Should You Abort?

Dear Woman Considering Abortion,

Let me get a few things out of the way before I begin. I have no hidden agenda in writing you today. I desperately want for you to choose not to abort your baby, but I hope my desire to persuade you will not keep you from reading the following letter. After all, no matter who you come to for counsel, whether they are pro-life or pro-choice, they will indeed be working to persuade you one way or the other. In our country–at this time–it is up to you to weigh the arguments, the proof, and the motives of those seeking to affect the future of your body and the baby you are carrying. I pray that you will read the words written below and understand them to be the honest, loving, and gentle plea of a fellow woman who wants the best for you and for your baby.

From the moment I knew there was an abortion debate, I knew I was pro-life. My understanding of the Lord’s creative work in each individual life and his love for every one of his unique creations initially lead me to value the unborn. As I became more educated in the subject of biology and the scientific evidence for this exact truth–that at the moment of conception a never-before-existing and a never-again-repeatable human being begins his or her life–my conviction solidified. As I grew in my understanding of abortion techniques and procedures my disgust for this “choice” a mother could make reached new heights surpassed only by the emotions that grew out of my own experiences as a mother to those born and those unborn.

You see, I am the mother of 5 unique human beings, but only three are with me today. I have walked through two miscarriages since being married to my husband and because of these experiences I feel uniquely qualified to address you who are contemplating ending your own pregnancy and thus ending the life of your own unborn child. Not because I am so heartbroken to have had children taken from me and believe that you therefore shouldn’t willfully give up your child, but because the reality of a living human life at such early stages of development is something that pro-choicers would have you overlook. They would rather you ignorantly view your baby as a “blob of tissue” or worse, as a “parasite you didn’t ask for” so that you can numbly walk into an abortion clinic and sentence your own developing baby to death without remorse.

But I, like so many others, have experienced the pain of a tiny, unborn baby’s life slipping away at a mere 6 weeks gestation. I have seen, with my own eyes, and held with my trembling hands the body of a baby at 15 weeks gestation and have been forever convinced of her obvious humanity. I have seen what the abortionist will keep you from seeing, because the knowledge that you purposefully and willfully ended a precious life would be too much to bear, though I daresay you will at some time experience such grief despite his best efforts.

My first pregnancy ended at 6 weeks, though I didn’t find out until my 8 week doctors appointment. I went to the doctor that day hoping to see and hear what women affronted by pro-life sonogram laws would rather you not see or hear–a grainy, black and white image of my tiny baby and a life-proving heart beat. When I looked at that computer screen I did see the beautiful silhouette of an unborn child (who looks more like a precious gummy bear at that point), but my first child’s life had already ended; there was no heart beat to be heard. Within a few days I went through the terrible agony of physically losing the baby within me. As my body voluntarily expelled what doctors would refer to as mere “tissue” I was keenly aware that I was not just losing a pregnancy; I was losing a child, however small it was at the time.

Three years later I held a tiny, lifeless little girl in my arms. I was utterly stunned by how developed she was. She had been conceived a mere 15 weeks earlier and yet here she was, a miniature baby, beautiful in every respect. I had feared that I would find my baby’s appearance gross or unrecognizable at such an early stage of development, but instead I was overwhelmed by love for this baby girl. I wish I could explain to you in this letter just how obvious her humanity was. Her tiny upturned nose and delicate toes were perfect in every way. Her little hands were hardly bigger than a Barbie doll’s and yet her fingers already had fingernails. It was incredible to imagine how she had so recently been moving around within me, kicking, swimming and perhaps sucking on those very fingers I was now resting on my own. Though her development was forever halted at 15 weeks, this fetus, this baby was a human being. Though she had much developing yet to do, she had been a living, developing human just days before. How precious was her life! How precious your baby’s life is.

What I hope to impress upon you today is the gravity of the decision you must now make as a woman who has conceived a life. In your body you are carrying a unique human being who will never exist again. From the moment of her conception, your baby’s DNA and gender were set and she is rapidly developing within you. Every day she (or he for that matter) makes monumental strides in preparing to enter our world. The decision you must make is whether you will allow that life to continue to grow or whether you will end it. That baby’s life is at the mercy of your decision, and a person’s future is to be determined in these critical moments. Don’t allow yourself to be deceived, it is not just a pregnancy you are ending, it is not just a problem you are getting rid of. No, it is a human life, no matter how small it is at this point that you are killing. Where life once was, it will be no more, and you will never be able to bring it back.

It is my heartfelt prayer that you will allow that precious life to continue to grow within you. I beg you to give that baby the opportunity to continue living. I plead with you, don’t cut his or her life short.