Embracing my son

[Today’s guest post is by SPL member and adoptive mom Nicole Wood.*]

Early in 2011, I met my
son. He was scared, he did not speak,
his appearance was unkempt, he cowered in a corner making little eye
contact. I was told that he was thought
to be deaf and I would need to learn sign language to communicate with
him. He was a child of a child. His mother didn’t know how to care for him
properly, not being cared for as a young girl herself. She left him with a man she was dating while
she worked. He was too young to remember
everything that happened while he stayed with this man so we will never really
know. Eventually, he was abruptly taken
from his home when he had to be life flighted for fatal injuries to his
abdomen. Doctors saved his life via
emergency surgery to removed part of his bowels that had ruptured and were
spilling into his abdominal cavity creating septic shock. The man in charge of him admitted to
physically abusing him. This all happened in a few months after his second birthday.

This child was not only born to a mother who
couldn’t care for him, he was created out of rape as well. If any child was a case for abortion, he
would be a solid one. If pro-choice
advocates had a poster child for why we need abortion, he was it. He would be their champion for what happens when
woman can’t choose abortion. Surely he
would have been better off to never have been born.

Fast forward two years. This little boy talks very well, and he is
reading at age four. He has the biggest
smile I’ve ever seen and he lights up a room. He introduces himself to everyone he meets with pride. He has a big sister who annoys him, but he
loves her dearly. He has a little sister
whom he is so tender with. He tells
everyone about his precious little sister and how he is her big brother. His favorite super hero is Spider Man and he
puts on his costume at least once a day.
He really loves super heroes and I wonder some times if it is normal boy
stuff or if it’s because he feels like there were super heroes in his life in
the form of doctors, nurses, CPS caseworkers, big sister (who definitely taught
him to just jump for joy without being scared), his mom and dad, his
grandmothers and grandfathers, his cousins, and all the friends of the family
who love him.

It makes me sad some times when I hear pro-lifers
talk about abortion should be okay in the case of rape. I can’t help but to think of my little
man. Does he not deserve life? Was he any less human because of what his
biological father did? It makes me sad
when I hear the pro-choice side say that women who cannot financially support
their children should have the right to not bring them up in bad
circumstances. Do these children not
deserve a voice? After all my child went
through, what would he say? Did he wish
his mother would have not given him life? Surely not! He would have missed
out on a lot of pain but he would have also missed out on a lifetime of
happiness. These children, just like any
human being, do deserve life.

Rather
than giving the mother a “pass”
in these circumstances to commit abortion, why not find ways to help them? If we truly want to be loving to unborn
children, shouldn’t we love their mothers, too? I believe that we, as a society, can work together, to not just help
children, but also help their parents.
After all, they will ultimately be in charge of the care for the
children we save (either by finding them an adoptive home or by raising them
themselves). To show dignity to all
human life, we must embrace ALL human life.

*Name has been changed to protect her children’s identities.