Sunday, September 27, 2009

A Prayful Protest

I drive by our local Planned Parenthood multiple times a day on my way to and from work. {We live so close to my work that I am able to go home for lunch and spend time with Nate and Daisy.} To be honest, I don’t always pay much attention to my surroundings {other than the road, of course} while driving ~ I’m usually listening to an audiobook or talking on the phone to my mom ~ but I have taken notice of the small group of protestors that have been staked out in front of the pro-choice clinic lately.

The first protestor I noticed was a lone man holding up a sign that said “Praying to End Abortion.” Another time, I saw a group of women standing with their heads bowed in prayer facing the clinic entrance. I can’t say for sure whether the protestors are always so peaceful ~ for all I know, they heckle and harass every person who dares to enter the facility ~ but I can say that I think they are on the right track with their prayers.

I have always been pro~life. I feel that life begins at the moment of conception, and that an unborn child is just as precious and valuable as a newborn, toddler, or pre~schooler. I even volunteered at a pro~life pregnancy resource center for almost a year after graduating from college. {My work schedule and entrance into graduate school eventually made it difficult to continue the volunteer work and I had to quit.} But I feel that changing the law simply isn’t enough. Making abortion illegal won’t make it stop ~ it will just cause those who feel they have no other options to seek other methods of terminating their pregnancies.

What is needed is a change in the mindset of those who feel that abortion is okay, that no life is lost when a pregnancy is terminated. So while I may not physically join those outside the Everett, WA Planned Parenthood in their protest, I will join them in prayer ~ a prayer that all may come to value life, regardless of whether or not that life has been born.

4 comments:

Katie said...

It was nice to read your views, especially since you are passsionate enough about them to back them up with volunteer work. My support for prolife has been more passive. As an adoptee, I obviously feel that adoption is an excellent option for those with unwanted pregnancies. I know for certain that I personally could never consider ending a pregnancy at anytime in my life. I always feel the sorriest for the women who feel that is the correct step to take and wonder what has gotten them to that place, where it seems like a good idea. A mother myself, I cannot imagine how tney must feel later on afterward.

Jen said...

Such a hard topic- personally I could never have had one, though I know people who have - at the time I thought it was probably the best thing for them, but in hindsight maybe they took the easy way out. I think it would weigh heavily on my soul forever.

Kathy Campbell said...

This is such a hard issue for me. On the one hand, I am pro-life. Each baby is precious and a gift from God. On the other hand, I am pro-choice. Because who am I to judge someone's situation? Also, because I believe the control of a woman's body should be in that woman's hands. So even though my personal beliefs are that abortion is wrong, I don't think I can support abortion becoming illegal. Also, if we did get to the point of abortion becoming illegal, we need to have a better system in place to take care of those children that are born. If only because if we set so much store on the rights of unborn children, shouldn't we care just as much what happens to those that are born?
I pray so often for these women having to make the decision and the lives of the babies too. It's a rough choice, no matter what.

jennykate77 said...

I'm pro-life too and believe that life begins at conception. I believe that prayer is definitely the answer!