On January 23, while we were in Gatlinburg on a winter getaway, our family celebrated my granddaughter Lauren’s 22^nd birthday. We had a wonderful time eating seafood chowder, sushi and cupcakes, shopping for bargains at the Tanger outlet, and playing hand and foot and Sequence.

Lauren is a very special young woman.  Bright and beautiful, she is, more importantly,  a strong Christian who exhibits God’s love and the fruit of His Spirit to those around her.

As I look at her smiling face and listen to her cheerful voice, I am horrified to think that before her birth her doctors suggested to my son Jeff and his wife Stephanie that they abort her.

For some still unknown reason, Stephanie’s blood work came back indicating problems with the fetus when she was five months pregnant.  Her doctor’s office called her at work one morning and wanted her to come in right away—it appeared there was something wrong with her baby.

Terrified, Stephanie rushed to the obstetrician’s office where she met Jeff. The doctor then performed an ultra-sound and quietly advised them that it appeared their daughter would be born with either downs syndrome or spina-bifida. He suggested scheduling an immediate abortion or, at the least, amniocentesis.

To their credit, my brave son and daughter-in-law said, “No, it does not matter. We do not believe in abortion. If the Lord gives us a handicapped child, we will love it anyway.”

At a follow-up visit, a second ultra-sound was performed and a different doctor miraculously announced that, in his opinion, the baby was fine; but for the remaining weeks of her pregnancy, there was this continuing apprehension that Lauren would have special needs when she was born.

Praise God, when she arrived she was perfect. Though initially she was a timid little thing and cried a lot for her mother, she grew into a vivacious, outgoing teen who excelled in music and drama. Elected president of the student body at East Gaston High School, she was anything but “handicapped.”

Today she is a college student who is studying to be an Occupational Therapist. Her goal? To help children with special needs. You see, for some reason only God knows, he has given her a special heart for children with disabilities.

As I listen to the horrific news that New York has now approved late-term abortion, I am angry. As a Christian, I find abortion abhorrent! To think that a mere doctor wanted to suck the life out of my beautiful granddaughter sickens me.

According to the Charlotte Lozier Institute, “abortions performed after 20 weeks gestation, when not done by induction of labor (which leads to fetal death due to prematurity), are most commonly performed by dilation and evacuation (D & E) procedures. These particularly gruesome surgical techniques involve crushing, dismemberment and removal of a fetal body from a woman’s uterus, mere weeks before, or even after, the fetus reaches a developmental age of potential viability outside the mother. In some cases, especially when the fetus is past the stage of viability, the abortion may involve administration of a lethal injection into the fetal heart in utero to ensure that the fetus is not pulled out alive or with the ability to survive.”

The Scriptures are very clear. We are all created in God’s image:

^“So God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27 (NLT)

We are not just blobs of tissue. We are human beings from the time of our conception. He created us with tenderness and with a plan for our lives:

^” You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
 You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.” (Psalm 139:13-16 NLT)

He created each of us for a specific purpose, just as he created the prophet Jeremiah:

“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.
Before you were born I set you apart
and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5 NLT)

The 10 commandments are very clear:

“You shall not murder.” (Exodus 20:13 NKJV)

As far as I am concerned, any doctor who would suck a baby from its mother’s womb before it is full term or pump poison into its heart to destroy it is a murderer!

While I never considered myself a political activist, I have come to believe that the failure of Christians to take a stand for what is clearly contrary to the Bible’s teachings is one reason our country is in such a state of moral rot and decay. Unlike the loud liberal protesters, we have remained quiet and our children and grandchildren are suffering the consequences. It is time that we speak out for the rights of the unborn. Our Savior called us to take a stand:

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24 NLT)

What about you? Any Christians out there who are sick and tired of what has taken place in our country for the past 40 plus years? If so, I’d love to hear from you.