Defining Pro-Life: October 21, 2009

Recently Laura and I found ourselves discussing the topic of abortion. Immediately we were reminded of when we first learned of Emily's diagnosis of anencephaly and the undercurrent of expectation from people that we would continue the pregnancy and not choose to induce early; after all, we are Christians and, therefore, we are Pro-Life.

The painful irony of our situation with Emily was that the choice about life had been made by her Maker; barring a miracle she would not live long in this world. As the parents we were not consulted on Emily's development and having an abortion was never one of the options given to us from the medical community. We desperately loved (and still love) Emily, but the source of our pain was that keeping her was not an option for us. The ugly reality was that whether we induced labor sooner or chose to do it later, the outcome would be identical.

The Bible is clear, in our opinion, that the giving and taking of life belongs to the Lord and our role, as followers of Christ, is to protect and invest in life. But it isn't always so simple. And at its core it certainly isn't political. It was the Lord that led us to continue with the pregnancy and surrender the whole situation to Him. This doesn't make us great and we didn't do it to raise a political Pro-Life flag.

We wholeheartedly believe in protecting the lives of the unborn and applaud those who invest time in this important effort. And as followers of Christ we wonder if we shouldn't also broaden our notion of being Pro-Life beyond fighting the practice of abortion?

• What if being Pro-Life also meant being intentional to invest in the lives of people around you, whether your spouse or child, your neighbor, a co-worker, or the widows and orphans? Lord, forgive us when we forget that all of life is precious and we passionately fight for the unborn but neglect the born.

• What if being Pro-Life also meant we cared as much about people being born-again as we do about people being born? Lord, forgive us for when we are timid, unwilling, or simply do not care enough to share You and your love with other other people.

Life is precious- all of life. Losing Emily has helped us embrace life as the treasure that it is. It is our conviction that as followers of Christ we are to live with this kind of perspective and this kind of passion.