Families Supporting Adoption

Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards was all over the news this week telling the GOP it needed to “dump” its pro-life base.  There are unsubstantiated rumors Richards also called the Pope and told him the Catholic Church would have better success if they dumped the Ten Commandments.

“Richards seems representative of many liberal Democrats in her lack of logic across situations. She argues that being pro-life is contrary to “supporting people’s individual rights and keeping government out of personal health care decisions,” but she apparently assumes that Catholics and Christians who oppose funding for abortion have no individual rights to oppose government’s intervention in their personal decisions of conscience.”

Today I had a chance to attend the Southwest Regional Families Supporting Adoption Conference ( FSA) put on by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints at the Hafer Road building here in Houston.  I was serving in my capacity as an IT specialist (still trying to figure out what IT stands for), hooking up cables, microphones and internet connections so the conference could be viewed by those unable to attend in person.

I helped set up the broadcast equipment and monitored the production throughout the day just in case something needed fixing.  Twenty minutes into the broadcast the magic box, (that’s a technical term for the equipment which sends the broadcast up to Salt Lake City where angels turn it into a program which can be viewed on any computer using the proper URL); anyway, the magic box froze up and quit working.  We shut it off and started it up again and it worked just fine the rest of the day.

I monitored the broadcast from my laptop in a room not too distant from the actual broadcast room; just far enough away so my activity didn’t disturb anyone else.  There’s about a minute and a half lag time; the live transmission sent through a magic box, up to Salt Lake and back.   

It’s kind of neat if you think about it; I turned on the video camera, microphones and exited the room, walked over to where my computer was set up and a minute and a half later watched myself pass in front of that camera, turn on the microphone and test them.  I could use a device like that to pick the lottery numbers, wait for the winning combo to be announced and then buy my ticket; yea, I know it’s already been tried.

I listened to the deeply personal explanations regarding the choice to place a child up for adoption given by young women who had put themselves in between a rock and a hard place.  These young women had become pregnant out of wedlock and needed help. 

One of them thought about having an abortion; the fellow who’d broken her heart was pushing to get rid of the problem rather than offering to marry.  While she was at the clinic to have the “procedure” completed a variety of events prevented it being accomplished in a timely manner.  She was scheduled to be the first of many lined up in the waiting room; but somehow her paperwork was misplaced so she ended up having to wait while other young women were “taken care of”. 

The longer she waited the more the finality of her actions weighed upon her mind.  Finally she was ushered in to a room for an ultrasound prior to the actual abortion.  During the ultrasound she felt the baby jump within her, an activity which showed up on the ultrasound monitor.  She had asked the technician if she could watch; but was told it was against the clinic’s policy (this was before the laws were changed).  Not being one to easily give up she persuaded the technician to turn the monitor so she could see the monitor.

“What’s that moving, there?”

“That’s the heart beating”, the technician told her, “That means it’s a viable embryo”.  Everything said was cold and without human compassion as she was led to a stainless steel table where she waited for the procedure to commence.

During that time she considered her options, her need to stop and do the right thing.  She wanted to leave and yet she was already on the table.  She said a silent prayer in those few minutes.

In her mind she saw a little boy holding a flower in his hand looking up at her and smiling, as if to say, “My life is in your hands”.  She bolted from the table and thanked the Lord for awakening her, to get up and leave regardless of the embarrassment of being pregnant and unwed; her friends and family would not understand.

I sat there, watching my computer monitor with tears streaming down my cheeks and wondered how anyone could relate this event in front of an audience.  There was no box of Kleenex in the room so I used the back of my hands to wipe the tears away and sniffled the congestion in my nose several times just in case someone were to enter.

The second half of the day was similar; but from a different point of view, that of folks who had adopted children and how it had affected their lives.  I listened to each of them, again the tears fell without end. 

I listened to stories about the miracle of life, that miracle which some are unable to produce and so they must adopt from those who are, for a number of reasons, unable to properly raise or support a child.  Thinking back to the article I’d read earlier and what the president of Planned Parenthood was saying:

“It’s also important to note that, as is the case with most pro-abortion proponents, Richards continues to use terms such as “women’s personal health care decisions,” “women’s preventive health care,” “women’s reproductive health care,” etc., all phrases that have been usurped from the field of medicine and health care for the pro-abortion political agenda. Ironically enough, when discussions about “reproductive health care” come up in most gynecologists’ offices, they are in reference to fertility and how to become pregnant with a baby, rather than how to abort one.”

How we view the miracle of life, as individuals and then as a society in general, is a measure of our gratitude for all the blessings of life.  Some think nothing of the small child which they toss in a trash sack and into the garbage while there are so many waiting in line to qualify for a chance to adopt.  Isn’t that a remarkable situation worth contemplating; one that brakes my heart as I think of my friends, those who have been trying to start a family and their look of desperation as each year passes and they pray for a child to enter their lives.

This article has been cross posted to The Moral Liberal, a publication whose banner reads, “Defending The Judeo-Christian Ethic, Limited Government, & The American Constitution”.