental health of our young daughters with a substance that has so many unknowns. What could possibly be the payoff?

That might be a good question for the Oklahoma state senator who introduced Senate Bill 487. If it ever becomes law, SB 487 would “forbid female children from entering the sixth grade unless they have been immunized against the human papilloma virus, which can cause cervical cancer.” A board certified obstetrician/gynecologist, Martin has been battling for several years what she calls the big lies produced by the contraceptive culture. It’s a culture with deep pockets belonging  primarily to the nation’s major pharmaceutical firms, which may explain why some lawmakers do what they do.  

Martin offered these thoughts while speaking to about 200 people at a reception following the annual Sanctity of Life Mass. The Jan. 24 Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Beltran at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The Mass has been held every year since the Supreme Court in 1973 made abortion on demand the law of the land. In his homily, Archbishop Beltran pointed out an entire generation in the United States has never lived in a land where the law was anything other than    abortion on demand. He said our nation has become desensitized to the horrific violence of abortion.

Martin said she once followed the same pill-promoting path as most in her profession. She was also once a young woman with all the same desires as every other human who has or will walk the face of the earth. But Martin said her eyes and heart were opened as she seriously and prayerfully considered the consequences of the abortion culture. She said the first question many young women ask after having their first abortion is “‘Can I get pregnant again? Will I be able to someday have a baby?” Or, “How soon before I can get pregnant again?” They understand immediately what they have done, she said.

Martin scoffs at those who say the only way to prevent teen pregnancy is to provide children with safe sex education.

“It’s hard when you have the 11-year-old coming in pregnant,” Martin said. That’s when she realized “we’re obviously not protecting them” from sex. The better way is to teach the truth, that sex is God’s great and beautiful gift and is intended for marriage.  
Zoe Isabella Moreno, 7 months, enjoys a bottle following the Sanctity of Life Mass. 

Martin said the failure rate of birth control pills is 10 percent. The failure rate for condoms, she said, is 15 percent. She said chastity is the only 100 percent guarantee against becoming pregnant, and it offers the same guarantee when it comes to   protecting against the spread of  sexually  transmitted  diseases. Chastity won’t put money into the pockets of the pharmaceutical  companies or the abortion industry, but it will save a great deal of heartache. “We create our own  misery,” Martin said.

 Gene and Carolyn Semrad drove from Enid for the Sanctity of Life Mass. Carolyn said they “try to make it every year. We’re very pro-life.” She believes eventually the nation’s Supreme Court will reverse its 1973 decision.  

“I’m sure it will one day be reversed,” she said. “I hope I live to see that day.”