There is Life After Birth
As a Christian, I wholeheartedly believe in the sanctity of human life. God created us in his image and knit us together in our mother’s womb. Not only do I believe it, but this fundamental Christian belief saved my life.
When God was busy knitting me together in my mother’s womb, she became very sick with a muscular disease. While in the hospital receiving treatment, she was informed that if she went into labor in her condition it would be extremely difficult, and she might not make it through the delivery. The doctor finished the conversation with, “Someone will be in shortly to schedule your abortion.” Luckily for me, my mom had recently become a Christian. Even though she was brand new to faith, she had the Holy Spirit and knew that God was sovereign over human life. She could not go through with the abortion even if it would save her life. If there was a chance for me to live, she had to take it. God saved me by saving her. Just a few months earlier, before placing her trust in Jesus, she may have feared death and sentenced me to it. I grew up knowing this story and being thankful to my mom for preserving my life, but it wasn’t until I became a Christian that I really marveled at the way God had preserved my life.
As difficult and risky as my mom’s decision was, it was after my birth that she really had her work cut out for her. She had to care for a sickly premature infant. As I grew up, she had to navigate how to parent a disrespectful teenager. Even today, as an adult with six children of my own, she still worries about her “baby boy”. Her belief influenced her actions and changed the rest of her life.
I am trying to make two points here. The first point is that being philosophically pro-life is fine, but our beliefs ought to move us to take action. The second point is that there is still God-glorifying pro-life action to take after birth, which is when some of the hardest and most unpredictable care is needed. Believing in the sanctity of life can lead people to many godly actions. It led my mom to put her life at risk to save mine. It has led my wife and me to be foster and adoptive parents. This decision has radically shaped how our life has played out since. You might ask, “why do you call this decision pro-life?”
Each of the birth parents of the children that we have had the privilege to foster or adopt could have made their own lives easier in an instant by aborting their children. What many abortion advocates feared would happen when these parents brought their children into the world did happen. It made life difficult and they were unable to care for themselves and their children. For me, being pro-life is being there for those children in their time of need, which for some has meant becoming their parents permanently.
May the fact that human life is sacred not merely be a philosophy but a reality that moves us to Godly action. I encourage you to ask God, “How can I live my pro-life beliefs?”