Abortion

1/21/2017  12:05pst

It is Saturday morning, the day after the inaguration. I am watching the
woman's march happening around the country. I am sick or I would be at the
one happening in Seattle. I heard on one of the stations that march organizers
did not want to welcome pro-life woman that want to participate. I think
this is a mistake.

In 1973 I was 15 years old. Row vs Wade passed and a simple melody
came into my head and I wrote the following.

Never Born I died

On this earth I might have stood 
but mother didn't think that I should
my life was over in a flash 
and now my soul lies in the trash

Never born I died 
and they don't call it homicide
the law says it's fair and just
so it's ashes to ashes 
and dust to dust

Over the years this has been a subject that I have thought a lot about. I have
learned over the years that this is not a black and white issue. Those words only
tell one part of this story.

Recently, I was asked to pray for a pregnant mother that found out that
her baby, a daughter, had no kidneys (just one of many other complications).
The baby would have no chance of survival. Now, it was only a choice of inducing
labor now and saying goodbye, or going to full-term and saying goodbye. The words
never born I died take on a different trajectory for this mother.

She was not long ago at her shower, opening all the gifts, laughing
and doing all the things woman do at a shower. She was a happy mother,
beaming, radiant, dreaming about all the things she would get to do with
her daughter.

And now she and her husband are faced with making the decision when to
say goodbye to the child they will never know. As I try to reach into the
depth of my own soul I cannot begin to understand the sorrow they face.