By Sue Chess, Executive Director
Sitting across from a young woman who attends one of our
area churches, I sought to discover what her belief was about the baby she was
carrying and considering aborting. It
can help to step back from the crisis and examine what a belief was before the
present circumstances loomed larger than life--literally. “I know my church believes abortion is wrong,”
she stated, “but I don’t know why.”
With that statement, she brought into stark contrast the
need within our culture for open dialog and integration of why we believe what
we believe. In NO area is this more
revealing than in all points of human sexuality, including God’s opinion of
when life begins. If this young
woman’s beliefs, or rather her Church’s beliefs, had reason and foundation in
her own mind, she would not have been trying to sort it out when faced with an
unplanned pregnancy.
That is why we promote the Walk for Life as one way to weave
fun
and faith into a strong sanctity of human life ethic. Use the event to talk about the way that Care
Net “saves babies.” You and I realize
that it is so much more than that. If a child is saved from abortion, then a
mom is saved from a case of complicated grief where she will have to resolve
the forbidden grief that is the “complication” in allowing herself to feel
sorrow over the loss of her child. How
can she give herself the right to grieve when she was the one who made the
choice? She’s been set up for a crisis of conscience. The father may have been complicit in her
choice or passive. In either case, he
will also have complicated grief for different reasons.
A quote from an article by Feminists for Life’s then-Vice
President of Communications, Frederica Mathewes-Green, writing in The American
Feminist’s precursor Sisterlife makes this point so well:
“For the question
remains, do women want abortion? Not like she wants a Porsche or an ice cream
cone. Like an animal caught in a trap, trying to gnaw off its own leg, a woman
who seeks an abortion is trying to escape a desperate situation by an act of
violence and self-loss. Abortion is not a sign that women are free, but a sign
that they are desperate.”
Preparing our children for desperate moments should be part
of their early training. By the time a child reaches the age of 12, their
belief about when life begins is set. What
easier, positive, or more proactive way can you do this then to refer to a
woman’s pregnancy as “a baby” and discuss the facts about a baby’s development
in the womb. Just begin with the
positive option of LIFE. In very
fundamental ways, explain it or even show them using the app we use with our
clients. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/little-one-pregnancy-guide/id694348619?mt=8
Talking about babies does not have to end up with a
discussion of sex, either. Innocence is
its own protection and as your child asks more questions, you can give more
answers. If you need to research, do not
forget about Care Net as one of your resources. Make sure that Willow Sanders,
our Director of Student Services, who is a certified sexual risk avoidance specialist,
has been to speak to the youth at your church. We love to do “field trip” type
visits with small groups at both of our Centers where we talk about life in the
womb, the developing baby, and offer them a tiny 12 week old fetus model as a
gift. There is no charge for this
visit. We simply want to give them
information that can prepare them to be a “first responder” should a classmate
share a guilty secret with them someday.
They will know the truth!
You may have heard of the amazing organization called
“Students for Life” that had a very large group at the March for Life in DC
this year. Did you know that March 2nd
is National Pro-Life Chalk Day? Check
that sweet movement out right here www.nationalprolifechalkday.com. If you want to feel encouraged find this movement on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/studentsforlife/ Our students are beginning to lead the way.
Since most of us cannot attend an event in DC, we invite you
to involve your family in an event that will help you weave fun and faith into
their belief system right here on the Treasure Coast. We have heard from many young people that the
day of our Walk for Life is one they look forward to immensely. With a great praise band, fun booths set up
and run by our area Churches and businesses, a petting zoo, great food, and face-painting,
along with a Walk with purpose, we’ve set out the best kind of day for have an
event where Fun and Faith meet perfectly.
Begin your family’s conversation about life before the Walk.
If the young woman I spoke to a few years back had attended
a Care Net Walk for Life, or been involved with Students for Life, do you think
she would have wondered why her church thought abortion was wrong? Or would she have absorbed a sanctity of
human life ethic into her faith that prepared her for her own life.
Sometimes it is the simple things of life that are the most
profound.
It is not too late to make the Walk for Life on March 11th
a part of your family’s fun times that will set you up for one of those very
important conversations.
Start now by heading over to our secure website www.WalkForLifeTC.com and click on the
“Participate” link. Join the movement
and start the conversation with your family.
You’ll be glad you did. Here are
some pictures from last year’s great event to prove it. We hope to see you in these pictures next
year!
