The Best There (almost) Never Was

I was reading an article today and this really stuck out to me:
"Consider the following:

• A preacher and his wife are very poor and almost destitute. They already have 14 children when she finds out she is pregnant with the 15th. Considering their impoverished status and the excessive global population, should an abortion be recommended?
• A father is sick. The mother has tuberculosis. They have four children. The oldest is blind, the second has already died, the third is deaf, and the fourth also has TB. The mother is pregnant again. Should an abortion be recommended?
• A white man viciously rapes an innocent 13-year-old black girl and she becomes pregnant. Should an abortion be recommended?
• A young, unmarried teenager becomes pregnant, greatly shaming her family. Although she recently got engaged, her fiance is not the father of the baby and he's beside himself with grief and anger. Should an abortion be recommended?

In the first case, John Wesley, one of the greatest evangelists of the 19th century would have been aborted. In the second case, Beethoven. In the third, Ethel Waters, the great African-American gospel singer. If the answer was "yes" to the fourth case, it just sanctioned the abortion of Jesus Christ."


This article only gave a few examples of women who were faced with a very real circumstance that might elicit having an abortion, but there are many more such as Steve Jobs, Faith Hill, Edgar Allen Poe, Tim Tebow, Jesse Jackson, John Lennon, Bill Clinton, Sarah McGlachlan... And this doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of all the wonderful people who aren't "famous" but have touched the lives of thousands of people.


-I didn't write this to slam Pro-Choice groups or even to try and convince anyone of anything. 
-I didn't write this because I am a Christian and the bible tells me that every life is valuable and worth saving.
-I didn't write this because I know what it feels like to grow a life inside of you and can't imagine stopping the breath of this little person.
-And I didn't write this because in my line of work I have done a lot of research about when life begins and scientifically I believe it points to conception.
-What I DID write this post for are the clients I have seen walk through the door at my job. Every day I meet women who are faced with terrible situations in which abortion feels like the best option and I would be lying to say their lives aren't extremely difficult. It is not my job to tell them what option to choose, my only goal is to make sure they leave our center fully educated on their options so no woman ever has to look back and say she made a choice out of ignorance. 


So here is why this article about women choosing life and those babies growing up to touch our world really hit home for me: I have counseled women who are victims of rape or abuse. Others have been left by their man or family to raise a child on their own. Some clients would have to give up something important (reputation, education, friendships, money) in order to chose life. I speak with women who are drug addicts, have felony records, and most often, women who are just plain-old heart broken. Some of these women choose abortion, a few of which feel confident in their decision and others who feel deep regret and sorrow over their choice. I don't judge them, I know their hearts were heavy and their situations difficult. Instead, I pray for God to heal any hurt they may gain in this process and call them to make sure they know they are loved anyway. But after two years of counseling women who are in crisis pregnancy situations, I have never, ever, had a woman who chose life over abortion and told me she regretted it. I'm not saying there has never been a woman who has, I'm just saying in my large pool of data I've never met one. I've had tons of emails and phone calls with updates on these sweet babies and how they are the most joyful part of their mommy's lives, but I have yet to have a woman say she wishes she would have chosen herself over her baby.


(sigh) I know how some of you are going to take this post, and I thought about that before I published it. Please know that I respect your right to your own opinion and I fully believe you are entitled to think whatever you want (as am I). If you say you support abortion, my response is going to be, we live in a country where you have a right to think your own thoughts and I am so grateful for that! So let's skip the argument and agree that freedom is wonderful :)