This is what pro-life looks like

I am pro-life.

But I wasn't always.

I came of age in the late 1980's. Here in Canada there was a lot of attention on "the abortion issue" around that time. Up until the late 60's/early 70's (I forget exactly) abortion under any circumstances was illegal in Canada. It was illegal to perform one and illegal to have one. Then good old Trudeau decided that "the state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation" and the abortion legislation was changed to permit abortions that were performed in hospitals, reviewed by a committee and deemed to be necessary to protect the health of the mother. All other abortions remained illegal. Then in 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the existing abortion legislation as "unconstitutional". Since then, there have been no new attempts to legislate abortion, so in effect any and all abortion is legal in Canada.

As well, in 1989 there were two high profile abortion cases that made the national news. They both involved pregnant, unmarried women seeking abortions. Nothing new there, right? What made them of interest to the country was the fact that their boyfriends (the fathers of the unborn children) sought and were granted injunctions against their girlfriend having the abortion. The courts eventually overturned the injunctions and said that fathers can't "force" mothers to carry children they don't want to, but neither woman waited that long. Both of them defied the injunctions and had abortions performed in the United States.

I remember these cases quite well. I was pregnant at the time with Kirk, so they hit close to home. And I'll be honest...at the time I had mixed feelings about it all. I feel differently about it now, but back then I didn't think it was right that the man could force a woman to remain pregnant against her will. It just seemed wrong to me. But abortion seemed wrong to me too. I was decidedly conflicted on the matter.

Of course, those were different times. My attitude towards abortion has migrated into the staunchly pro-life camp. It's not because my attitude about men forcing women to carry babies has changed - I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's still something wrong about that to me. What has changed is my attitude and understanding of the sanctity of life. It changed over time; as I got older and my understanding of the Scriptures matured I became convinced that God regards all life as sacred and that we are obligated to protect life in all circumstances.

Lately though, I've come to understand that opposing abortion doesn't necessarily equate to being pro-life.

We have a new foster daughter. She has been living with us since the end of January. She is 18 and she is almost 6 months pregnant. We did not know when we took her in that she was pregnant - I'm not sure if it would have made a difference...but it might have. We might not have wanted to take that on. I'm not trying to justify that - just being honest.

In fact, there have been moments when I have questioned the wisdom of having her living with us. It has been, quite frankly, somewhat disruptive for our family. We've had to deal with things I never dreamt I'd be doing at this point in my life. We are now in the position of guiding and influencing the course of at least two young lives - Timika's and the baby's - and the burden of this responsibility weighs on me. I must admit I feel utterly unequal to the task. I've gone back and forth on whether we are doing the right thing. Would she be better served if we were to find her a maternity home to live in, with professional folks who are trained to help her deal with her situation? I've thought about it.

Recently, I heard the following quote from Dr. James Lamb, director of Lutherans for Life, on Issues, Etc.:

"We don't see it (abortion) as just a moral issue that needs correcting or a political issue that needs strategizing; it's a spiritual issue and that needs to take priority for us in our lives to move us in the decisions that we make, the issues that we support and defend and so forth.

We as God's people need to reach out and influence those around us who are not like us, living in the real world. And that means if we are going to influence our neighbor...we are to love our neighbor. And so the manner of reaching out becomes very important. So there's a call for sharing the truth in love and there's a call for acting out in love. "

I have taken those words to heart. Timika will stay here and we will walk with her through this. I think this is what Dr. Lamb meant by acting out in love. We covet your prayers.