Tears for Women

This is not a political blog. I am not political.

I am a pro-life Christian. I vote not on economy or social issues or foreign affairs. Those things are surely very important, but there is another that I believe is more important. I vote for candidates who regard the rights of the unborn. I use my voice (however small it may be) to attempt to give voice to smallest voices of all—those that may never be heard. 

And I am a mom of a gorgeous daughter. She is the reason for this post. And so, for her sake, I do not apologize for my words here. 

You see, my daughter was among the "abortion vulnerable." She was an unplanned pregnancy to an unmarried woman. How grateful I am that her birth mother had the grace, fortitude, and loving support to live out what she believed. She trusted God to care for her—while she cared for the tiny being growing inside of her. She walked into the doors of First Care Pregnancy Center (New Life Family Services). Not Planned Parenthood. 

She saw the baby being knit together deep inside her as God's masterpiece. And what a masterpiece she is! And she took on the heavy consequences and pain in order to give life to this little one. Her daughter. My daughter.

This woman and her unplanned pregnancy made me a mom. 

Erika's mom and birth mom

This is an emotional argument. But aren't you emotional about your children? What if the baby you so desperately longed for (biological or not) was seen as having fewer rights than the one whose body carried her? What if you were told your baby's tiny-ness meant tiny importance? This is personal.

first steps

And so I grieve. I grieve because we have a president whose policies line the pockets of Planned Parenthood while snatching away the adoption tax credit. Because he would have called my daughter disposable—and my gift of motherhood not worthy of recognition. I grieve because our society has no regard for the sacred gestational stage of our citizens. Our daughters.

I ache for my daughter, who will grow up hearing a message so anti-Biblical, so godless. She will be surrounded by a world who tells her that truth is relative and that her rights and preferences matter more than anyone else's (which, of course, is ironic since that same world assigned her no rights pre-birth).

And my heart breaks for the women, who unlike Erika's birth mother, feel they have no other choice. They are told that their life, their plans, their future will be ruined by this lump of tissue. Their bodies made a mistake. This growth is a souless problem to be dealt with. They will never experience the pride and joy of seeing the beautiful face that will perhaps haunt them for life..

Erika and her birth mother

And for other women too... the women who long to be the vessels that shelter and protect and grow your sweet babies—I weep for you. I pray for you as you desperately pray that the dark and secret place that holds the baby you would very much like to call your own does not reject and snuff out the delicate masterpiece it holds. I pray you would hold your sweet one in your arms--this one for whom you have prayed. 

And lastly, my heart breaks for the grandmothers who will never hold and perhaps will never even know about their grandbabies. Their right to love, spoil, marvel at, read to, and enjoy these precious gifts is stolen from them.

              

Erika's birth mother, grandmother, and great grandmother

For all of these women, I weep. 

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I [and my daughter!] am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:13-14

Some comfort from my favorite author, C.H. Spurgeon (in his book, Come Ye Children):

...I am not certain that John Newton was not right when he said the majority of persons who are now in the kingdom of God are children. When I think of all the multitudes of babes that have died, who are now swarming in the streets of heaven, it does seem to me a blessed thought that albeit generation after generation of adults have passed away in unbelief and rebellion, yet enormous multitudes of children have gone streaming up to heaven, saved by the grace of God, through the death of Christ, to sing the high praises of the Lord for ever before the eternal throne. "Of such is the kingdom of heaven." They give tone and character to the kingdom; it is a kingdom of children rather than of men.

These sweet ones who were torn limb from limb and out of the place where they should have been the safest... these sweet ones have been made whole and healed. Their pure voices never heard here on earth are heard loudly in heaven, praising the One who knit them together.