This article isn’t one I had planned to write, but was instead inspired by the 40th anniversary of the passage of Roe v. Wade this week. It is not a story about the latest political fight on Capitol Hill or what the latest unemployment numbers are, but rather a personal reflection on what the abortion debate means to me and how it has substantially changed my life.
Seven years ago I was faced with a situation that, at the time, wreaked havoc on my life. I was a 16 year-old junior in high school with absolutely no thoughts about children; I felt at that time, that children were something I never wanted, but I soon found out that I had a major decision to make regarding that very subject.
I was faced with two options: parenthood or continuing my life as an average teenager with a dark secret unbeknownst to the outside world. Both options were viable and on the table.
Seven years later, I’m the proudest 23 year-old father alive with full custody of a beautiful, witty, comic six-year-old angel by my side. It pains me to think that one defining moment could have changed this reality by stifling the providential plan by an omnipotent and omnipresent God. Through my disobedience and wrongdoing, life was entrusted upon me to care for, nurture, and love. It was a responsibility that truly changed the course of my life and undoubtedly set me on a much wiser and responsible course for the future.
I look at abortion advocates today and I think of the face of my child. I think of the smiles that have occurred, the tears that have been shed, and the quirky laughs that she evokes each and every single day. While I’m thankful for each one of these special moments, my heart breaks for those who weren’t as fortunate as her, those without the same opportunities that she has, and those who will never see what this life has to offer. Rather than celebrating the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, our hearts should mourn for those that came before and after her who were swept up in a violent wave of the shedding of innocent life.
All life is sacred, and all life has meaning; the key to making this evident is how we treat those among us who are truly the most voiceless and defenseless in society. Adoption laws only add to the loss of life both here and abroad, but the key issue in this debate is the fundamental assertion that all children deserve life, both living and unborn.
The severity of this issue must be underscored. Since Roe v. Wade was handed down from the Supreme Court in 1973, “55,772,015 abortions… have destroyed the lives of unborn children.” That’s an epidemic in serious need of a remedy. The pro-life efforts of millions of Americans will undoubtedly continue in the coming years and the debate is far from settled in American politics, but let us look at the faces of our children, the laughs that they give us, and the memories they create daily and remember that life is sacred and it is worth fighting for as much today as it was in 1973.
(Photo attributed to Maryland Right to Life)
