Introduction:
There has been so much controversy as of late over the issue of women’s “right” to abortion on demand. Realizing the arguments for the against and the increasing number of women in Canada desiring this form of so-called “birth control,” I desire to share my thoughts with your readers. Women say that only they are qualified to be the final authority over “their” bodies and anyone protesting their authority by saying that God or another person should tell them what is rights and wrong seems to be unacceptable. I suggest that is high time that these women who claim that their rights are all important, hear form one of those little ones who could have been aborted but is alive today because of a decision made by the one carrying him. Though mothers have often found themselves in situations where abortion was an easy way out of facing responsibility for their own actions, some chose instead to give life to the one being carried within them.
There is a very special woman somewhere who didn’t think about herself as being her own “authority” but showed me what a real woman is; one who had true respect for her own body and also for the little life she was carrying within her. I wish the following to be printed as a tribute to her – my mother.
“Mother, though I have never met you, I wish to express to you just how grateful I am to God for you. I am thankful that as you carried me within you during those months of my formation and development, you allowed me the “right to life.”
I admire you for the courage you had through those moths when all of a sudden it became apparent to others that you were pregnant, many probably aware that the little life inside of you was not a blessing to your marriage but rather a shameful reminder of an affair which only ended in shattering your dreams and almost destroying your marriage. Even when your own reputation was being slandered and your respectability questioned, you remained a real woman – you carried right on – allowing me to reach full term and be born into this world.
I am thankful to you for the fact that even though you couldn’t see what the future would hold for me, you accepted responsibility for your actions which led to my conception and then allowed me the opportunity of having that future. How difficult it must have been for you, knowing that the child you were carrying, the one who was such a part of you for so many months, would be taken from you immediately after birth, to be placed for adoption, at your request. I can’t even begin to appreciate just how much courage it must have taken to let me go after my birth, knowing full well that you would never see me again. Thank you for still considering my life and my future to be more important than “your rights!”
I cannot remember that day, April 15, 1953, in the Edmonton General Hospital when I arrived and was introduced to the new world around me. How thankful I am now, to you, for the privilege to be blessed with life and a mother who chose to give it to me when it meant nothing more than personal loss for herself.
I am now 31 years old, married and have a family of my own. When our children were conceived, I could partially identify with you, knowing that the child being carried by my wife was in fact, a real part of me. When our children were born, on both occasions, my thoughts were of you. During each birth, as I stood in the delivery room, I quietly thanked God that amidst all the hurt and turmoil that I’m sure you experienced at the time of my birth, you chose to give up your own personal desires to that I could be born.
Today I am also thankful that I have chosen not to be my own “authority” but that Jesus Christ is the “authority” in my life. I know that I was not an accident but that I was created a very special person for a very special purpose. He knew my future long before I was conceived within you and for that too I am eternally grateful. He knew that you would be the one who would bring me into this world and that you needed the courage to not only make the right decision about my life but also the strength to see that decision through. He has placed within me so many specials gifts; my favourite being the gift of music. You see, I am a real part of you as I know your family was gifted that way too. I desire that this gift be used to bless God and others around me.
When I think of how many little lives are being aborted, I feel sad. I know God had a special plan for each of them. However, their mothers, instead of choosing to give life to them as you did to me, have taken authority over “their own bodies” and destroyed life which God had a purpose in creating. Thank you for giving me the future you did when you allowed me my “right to life.”
I love you and trust that someday I will be able to share this with you in person. I am blessed to be alive because of your decision. Thank you.
One very grateful son,
Kerry Heidebrecht
Vernon, B.C.
