Fathers are the forgotten people in the abortion equation.
As LifeNews blogger Lauren Enriquez has written, “With the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 came the legalization of the ultimate usurper of fatherhood: abortion.”
“America faces the unpleasant reality that, thanks to abortion and the sexual revolution, the role of fatherhood has rapidly made an about-face. Fatherhood has gone from being an unquestioned ingredient in family life to a variable that occurs in the family dynamic only when circumstances are aligned just right,” she writes.
With that in mind, consider this tragic and heartbreaking story Mike & Kathy Forck of the 40 Days for Life campaign in Columbia, Missouri.
It was almost time to leave. It had been an unusually cold afternoon and as the clean cut young man walked over to me, I wondered what he would say.
He stopped, he looked at Columbia Planned Parenthood and he said, “Thank you for being here.'”
He wanted to say something else it seemed and then he blurted out, “My baby died there.” His face changed to one of sorrow.
He told his story quickly–he didn’t want the abortion, his girlfriend did and even though he begged her, she would not listen to him. It happened about seven years ago, just when we began our prayer vigils in Columbia. He did not come with her and I told him how they lined the women up outside on the sidewalk and off duty policemen checked them in and took away their phones. Just for a second, he seemed to have compassion for the mother of his child. Maybe she too had second thoughts.
He told how he had come to Jesus a couple of weeks before she found out she was pregnant and she was heading the opposite direction. This clean cut, well mannered, nicely dressed young man had been a drug dealer in the neighborhood and somehow Jesus saved him, not once, but twice when the grief of the loss of his child was unbearable.
He said he could hardly wait to be a father–he is married now and looks forward to being a dad. I gently reminded him that he is a dad; and that his child is in heaven and that with God’s grace, he would meet him some day. I told him that his baby knew he wanted him– that he tried to save him and that his baby loved him. He left with something to think about–his fatherhood and the child that he has never forgotten somehow seemed more real to him.
The loss he suffered will be with him the rest of his life. Just as the many women we have talked to about the same thing–this Columbia Planned Parenthood– where they too lost a child. I think often of the 800 babies lost each year for so many years and I think of the 800 moms and dads each year who are hurting. And I think how sometimes God brings them to the sidewalk looking for healing and comfort and how all of us are there for them–with love and never judgment. I thank God that I was there that day and that the sidewalk wasn’t empty. God truly works in mysterious ways.
If I hadn’t told you lately, thank you–thank you for all you do to bring joy and God’s love to this world. You are incredible and I thank God for you each day.
