On the Anniversary of Roe v. Wade

As I sit here at my kitchen table I am pondering a link I read.  It was an article found today about the Anniversary of Roe v. Wade.  The opening paragraph talks about how President Obama and Company were celebrating today.  I was appalled.

What is there really to celebrate?  Are they celebrating the deaths of millions of unborn children?  Are they celebrating the women who have died from the procedure.  Are they celebrating the millions of women who are left with emotional and mental scars from the guilt they feel they must carry because of a decision they made.

Some say they are celebrating a "Woman's Right to Choose." 

I get that not every woman who becomes pregnant chose that option.  Some were raped by a date, a relative, or a stranger.  For some, it is because to not end the pregnancy would mean the woman would die.  But come on.....let's be brutally honest.  A great majority of the women walking into abortion clinics in the U.S. are ending an unwanted or inconvenient pregnancy.  They made a choice to have intimate relations with someone, and whoops.......now they are pregnant.  Some even end up using this as a form of birth control. 

Then the "pro-choice" advocates say that only old men and women who have had their abortions already are the bulk of what make up "pro-lifers".  I cannot speak to the first group, but I am part of the second.

It all happened when I was 18 years old.  I was raped.  It was an acquaintance.  I was a naive 18 year old.  Maybe I should have seen it coming.  I have been told time and again that it was not my fault.  It took me many years to believe it, and many past that to forgive myself for the decision I made.

I lived with the emotional and mental scars that women can carry away from that experience.  I thought myself no better than a vicious murderer.  Did I choose to become pregnant?  No, in fact it was my first introduction to sex.  I felt dirty, slimy, unworthy, and like an outcast.  I was embarrassed and ashamed.  I told no one about the incident.  I became withdrawn and began having nightmares.  Guess what?  Six weeks later I find myself pregnant.  In my mind I went against everything I was raised to believe:  no relations out of wedlock, no children out of wedlock.

I called a friend.  She drove me to the nearest Planned Parenthood.  I filled out all the necessary forms, answered all the necessary questions correctly, and terminated my pregnancy.  I slept at my friends house all day, and went home after dinner, acting as if nothing happened.  But I hated myself.

Even though I was a believer, I had forgotten about God's free gift of grace.  I had forgotten that he could lift this burden.  I had forgotten to ask for forgiveness.  At the time I did not believe I should be forgiven.  That enlightenmint would come 10 years later.

On a couples marriage weekend in July of 1997 it hit me like a ton of bricks.  I was listening to a testimony from a couple about Communication.  This of course was aimed towards marriage, but it also relates directly to our Communication with God.   You know:  Prayer!

It was then I decided to ask God for forgiveness.  Guess what?  A huge weight was lifted from my shoulders;  just like that.  That is the velocity of God's love and grace.  0 to 60 in under a microsecond.  Better than Ferrari, Lambourghini, and Maserati offer.  Then I asked forgiveness from my unborn baby. 

All throughout scripture God tells us of his unconditional love and forgiveness.  Matthew 11: 28 says:  "Come to me all you who are weary and heavily burdened, and I will give you rest."  Jesus did not just say that for effect.  He meant it.  On the cross Jesus says:  "Forgive them Father, they know not what they are doing", Luke 23:34.  Nothing can separate the believer from God's love.  Romans 8: 38-39 says:  "No power on earth or heaven can separate us from God's love. Not our sin, not any authority, not any spiritual force. God's love is unshakable and can always be relied upon."   Did you read that last sentence?  This amazes me:  unshakable and can always be relied upon.  ALWAYS!  Not sometimes, not usually, not in certain instances or circumstances, but ALWAYS! 

I made a mistake.  One that was life-changing.  One that I regret to this day.  I wish my friend would have stopped me.  I wish that an organization called Pregnancy Solutions and Services, a ministry my church partners with, would have been there to minister to me. 

So on this Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, I ask again:  What are they celebrating?