To Life!

Twenty-seven years ago today, I gave birth to my first child. It was an exhausting, exhilirating experience that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. It followed two years of trying to conceive and nine months of having to be on medication that I knew risked the health of my baby. I gave up my job as senior reporter at a newspaper -- and much needed income -- to avoid a miscarriage. And when I held my beautiful daughter for the first time, all the sacrifice, all the worry, all the pain was worth it.

From the moment I even suspected I might be pregnant, my daughter was a human being whom I had to protect at all cost. She was not a matter of choice or conscience. She was not a "woman's issue." She was not a political argument -- although she can argue politics with the best of them today. Her worth was not determined simply because she was "wanted" or because it was a "convenient" time for me to have a child.

My daughter was a living human being who let her opinions be known even in the womb. When I ate something she didn't like, she let me know. When I was in a position that was uncomfortable for her, I got a huge kick in the ribs. And one day, probably about six months into my pregnancy, I had the most amazing experience. My daughter reached her hand up, slowly spread her fingers and pushed. It was not a reaction to anything I had done -- I had just been sitting there. I am convinced that she was already exploring her world.

Although abortion was legal when Maridee was born, there were a lot of laws that protected the lives of unborn children. For instance, in several states at the time, if a drunken driver killed a pregnant woman, he or she could be charged with two counts of manslaughter as the unborn child was recognized as a life. In some states, a pregnant woman who smoked, drank or did illegal drugs could be charged with child neglect or abuse for the damage she was doing to her unborn child. Recognizing the dangerous contradictions such laws posed for abortion "rights," the abortionists led a pretty successful effort to get most of these laws revoked.

But one thing hasn't changed. Expectant parents still are encouraged -- from the moment they know a child is forming in the womb -- to read to that child, to talk to him or her, to sing lullabies, to physically bond with the child. Scientists have acknowledged that these so-called "lumps of human tissue" respond -- and remember. And any woman who has had more than one child can testify that each child is unique in the womb, each unborn baby expresses his or her own personality, each brings into the world a unique bundle of possibilities.

It is our duty, as the adults in the room, to give all children the opportunity to realize those possibilities.