Mother Theresa said: “There are two victims of abortion. One is a dead baby, the other is a dead conscience.” I would go a step further in this and say that not only has the baby lost it’s life, but anyone connected to that mother has lost the chance to love another person who may have had a chance to influence them. We can never know what the person who was the victim of abortion may have become. How that person may have touched the lives of their father, grandparents, siblings or mother. We will never know if that person was the one who would have been the ones to hold our hands while we were sick, if they were the ones who would brighten our days with their smile. They may have been destined to be the person to show us that our hard times were not so hard, or make our happy times even happier.  Likewise, we will never know if that person was the sick one that we were able to comfort, we will never know what gifts that person would have brought to each of us. We will never know what we’ve lost from abortion. As a mother, I do know the uninhibited joy that my children have brought to me. I can look at their faces and know, with no doubt, that the world would be a lesser place if they were not in it. Children have more to teach us than any professor at any college can. They have more influence than any world leader spewing words to us online or on TV could ever muster. Being quite and observing the innocence that children exude will teach you more than all of the philosophy books every published could. But for some reason we as “educated” adults can’t believe it. The professors of the world will refuse to believe that these small humans are more intelligent than they are. The world leaders will refuse to believe that children could posses more power. We as adults find it impossible to believe that we may have had all of the answers for peace in the human race all along. Which brings me to a very true Mother Theresa quote:  “In this year of the family we must bring the child back to the center of our care and concern. This is the only way that our world can survive because our children are the only hope for the future.”
Children are the most powerful among us, even if our pride would like us to think otherwise. How can a child who has not learned the ways of the world be brighter than the mind who has studied ancient works of those whom have come before or traveled the world? How can the child be more in tune with human emotion than the scholar who has studied human behavior for decades? How can a child recognize the simple beauty of God more that the theologian who has dedicated their adult life to seeking the “truth” ? We have devalued children, babies, the disabled, all of the innocent, in this world because we see them as naïve or unproductive and dependent members of society. It is us who have become blind to the truth and answers as we age. Everything that we need to better humanity is ingrained in us as a fetus, newborn, toddler or young child. It is only in our later stages that we become jaded and judgmental. For the majority, it truly is those first stages that will not only form who we are, but how we shape society as a whole later in life.
Which is why abortion is so poisonous. Why telling women that motherhood is a burden if it is not bestowed upon them at the exact moment that they wish is so dangerous. Why telling women they have an out through abortion which will have no lasting consequences is such a lie. Abortion takes. It takes the life of a human being, it takes away the love that a mother would feel for her child when she held them in her arms. It takes away from the thousands of parents who would gladly love that baby if the biological mother felt she was honestly in a place that she could not provide. It takes away from the extended family that could hold that baby close until the mother felt she was in the right place to parent. It takes away from a society who will never know what contributions that life could bring. It takes away from putting adoption on the pedestal it deserves, for a mother choosing to give her child the best life possible is the most unselfish and admirable action that a woman could elect. Adoption is the most admirable and benevolent gift of love for all parties; mother, child, and receiving family. Abortion takes.
Abortion shows us that a life is expendable unless it is brought into the world under the “right” circumstances. Even though the “right” circumstances can never be defined. It teaches society that unless a life is “wanted” it has no value. When abortion becomes an act that is inline with social norm we have lost a crucial human ability to empathize with those who are unable to advocate for themselves.
Abortion is a dangerous president and it takes from our ability as humans to care for one another. Motherhood needs to be protected and encouraged at all costs. Progressiveness needs to bend towards what is best for those children and mothers. We need to figure out how to support expecting mothers. We need to have a system in place to support mothers who want to raise their babies but feel that they are not in a place to do it. All of the money our government spends advocating abortion under the guise of “reproductive rights” could really go towards helping these women figure out how to support their babies that are on the way. This money could also go towards hiring counselors to help those women who are pregnant and realize that keeping their baby is not the most encompassing act of love. This is what the “right to choose” should be. Both of these options: adoption or keeping the baby require the most intense amount of love.
There needs to be two paths: one towards assisting mothers who want to keep their babies. The second one needs to be given towards mothers who have the courage to know motherhood is not the best path for them, and then show those mothers that the ultimate expression of love is to give that child to a home where they can thrive. Both models requires extensive counseling for the mothers, both models will need financial support from the community. Let’s spend our tax dollars this way rather than pumping money into the abortion mill that is Planned Parenthood.

This is how we help women and babies. We have failed at this in the past. Our history has a cruel, cruel backlash against single mothers and has a stigma against those who have had the courage to give their babies a better life through. This needs to end now. We need to protect our mothers and our children. We need to protect our mothers who choose to keep their babies through hard times and put our mothers who give their babies a better life up on the pedestal they deserve.