Life and the Sanctity of It

A few weeks ago, I got to attend the Pro-Life Women's Conference in Indianapolis with my mom and sister-in-law, Katie. We actually got our tickets and planned this months ago, but we could not have anticipated how perfect the timing was. You see, it was on June 24th and we were driving from Fort Wayne to Indianapolis when we received the news that the Supreme Court had overruled Roe v. Wade, ending federal authority over abortion laws and giving that authority back to the states. (NOTE: The decision did NOT destroy access to women's healthcare.)

I won't talk politics here, but I do want to share how this decision personally impacted me. Roe v. Wade was originally decided in 1973, ten years before I was born, so me and my peers have never lived in an America where abortion was not nationally accepted and condoned. 

When I was a baby, my mom and some of her Christian friends felt a great burden to pray for and fight for the right to life for babies and their mothers. And so my mom stood on the sidewalks outside abortion clinics to pray and advocate and offer hope. She took me in my baby carrier to the crisis pregnancy centers with her where she would pray and council and offer help. 

As I got older, I would go to the CPCs with her to fold baby clothes, lick envelopes for mailers, and rubber stamp the center's information on pamphlets. I remember playing with the pink plastic models of unborn babies at different stages of development, holding them in my small hands and identifying tiny eyelids and fingernails. 

In my teen years, mom started an abstinence education program that presented positive messages in creative ways to middle schoolers. It wasn't just "say no to sex," either; it was about self-worth and good life decisions and high standards for your dreams. My brother Andrew and I both volunteered with this team. I was also the leader of the True Love Waits club at my high school.

When I went off to college and as I grew more, my mom did other things to live out pro-life ministry, however God directed. Sometimes this meant letting vulnerable young women live with her during seasons of crisis. Sometimes it meant celebrating the new lives of her grandchildren. Sometimes it meant educating churches about the sanctity of every human life. Sometimes it meant supporting families with disabled children. More recently she's gotten involved in post-abortion healing ministry. 

Her whole life has been passionately dedicated to overturning Roe v. Wade - not just as a political decision, but as an attitude of the minds and hearts of people. Babies are precious and valuable. Girls are precious and valuable. Women are precious and valuable. Their boyfriends and husbands are precious and valuable... Jesus died to save and redeem all people because he made each and every one precious and valuable. She taught me that, and because of her I believe that with all my heart. And I live differently because of it, seeking to lift up the vulnerable and speaking truth to advocate for life and hope in every circumstance. 

And so, to be with my mom on June 24, 2022, was an unspeakable gift. What a celebration we had! Singing praises at the top of our lungs, dancing, cheering, laughing, crying, and hugging. I didn't want to let her go all day. For me, it felt like this monumental victory was made possible because of her, and I was so proud of her. That day several state trigger-laws went into effect, abortion clinics were shut down around the country, and thousands of babies' lives were saved. What a mercy from God!

My friend Kelsey just had a baby girl last Sunday. It's her third child, she is married, and this was not a crisis pregnancy. But I am still so thankful that she chose life. I got to visit her when her baby was only 6 days old. I looked at baby Eden's delicate eyelids and lips and fingernails, and I held her tiny beautiful pink foot in my hand - the same size as one of those 12-week fetus models - and it filled me with hope. Because she's the first baby I've met who has been born in a post-Roe America. 

And I know the battle for life is not over - in many ways it is only beginning. But every mother, like Kelsey, who chooses life and tells her daughter that she is loved and precious and valuable and worthy ... they are building a generation that will believe it and live differently because of it. 

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