On Once Being a Fetus

Tony of Catholic Pillow Fight was once a fetus. Shocking, I know. He actually developed from the biological union of a sperm and ovum. He grew from this miraculous yet natural union of male and female into the man that today inspires us all.

Behold the man, once a fetus, in his own words:

I am an adoptee. Having never met my birth mother, I can only guess what might have been going through her mind when faced with this choice. Back in 1959, however, the choice was more clear cut. Have the child or risk an illegal abortion, putting your freedom and very life at risk.

My birth mother chose life. I am not going to cheapen her choice by citing the fact that she didn't have access to "safe and easy abortion", but the fact remains that had she had that option, you might have been looking at a picture of me on Stacy's blog. You certainly would not be reading these words.

I was adopted by a wonderful mother and father, devout Catholics both. I was born in Our Lady of Victory Orphanage in Lackawanna, NY. My parents took me home, and gave me a comfortable and love-filled life.

I have been blessed.

This is one of the reasons I take abortion very seriously. I weigh a woman's convenience against my life, or the life of someone like me, and it comes up wanting.

We, as a society, are supposed to protect the weak, helpless and voiceless. We have given the unborn names like "fetus", "embryo", "lump of unformed tissue" and the biggest lie: "her body", to strip the unborn child of his or her essential humanity.

Longtime readers of this blog may remember that Tony and I share the experience of being adopted. We owe a debt of gratitude to our biological mothers that we can only repay to our own children. That is life.

Abortion is death. It not only murders children; it annihilates parents as well. For the man and woman that consent to abortion agree not only to kill their own child; they destroy their identity as parents. They fundamentally betray the most solemn obligation any parents owe to their children: to protect and raise them to become the people they're born to be. How can they not experience the devestation of this savage mutilation of their integrity? How can they not grieve for the child they'll never see?

Don't take my word for it. Ask her:

I wasn't told that it would become impossible to look at my own eyes in a mirror. Or that my confidence would be so shaken that I would become unable to make important life decisions. My self-hatred kept me from pursuing my goal of becoming a registered nurse. I didn't think I deserved success.

I wasn't told that I would come to hate all those who advised me to have my abortions, because they were my accomplices in the murders of my babies. I wasn't told that having an abortion with my husband's consent would end up causing me to hate the father of my children, or that I would be unable to sustain ANY satisfying, lasting, fulfilling relationships.

I wasn't told that I could become suicidal in the fall of every year, when both of my babies should have been born.

I wasn't told that on the birthdays of my living children, I would remember the two for whom I would never make a birthday cake, or that on Mother's Day I would remember the two who would never send me a card, or that every Christmas I would remember the two for whom there would be no presents.

My abortions were supposed to be a "quick-fix" for my problems, but they didn't tell me there is no "quick-fix" for regrets.

Tony's political solution is a very Foolish one, of course. The trouble is we all live in far to Reasonable a world for it. We stumble around in the dark, and celebrate the enshadowed shapes that promise illumination, but somehow never deliver. We long to see the light, until it's upon us; then we run and hide. Trapped in such abject misery, many of us convince ourselves that somehow, there is only nothing. Therefore, we must create the order upon which we will live. Thus, we must become the Absolute Individuals, through whom all things will be made. Again.

Only the Light of the World can dispell such darkness. Only those committed to life in him can bear the Light. Only when enough of us choose to do so will the Light that the darkness has never overcome finally shatter the gloom that has enslaved us. Then, men and women, however frightening their circumstances, will find the courage to happily welcome their child.

Pray that more come to bear the Light. Our enslaved world moans in its chains, longing for liberation. How much longer shall we listen and not be moved?

Pray, too, for those scarred by a decision they made long ago, trapped in the dark. May God shed his mercy on them, and may they welcome his merciful love.

Finally, pray for those bold prophets like Tony's and my biological moms. They dared to give birth to the children they would never see rather than surrender them to convenient murder. Pray that others follow their example.

Whoever you are; Wherever you are:

Thank you.