Thoughts on the March for Life

Today is the annual March for Life.

Even if we hadn’t been battling the stomach flu around here all week, I hadn’t planned to take the kids downtown and march this year simply because of how hateful and ugly things have been politically lately. I’m praying that those who go are able to march in peace without those who oppose life for all making it dangerous.

I have participated in the March many times. I believe strongly in the pro-life cause and am saddened to see the narrative that gets taken as truth by the culture at large because of the loud pro-abortion voices that shout it out.

For the record, I’ve never known anyone who was pro-life who cared more about the unborn baby than that baby’s mother. Never. That’s why crisis pregnancy centers (now usually called pregnancy resource centers or pregnancy care centers) exist. To help women facing an unplanned pregnancy. And the help doesn’t stop after the baby is born. Most centers have baby and toddler clothes available. Diapers. Formula. Baby furniture like cribs and bassinets. They have educational materials on child birth, parenting, budgeting, and relationships (I’m talking multi-week classes, not just a pamphlet). Information on how to get WIC and Medicaid if needed. Lists of pro-life doctors who will take Medicaid so that the woman can have quality prenatal and postnatal care. And they have caring and compassionate staff and volunteers who are there to listen and help with other needs as best they can.

These same centers are there for women who decide against carrying the baby to term and have an abortion and find, at some point, that their decision is causing them mental, emotional, and spiritual pain. They have trained peer counselors – a large number of whom are themselves post-abortive – who are there to talk to you, pray with you, and help you heal.

My first novel came directly out of the experiences I had working in a crisis pregnancy center for many years and seeing and participating in the good these dedicated people on the front lines of the pro-life cause do on a daily basis. The book, Wisdom to Know, deals more with the after effects of abortion than all the other services that are provided, but I hope the love and concern for the woman – not just the baby – is evident regardless.

Abortion has failed women.

But there’s love, and hope, and help available for the woman who chooses to look beyond the culture’s lies and seek another way.