Thanks4Giving Me Life: A Tribute to Pro-Life Champions

Opinion   |   Ryan Bomberger   |   Nov 23, 2011   |   12:18PM   |   Washington, DC

Love and sacrifice make life possible.  Throughout human history, life has been rescued, elevated and celebrated by acts of inexplicable courage and compassion. It is this continuing cycle of our humanity that extols others above ourselves. This is what defines the prolife movement. It is rooted in the foundational belief that human dignity isn’t for the privileged and the planned, but for all.

Abortion denies us the heroic nature of our humanity. It deprives us not only of the beautiful possibility of a unique new life, but of the opportunity for women and men to be powerfully transformed.

The abortion industry celebrates the sacrifice of others. It is mired in the most extreme form of narcissism that evangelizes others to save oneself, while allowing others to perish.  It leads people to make the bizarre claims like “abortion makes women better mothers”.

During National Adoption Month, when we attempt to raise awareness about the beauty of adoption, we honor women who have made millions of lives possible, despite difficult circumstances. The Radiance Foundation’s Thanks4Giving Me Life campaign, originally launched in the Fall of 2009, continues (in events across the country) to highlight the powerful reverberations that choosing Life causes.

I think of women like Pam Stentzel, Rebecca Kiessling, and the late great Ethel Waters who were all conceived in rape, yet whose lives are tangible examples of the beauty of possibility. I think of women like and Zina Hackworth (Missouri Blacks For Life, mother of 13), Peggy Hartshorn (President of Heartbeat International), Kelly Rosati (VP, Community Outreach, Focus on the Family)—all adoptive mothers  who are leading the fight to defend the defenseless and to care for the women that the abortion industry abandons.

These are present-day abolitionists, replacing evil with compassion, loss with fulfillment, and despair with Hope. These are women who know self-denial as they put others first. They know how pain and confusion can result in harmful decisions and work to educate and inspire many to make right choices.  And despite daily obstacles of the impossible, they defy conventional wisdom and pursue God’s instead.

This Thanksgiving as you gather with family and friends, thanking God for blessings we, too often, take for granted, please take the time to express thankfulness to those whose love and sacrifice made your life possible.