Thoughts on Roe v. Wade

This week was the anniversary of the landmark decision of Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion in our country.  It is unimaginable to me the number of innocent lives taken since then and the number that will be taken still.  While of course I am thinking of the babies that were never born, today I am also thinking of the other victims to these abortions.  The women and men who are now living with scars of a choice they made or a choice that was made for them.  Maybe this person is you.

I think in our zeal to defend the lives of the unborn, we as Christians have sometimes failed to  show compassion to those who are wounded and living lives full of regret.  I know more people than I might have once imagined who have suffered through the loss and heartache that come with abortion.  I have seen them wrestle with the decisions they have made and struggle to come to a place of healing.  They really are the walking wounded in many ways and are more in need of grace, forgiveness and love than many of us can imagine.  And though you may not know it, you know these people too.  It's not something they advertise and certainly not something they are proud of, but it is a part of who they are.  They do not need our judgement but our understanding.  Not hatred but healing.  

Obviously, most of us would never intentionally be judgmental or critical of another's choices, but yet we, through our actions and careless words, lead them to believe that we might view them with the same disdain with which we view abortion.  Although I do hate the act and the choice, I could never judge those who have been in such a hopeless place that they have felt this decision was the only one they could make.  Many of these are our brothers and sisters in Christ, our fellow church members, our neighbors, our friends, our husbands or wives.   And we are called to love them as such.  

So, as I remember all of these people this week, I pray for them, for their hearts.  For the families they may have now and for the families that they may wish they had.  I pray for an understanding of the fullness of God's mercies and grace that extends even to them.  Especially to them.  That if they are hurting, that they may hurt no longer, but walk anew today in God's forgiveness.   And if they are not hurting, I pray that their hearts will be softened to the grace that the Father is extending to them.

And may we also pray fervently for God to take the blinders off of His people.  That we may love and fight for the lives that He has created, be they unborn or elderly or anywhere in between.  God's heart is for His people and I pray that ours would be too.