Voices Never Heard
On the third Tuesday of October every year, students who oppose abortion give up their voices for an event called, “Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity.” Students do it as a representation of the thousands of voices taken by abortion every day. They choose to not speak for one day as a reminder of those who have been silenced forever (Fink, 2019).[1]
Life is a gift given by God, through parents, to the world. Individuals grow in maturity and strength to express their abilities and talents in service to others. Jesus experienced a similar trajectory in His development, because God protected Him from harm (Luke 2:52). God has breathed into the dust of the Earth and formed a man first and then a woman to inherit the world that He created and to steward its resources (Genesis 1:27-30). The gift of life is not simply breathing and walking on this earth—but living in such a way to respect and reflect the beauty of God, who created us in His own image (Genesis 1:27).[2]
This gift of life given by God is in contrast to efforts by groups here on Earth to, in their words, “protect access to sexual and reproductive healthcare and education.”[3] That is the mission of Planned Parenthood, which—in actuality—is an oxymoron. Planned Parenthood is not helping couples plan for the parenting of a precious life in their care and leading him or her into their God-given destiny. Instead, Planned Parenthood is the leading provider of abortion in America.[4]
An article from a secular-humanist website declares that Christians should be satisfied with the aborting of babies—if we believe that innocent children have not yet reached the age of accountability—because all those little souls, as yet unborn, are brought into the presence of their Heavenly Father (Gannon, 2022). The author questions why Christians—if they believe these aborted souls were saved from choices that could lead them on a different path—would work so hard to have these children born, when they might grow up and miss out on the assurance of salvation through selfish choices and the embodiment of evil (Gannon, 2022).[5] This is horribly twisted logic, which completely misses the most significant reason why those who stand against abortion pray, hold days of silence, and protest innocent lives being taken.
If life were not precious, God’s Son would not have given His life so that those who believe in Him could live eternally (John 3:16). The issue of a soul moving directly into God‘s presence in the absence of living and breathing, because of not having made a choice to sin or not to sin, confuses the point of why life has been given in the first place. All humans have the stamp of the Divine nature on them and, therefore, have great value. Similar to a precious coin minted with the insignia of its designer, each life has been designed in majestic detail—down to its very unique DNA. God sees these uniquely designed creations and qualifies them as living beings, even deep within a mother’s womb prior to their birth (Psalm 139: 13-16). God often directly intervenes in our lives to bring about healing through restorative antibodies, internal acids, and plasma to allow us to live full and complete lives, expressing our gifts and talent in ways that encourage and support others.
Our distinctive mix of knowledge, gifts, abilities, and passions are part of a Divine plan to birth beauty and truth and freshness in this human experience. What if no one wrote the next great song or play? What if no one stood to protect the rights of those who were being taken advantage of? Where are the soldiers and ministers, the seamstresses and the entrepreneurs who have been called to share their gifts with the world? This is the beauty and the uniqueness of life. If life is not lived, it is a gift never received. It is a treasure never opened; an opportunity for healing that will never be acquired. It is a voice never heard.
Try this experiment. Drive down any busy street that is covered with signage and advertisements. Most of the signs blend into each other with hardly a distinction between them. Then, drive down the street with an individual waiting at the bus stop or someone holding a sign for a closeout sale. Our eyes are immediately drawn to that individual. I’ve always thought this is why companies hire people to stand on street corners all day long holding those closeout signs. It is not because the signs themselves garner attention in their movement or color. It is because there is something alive in that soul that draws our attention and captures our interest and imagination. It is the Divine light within each of us; and that light was designed to shine through the world to bring beauty to other lives and glory to God.
Groups, such as “Students for Life,” and events, such as the “Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity,” target college students who have many opportunities to develop relationships in varying degrees. These students must decide whether carrying a child to full term and bringing that child into the world is something they would choose to do at their present time. The choice of allowing a child to achieve its God-designed destiny can be drowned out by voices describing the inconvenience of carrying such a burden at a particular time of their lives. Many voices suggest it is not something they need to do. The voices that are not speaking are ones not being given the opportunity, because their lives were terminated before their voices were ever heard.
[1] Fink, J. (2019, October 19). What Is the Pro-life Day of Silent Solidarity? Newsweek Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.newsweek.com/what-pro-life-day-silent-solidarity-anti-abortion-activism-1465105.
[2] Focus on the Family (2011). Heaven and the Eternal Destiny of Preborn Infants. Focus on the Family.com [Web Blog]. Retrieved from https://www.focusonthefamily.com/family-qa/heaven-and-the-eternal-destiny-of-preborn-infants/.
[3] Planned Parenthood (n.d.). About Us. Retrieved from https://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us.
[4] Rovner, J. (2011, April 13). Planned Parenthood: A Thorn in Abortion Foes’ Sides. National Public Radio. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2011/04/13/135354952/planned-parenthood-makes-abortion-foes-see-red.
[5] Gannon, P. (2022, March). Abortion: What Happens to the Souls? Free Inquiry Magazine, 42(2). Article retrieved online from https://secularhumanism.org/2022/02/abortion-what-happens-to-the-souls/.
