What’s Abortion?

We were driving in the car with the radio was playing.  The music had stopped and the announcer started broadcasting the news.  I wasn’t paying much attention but I did hear the word abortion.  The next thing I heard was “Mom, what’s abortion?”

The Kid, who was nine, was sitting in the front seat when he asked me the question.  Startled, I searched for the right words to respond to his question and said something like he was too young to understand.

“Mom, you don’t have to protect me.  I’m old enough to know these things.”   He was right.  Mr. Small Town had just completed the final conversation in the ‘How are babies made’ talk and The Kid felt grown up now that he knew how a man’s sperm and the woman’s egg got connected.

I took a deep breath, as I started formulating my words, and I turned off the radio.

“Well, you know that when the man’s sperm and woman’s egg meet, they connect and a baby is made in the woman’s belly.”

“Yeah”

“Well, sometimes the pregnancy, the baby, isn’t always good news.”

“Yeah”

“Sometimes, the woman carrying the baby does not want to have the baby.”

“Yeah”

“So, she goes to a clinic or doctor, and the doctor, ah, the doctor…” I was trying to find the right words.

“Yeah?”

“The doctor removes the baby from the mom’s stomach.”  There, I said it.

“Like she has the baby?”

“No, not exactly.”  How can I tell this beautiful, sweet, innocent child what the doctors do to the baby!?!

“What?”  The Kid was getting more impatient as he knew I was trying to avoid the question.

“I don’t think you really want to know.”

The Kid growing very impatient with me by now said, “MOM! I’m old enough to know! Now, tell me!”

Another deep breath, “The doctor puts a suction tube into the mom’s belly and suctions out the baby.”  There. I said it. It was technical but it answered his question.

“What happens when the baby gets sucked out?”

“The baby dies.”

“You mean they KILL the baby!!”  Ugh! Did he have to say it so literally?!?

“Yes.  They kill the baby.”

“Why? Why would anyone kill a baby? Isn’t that wrong?  People go to jail for killing people. Right?”

“Yes.  You are right.  But,” taking a deep breath, “some people don’t view abortion that way.”

Silence filled the car.  I took another deep breath and started the conversation again.

“You know, when your birth mom was pregnant with you, lots of people wanted her to have an abortion.”

“You mean they wanted to kill me!?!”

“But she said no.  She told dad and I that she thought abortion was the ‘coward’s way’ of handling an unplanned pregnancy.”

“I wasn’t planned?”  Ugh.

“Well, God planned you but you were quite a surprise to her and several other people,” I said with a warm smile as I ran my fingers through his white, blond hair.  “She said that she wanted you to have life.”

The Kid smiled.  “And then she met you guys!”

“Yes.  She met us and we had been praying for a baby.”

“That was me!  I was the baby you prayed for.”  Ah, he remembered his story.

“Yes,” I said smiling with tears welling up in my eyes. “You are an answer to our prayers and many other people’s prayers.  And, a gift from your birth mom to us.  So many people were praying for us, your birth mom, and you.”  Whew!  The conversation was done.

“Mom,” he said after contemplating for a minute.  “We need to tell people that those babies want to be born.  We need to tell people that those babies want to be born like me!  Maybe those babies are an answer to someone’s prayer like I was to yours and dad’s prayers.”

I couldn’t hold the tears back any more.  How could I?  Such a profound statement coming from my nine year old son.

Friends, I have been remembering and retelling this particular conversation over in my head for the past two weeks.  (This was an actual conversation that The Kid and I had.  It isn’t a story that I made up.)  I don’t know why it has been playing over and over in my head.  But I knew that it was time to share the story with all of you.

For me, I’ve grown up with words “abortion,” “pro-choice,” and “right to life” as part of my vocabulary.  I’ve heard the debates as to when life begins – at conception or at birth.  I’ve seen the marches. I’ve seen the debates.  I’ve seen the protests. I’ve seen the pregnant celebrities saying that abortion is a woman’s right.

But for this Kid, it’s different.  It’s personal.  It’s real.  And he wants to tell everyone in the world that those babies who were or are about to be aborted – that they want to be born…just like him.

 

Blessings to you today my friends!

 

 

The Small Town Girl