From the Desk of Laura Bunker:
One glance at United Families International’s World Family News page tells us that the “Sanctity of Life” encompasses much more than the issue of abortion. It also includes such issues as surrogacy, adoption, and euthanasia. Life is a precious gift, and all stages of life from conception to natural death are are worthy of protection and respect.
We invite you to read today’s compelling alert by Muriel Addams, who reminds us that being “pro-life” is much more than just being “pro-birth.”
Enjoy being alive today. And consider how you could help a little one enjoy their life too.
Warm regards,
Laura Bunker
United Families International, President
A Call to Arms
Muriel Addams
Just over ten years ago I lived in a small apartment in a small town, pregnant with my third child. My neighbor was also pregnant and we were both having boys. We were due around the same time. We talked about what we would name our sons. I would name my son Samuel. She planned on naming her son Sebastian.
I saw her over the fence one day when I was about five months pregnant. I asked her how Sebastian was doing. She nonchalantly let me know that she wasn’t pregnant anymore. She decided to terminate, she said. After 4 ½ months of pregnancy she decided she just wasn’t ready to be a mother, so she went to a clinic and “had it taken care of.”
I could hardly contain my anguish. The child had a name. He was Sebastian. I went to my apartment and cried. I prayed for comfort. I told God that I would have loved Sebastian.
Fast forward ten years. My cause is child abuse. I’m a professional public speaker. I develop classes for non profit agencies to teach their volunteers about abuse and neglect. I sit on the board of directors of a child welfare organization. I’m a lawyer and accept child abuse cases free of charge and win every single one (no bragging here). I didn’t feel like I was doing enough. My husband and I decided to become foster parents.
Within a week of becoming licensed as a foster-adopt parent, I received an email. A picture of a little boy, six years old. The email gave me a clinical diagnosis of every medical and behavior problem he’d ever had. He was autistic. He was trouble. He threw temper tantrums and was “unadoptable.” Who would want a traumatized autistic kid? Me.
Then the social worker said, “His name’s Sebastian. Do you think you can love him?” It was then that I realized that in all my advocacy for children, in all my fighting and all the energy that I’ve put into pro-life, I hadn’t done much. I pled for the life of one Sebastian. Here in front of me was a Sebastian who was spared the abortionists tools, but who was still unwanted, who had still suffered abuse and neglect. He was alive, but what else?
Had I become, not pro-life, but merely pro-birth?
Consider this article a call to arms. A call to arms embracing, lifting and holding those children whose lives we have argued to protect in the womb and who live now in terrible situations. A call to arms, and calloused hands, working to heal those children who were not aborted, but who are scarred from abuse and neglect. A call to arms to embrace those precious little ones who did not know the abortionists knife, but who also have not known the loving embrace of a mother or father.
If your life circumstances keep you from accepting one of these little ones into your home, consider spending time volunteering at a children’s shelter. Become a Court Appointed Special Advocate in your area or find an organization that works with abused or neglected children.
Donations to non profit organizations are always helpful, but remember that with children it has and always will be your Presence, not your Presents, that do the most healing, so try to invite an unwanted child into your some aspect of your life, if not your home.
Don’t be merely Pro-Birth, but Pro-Life.
Pro-living fully, Pro-enjoying childhood, Pro-understanding the love of a family and protecting those children who are unaborted and are still unwanted. If we argue for their life, it becomes our sacred duty to protect them. Rise up. Lift your Arms. Protect.
Muriel Addams is a mother of seven children, a lawyer, and an author of children’s books. In her spare time, Muriel volunteers extensively educating the community on issues related to child abuse and neglect.