By Christina Domer
46 years ago a young, unmarried woman found herself expecting a baby. It was still a time when shame and scorn were heaped upon a woman finding herself in “the family way”. She was young. Unmarried. Poor. Scorned by family and friends.
The year before in a landmark case, abortion had been marked as ok and legal. She had a choice. A legal choice. Abortion would be the “easier” choice. An afternoon spent at a clinic and this pregnancy would be forever erased from existence. It seems like the better choice. She can’t parent. She just can’t parent. And the shame. Even if she could parent, how could she live for 9 months with this stigma?
But Life.
She must choose life.
She chose life.
With the help of a pastor, who loved and cared for her in spite of her choices, she chose life.
She carried me for 9 months. (likely longer, I looked to be about 6 weeks old when I was born)
She sacrificed her body, her comfort, her pride and then at the end let a nurse take me from the room to never see me again.
She chose life. She chose adoption.
That kind of sacrificial love makes her a hero. My hero. One I cannot thank. One I pray has been blessed tenfold by our merciful Father.
She’s not the only reason I am staunchly pro-life. Fast forward 36 years and another woman is choosing life. Life for the unborn son she carries in her womb. The sacrifice is made again and this time it’s not a nurse that takes that beautiful baby boy. It is me. A woman touched by adoption and then torn apart by infertility. A woman desperately wanting to be a mother. I’m grateful that my son has a hero just like I do. And this time, there is no shame. No stigma. And NO secrets. Just “birth momma”.
Three years later, my politics have grown more liberal as I see the need to not just be pro-birth but to be fully pro-life. How can I help these women who feel helpless. Who feel their options are limited to abortion or parenting. And so I serve. I love women in crisis pregnancy. I introduce them to my son and his birth momma and show them how life can be lived and lived well. I help them choose life and make an adoption plan. And soon I know I need another sweet miracle.
This time it’s a married couple. An anomaly in the adoption world. But here they are. Knowing they cannot parent at this time but loving this little one and desiring to bless a couple with a child. A few days later my daughter is born And we are a family. My husband, my son, my daughter, my children’s birth family.
I am pro-life first because I am a new creation in Christ and he is all about precious life. I am pro-life because my children and I could have been 3 of billions. And I am grateful. For all the lives that adoption has blessed me with.