National Sanctity of Human Life Day

Today is National Sanctity of Human Life Day and for the first time, I attended our local pro-life event.

I am pro-life and have always been, but I also always have a hesitation about public pro-life events. My efforts and support have typically been behind the scenes. Maybe it's a concern about possible conflicts. Maybe it's my "Canadian" reluctance to be vocal about my opinions and most deeply held beliefs. Maybe it's the worry that my emotions might get the better of me. Or maybe it's just cowardice.

Today, the emotions did come. As part of the event, 50 white crosses were placed in the ground to signify the 50 million babies that have been lost to abortion in the US in the past 36 years. I have had to grieve my own unborn children and those crosses stirred many emotions again. One million babies per cross. Fifty million mothers struggling with difficult emotions and decisions and grief. Fifty million. In terms of the emotional, psychological and economic cost to this nation, that's an appalling number.

It breaks my heart - for the babies killed by abortion each year, for the women caught in circumstances that make it seem like their best choice, for the women caught in the aftermath of abortion, and for the men and women struggling with fertility issues and a difficult adoption process who also suffer because of abortion.

I could say a lot about my view of the abortion debate and the many stands that people hold. Lately, I have watched the discussions of assisted suicide and euthanasia take many of the same turns. But the verse that keeps coming to my mind presents another side:

"Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it."--Numbers 35:33b

We are so fortunate that Christ shed His blood on behalf of the ones who shed this innocent blood and that each one of us is covered by his atonement regardless of our sin if we choose to accept it.

But it is still our responsibility to speak up on behalf of those that are being silenced by abortion. To love those hurt by abortion. To wisely confront the epidemic of abortion. To present Christ with a purposed but gentle regard for those that support abortion.

It's time to stop polluting our land.