Daly Focus Blog
Having a baby is supposed to be a time of great excitement and joy.
But what if it’s not?
What happens when something goes wrong? What happens when the joys of pregnancy become a devastating, heart-wrenching experience?
Adriel Booker has survived that experience three times. She’ll tell you that she has seven children, but only three sit around the dinner table. She gave birth to two boys, and then she and her husband experienced three consecutive miscarriages.
“I’m pregnant!” is supposed to be good news, the kind that most would-be moms celebrate.
Not Jennifer Polimino. Her moment of incredible joy was tarnished by feelings of guilt and shame from her past, the result of abuse that steered her in the wrong direction.
At age 12, Jennifer was nearly raped by a group of boys that hung out with her older sister. Jennifer was with them in an apartment with little furniture and no electricity.
On today’s edition of our Focus on the Family broadcast, “Defeating the Darkness of Abortion,” we’re going “behind the scenes” of an abortion clinic. Our tour guide is Kathy Sparks, and as you’ll hear, she trained in every area of an abortion facility – from the telephones to the surgical room.
She has a riveting story to tell.
Kathy was raised Catholic and pro-life. In college, feminism drew her to adopt a pro-choice outlook.
Like a lot of first time moms, Jerusha Clark kept a copy of What to Expect When You’re Expecting on her bedside table. She referenced it frequently. Mostly she stuck to topics on eating well and her labor and delivery.
Looking back, she remembers skipping the section on postpartum depression. Why bother? She was generally a happy woman. She enjoyed her pregnancy, and she loved being a mom when her child was born.
A few months later, everything changed.
New York state has recently signed into law a barbaric piece of legislation which would allow a woman to abort her child at any point during pregnancy, and specifically during the third trimester. The law only requires that the mother’s “health” is at risk. The term “health” is so broad that it could mean anything from medical, physical, psychological to financial issues.
Shockingly, there were celebrations throughout the state in response to the passing of this legislation, with lawmakers cheering wildly.
I could have been aborted.
I was born in the ’60s prior to Roe v. Wade, but even then many people felt my mother would have been justified to abort me. She was the perfect candidate. She was 42 and in a high-risk pregnancy. My dad was an alcoholic, and I was the fifth child of a marriage that was already struggling to stay together. I was born into a household in turmoil.
I could have been aborted.
Jim Daly is a husband, father and President of Focus on the Family and host of its National Radio Hall of Fame broadcast. His blog, Daly Focus, is full of timely commentary and wisdom designed to help you navigate and understand today’s culture. His latest book is Marriage Done Right.
