To say that I am a diehard advocate of life would probably be a gross understatement. Actually, I can't recall any point in my life where I would have been an advocate for anything more important.
I recall in my early twenties having a friend who found herself in an unwanted pregnancy deciding to rid herself of the 'burden'. She did not tell the father, who had been trying to get her to marry him, that she was pregnant. At that time, abortions were not yet legal but somehow she was able to find someone in our city who performed abortions. I really don't recall how far along she was in her pregnancy or whether she even told me but she asked me to do something that to this day I ask the Lord to forgive me for. She asked that I drive her to where she needed to go and pick her up afterward. My immediate response was no that I didn't want to be a part of what she was about to do but she pleaded and begged until I finally said I would drive her there but that she was to get someone else to pick her up. Up to that point, we had been very close friends since junior high and gone through the usual teenage rigors of growing up. This was something entirely new to me and I found myself recoiling at the thought of what she was about to do and that I was about to help her. It would be safe to say that although we remained friends, our friendship was changed from that day forward.
I have been married since the mid-fifties and have four wonderful, healthy children. Never at any time did I ever fully comprehend the life that was forming in me much less have the opportunity to actually see that child grow. I believe the best at the time was hearing a heartbeat and actually feeling the movements inside of me. Today, scientific advancement has greatly improved the ability to not only feel but actually see that little child as he or she develops day by day, month by month and that brings me to the point of this 'story'.
