A Life Worth Saving
Abortion is a hot topic and there are many people with many esoteric reasons to support their opinion. However, none of them hold a candle to the story of T. Suzanne Eller. Below is her story from her website that you can see by following this link.
Dear friend. . .
Posted October 27, 2008
You ask me why I dare touch such a hot topic in today?s political scene. After all, it?s a women?s right to choose. It?s private. It?s not right to push your opinions on others, you say. Thank you for your questions, for allowing me to be the one to listen.
I don?t often talk about abortion, but friend you asked the question so is it okay that I share my story?
My mom was 15 when she found out she was pregnant with her first. A young naval guy on her base told her he loved her. She believed him. Nine months later she gave birth to a sick child. Cystic fibrosis. She was far from home now. ?You made your own bed; lie in it,? her mother said.
Her husband wasn?t faithful. He was abusive. She was fragile. She got pregnant again, giving birth to another little girl just in time to say goodbye to her first. When her little one died, her husband beat her, accusing her of not taking care of Pamela. What he didn?t understand is that at time they didn?t have the medical knowledge to extend the life of a CF baby.
He was gone for longer periods of time, some times months due to service. Other times, days, due to other women. She was not quite 20 years old, a mother twice over, without money, a phone, and at the mercy of an angry young man.
She fled one day, finding a place with a girlfriend, taking in jobs cleaning homes. She was as poor as ever, but safe and rebuilding her life.
He found her. He wanted to make their marriage work. He wanted her to come home. He wanted sex.
She said no to all of those. He made her give him at least one of them. It was violent. He left, this time for forever.
She found out she was pregnant. It was the worst of times; it was the worst of times. There was not ?best? in this situation. Her remaining daughter was 3. She was 20. At nine months pregnant she walked out of the house, her water broken, a dime clutched in her hand as she looked for a pay phone to call for help.
She gave birth alone later that night in the hallway of a naval hospital. No pink balloons. No birth announcements. No loving family surrounding her. It was a difficult birth: a 9 lb. 13 oz. baby girl. Daughter #3 arrived.
I was that baby.
When I look at her circumstances she had every reason to terminate the pregnancy. But if she had ended that pregnancy, she would have ended me. And generations after me: Leslie, Ryan, Melissa.
That?s why I quietly oppose abortion. It?s why I am grateful that my mother allowed me to choose whether my life was of value, instead of her circumstances or my conception or the hard life we had after that.
Because I love life. I love being Suzie. I love being a mom. I love traveling around the world to share my faith. I love hiking. I love being in the arms of Richard. I love everything that life brings, even if that meant that I had to go through the hard parts growing up, and there were many, to be here today.
Maybe you disagree and I hear you, but this is my story and I can?t change the facts to embrace the issue.
Thanks for asking the question. I love having this conversation w/you.
