This blog post has been used with permission of the author.
I think the time has come to discuss why our nation should promote a culture of life. It is a stance that in time has grown closer and closer to my heart. With almost one week to go before Election Day I think it is more important than ever to discuss this issue.
Let me start with a fact that may blow your mind – A year ago I would not even think of writing the following editorial. I was apathetic and sat on the fence between pro-choice and pro-life not wanting to stray onto either side. For years I had read advocate after advocate from both sides bicker and battle with each other. I saw abortion as a divisive issue. With a major political influence being Neal Boortz who could blame me? Then stepped in Governor Mike Huckabee.
No one on any side had been able to communicate in a way that made sense and was compassionate towards the issue until Governor Mike Huckabee came onto the national scene. Granted he did not win me over right away. It took a lot of praying and thinking but the process began while Mike was speaking to the throng gathered in Ames at the Iowa Straw Poll. Fresh in our minds that day were the trapped miners in Utah.
While making his case, Governor Huckabee cited those poor miners. Also important was that not only did Governor Huckabee say that we must protect the unborn and the sanctity of human life but he took his case one step further and said that we should honor, cherish, and nurture all human life from “conception until death.” As with his stance on other issues it was definitely Vertical and unifying compared to the zealous views of other people and politicians who have sparked violence between factions at times.
With that said I can now say that I am definitely pro-life. Governor Huckabee made the view seem compassionate and quite logical. Going back to his speech in Ames, “Why should we care about lost boy scouts or the trapped miners in Utah if we don’t protect the unborn and the sanctity of human life from conception until death?”I think I must have heard that same message about a few hundred times while watching him speak on the stump on TV and in video. Each time he said it, he made more and more sense. Then I began to look into my heart and look back at the very unique story that is my life when it hit me like the broad side of a barn.
I was born physically challenged with many birth defects. The most prominent of these is my lack of sight. I am legally blind. Yes, I can see some but that is with the help of the very thick glasses I wear. Along with being legally blind I was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate and was born without a nose (just holes where it should be). I was tested for every disease and disorder known to man in 1982. All the tests came out negative. Despite that I faced long odds and a grim prognosis. My doctors gave me six weeks tops. If for some reason I would survive that long, they said I’d be a mere “Vegetable.”
Despite beating those odds, at two months-old, pneumonia set in and after only a few weeks home I was back in the hospital. Then things went from bad to worse and my heart began to fail. My skin started turning blue turning blue and I was rushed into intensive care. On Thanksgiving of 1982 I underwent emergency surgery and through the skill of my doctors, the love of my family, and the blessings from our Lord, Jesus Christ, the operation was a success. To this very day, 26 years later, I continue to beat the long odds that were placed before me
After looking back at my life story I realized that I have beaten the odds because I was blessed to have parents who chose to love and care for me no matter what. This can be attested to the culture of life we have had in this Nation. However it is sad, but true that there are some in this country that would have left me to die.
I can’t imagine to be a source of knowledge of the complexities of the miracle of child birth. I’m a man, not a woman. I understand that there are emotions and feelings that I cannot comprehend. In addition, I realize that there are some women who would like the right to choose. I’m not heartless. Has it ever occurred to anyone out there that when a fetus is aborted a woman may be exercising her right to choose but when she does so there is a life that stands in the balance who has no choice in the matter?
While others may disagree the facts are plain as day to me. Life begins at conception. God has a plan for each life that is conceived. Fuliflled an un-born fetus could grow up to be the next Einstein, the next President, or the next Elvis. The unborn child could go on to find the cure for Cancer, AIDS, maybe Muscular Dystrophy. Not allowing an unborn fetus to fulfill the plan God has laid in my eyes is murder in the worst degree. Why? The life held in the balance has no choice whatsoever.
There are definitely other options. What about the couples out there that would like to raise a family but for whatever reason cannot conceive? One of the birth defects I was “blessed” with was a pituitary dysfunction. My body cannot produce enough testosterone. Therefore I cannot conceive if I wanted to. Adoption would be my only option and the process seems so convoluted and complex that it doesn’t seem worth it. If the process was streamlined and made more simple child bearers who cannot afford their baby or don’t want a child could easily put them up for adoption for parents who do want them.
Please note that I do recognize that there are some cases where an abortion is absolutely necessary and required. That is when the life of the mother lays in the balance as well.
So why must we promote a culture of life in our Nation? It is very simple. It does not take a lot of effort to research the alternative. Let’s go in the wayback machine to the 1930’s in Europe. The Nazi culture of death led to the Holocaust. There is a lot made of the many brutal and senseless murders of millions of Jewish people. However I want you to know that the Nazis didn’t stop there. Also murdered were people of other races, creeds, colors, sexual orientations, and the handicapped.
I’m not trying to say that a culture of death is going to result in a 2nd Holocaust in the same manner. There is nothing that can compare to the tactics of the brutal Nazi’s led by Adolph Hitler. It is meant as a lesson that we should take to heart. A culture of life will cause people to prevent even a remote similarity from occurring. Due to the technology today, mothers have access to many tests to get a glimpse at what their children may turn out to become right out of the womb and how healthy he/she will be. Living in a culture of life, the chances are better that parents will continue with the process, even if the tests come out with results that are sobering. A culture of death will result in more abortions and children being killed off without a choice once they are born with severe handicaps and birth defects.
The handicapped are born as they are for a reason. It’s part of His plan in some way. While, yes, my parents have questioned why I was born the way I was I have never questioned it. My life is not easy but it is mine that was set out for me. The same goes for the many who are handicapped and disabled.
I volunteer for a school for special needs children here in my hometown. I am very blessed to serve the Lord, my community, and the world in this fashion. I feel a special bond with the children because while we may be different we are alike more than we are different. What if we had a culture of death and these little angels didn’t exist? If fills my heart with sadness just thinking about it.
Whether you agreed with me before reading or you agree after reading my opineI urge everyone to sign Governor Huckabee’s Pro-Life petition and get as many people as you can to sign it as well. Thanks & God bless you!
– Brian