Why I Am Pro-Life

I recently read an article, written for a "progressive" (read "liberal") website.  The author was very antagonistic against the pro-life movement.  She referred to the upcoming March for Life as the "Fetuspalooza", and spoke of the attendees as “terrorists dressed up like sweet little grandmothers”.  In her eyes, all pro-life people are terrorists, just waiting to shoot an abortion clinic doctor in his church (Dr. Tiller), or bomb a clinic, or attack some defenseless young woman entering a clinic.

First, let me say, this woman has obviously never met a pro-life person.

Second, let me say, she has a right to her opinion, however misguided that may be.

Third, I have a right to my opinion.  My blog.  My say.  :o)

Growing up, I wouldn't say I was pro-life.  I wasn't pro-abortion, either.  Honestly, if someone had told me about abortion, I would have been appalled.  I knew NOTHING about it.  Roe v. Wade was a decision made while I was a young child.  Abortion was not a word in my vocabulary.

When I was in high school, our pastor's wife made me aware of an article regarding children who were the product of botched abortions (in LEGAL clinics), whose bodies were simply put into dumpsters.  Photographs accompanied the article.  I was sickened, and at first thought, "This cannot be happening.  This can't be true." 

Fast forward several years.  My husband and I had been married almost 6 years.  We wanted children so desperately, but had been unable to conceive.  Mother's Day was such a painful experience for me that year.  I was living in Michigan; my mother, in Kansas.  And no child of my own.  About a month later, my husband and I were at a training weekend (for ministers preparing for ordination).  One of the gentlemen sitting at our table was telling of his involvement in the pro-life movement.  He did a lot of "sidewalk counseling".  I was intrigued.

As he continued, he spoke of how many couples there were who would be willing to adopt these unplanned children.  He described the joy of convincing a young woman of the beauty of the life in her womb, and ways their ministry helped these young women through their pregnancies, deliveries, and the adoption process (or resources they had for those who chose to keep their babies).  I was amazed.

Yet, also added to the conversation was a comment by another gentleman.  "People who can't have babies need to stop complaining and get on their faces before God."  I know it was an off-the-cuff remark, made in total ignorance of our situation.  Yet it felt as if he had stabbed me in the chest.  I made a quick escape to the ladies' room, where I sobbed until I thought my heart would indeed literally break.  After I calmed down a bit, my husband and I took a walk.

The talk we had was not one of defeat, but of surrender.  Keith said we needed to release this to God.  We could accept our childlessness and live that way, or we could look into adopting.  That day, we surrendered our pain and sense of loss to God.

Less than two weeks later, we got the news:  I was pregnant with our first son.  The date was June 17, 1995--our 6th anniversary.  Three and a half years later, we got the amazing news that son number 2 was on the way.

These are three of my best reasons for being pro-life

Now, I know there are many couples who do not have this answer to their prayers.  They are wonderful, amazing, godly people who live with the pain of being infertile.  Some of these couples are able to adopt.  Some are not.  I wish I had the answer to this situation.  It makes me ache so much, as I remember the years of sorrow that were mine.

But what I do know is this:  Life is precious.  We must never, never take it for granted.  Many will want to debate with me that women who are raped or molested should have the right to abort their "fetuses".  Though the rate of conception caused in such situations is quite low, and the VAST majority of abortions are on young, college-aged women who are living promiscuous lives, the rape/molestation issue is a hard one to deal with.  I totally get that.  I have many friends who went through years of abuse.  But don't my disputants understand what abortion is?

Though Planned Parenthood calls this a "gentle procedure", I must completely disagree with that statement.  There is nothing gentle about suctioning the contents of a womb out, then going in and scraping the "remaining tissue".  For more accurate information, I submit this link.  The truth of the matter is this:  If a woman has been raped, the abortion procedure will only traumatize her more.  No woman I know will tell you that a cervical exam is pleasant, desirable, or in any way a procedure she looks forward to.  That exam is a walk in the park compared to abortion.  There is no comparison, really.

On top of that, there is the emotional issue.  When a woman becomes pregnant by any sexual act, whether consensual or forced, the same hormones begin working to sustain the new life within her.  Those hormones are there to help her body adjust as well.  This adjustment is supposed to last for 9 months, as the hormones surge and change with the growth of the baby.  If that process is abruptly ended by a miscarriage or abortion, the woman's hormones go crazy.  This causes emotional upheaval, depression, and even feelings of suicide in some women.  If the woman has already been through the horrible, indescribable emotions associated with rape, then the abortion is only multiplying her trauma.

I am very passionate about this issue, because of its importance.  Hubert Humphrey said, "It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped. "  It is unclear where the original quote is from, but it stands true.

A better quote is from Jesus:  And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ (For the complete passage, see Matthew 25.)

I could go on and on, giving you links to YouTube videos of people who have had abortions, survived abortions, etc.  But the bottom line is this:  Life is precious.  Every life.  The life of the young woman facing an unplanned pregnancy, the life of the young man whose girl friend is unexpectedly pregnant, and the life of the baby are all precious.  If we are truly pro-life, we will do our best to speak life to all we meet.  They need hope.

And as an aside, I do have insight into the abortion issue.  I have friends who have been through this.  I speak from their experience.