Feed the Children

I’ve lately noticed a trend among people who want to keep elective abortions legal in America. To those of us who are pro-life, they ask, “How many starving children have you fed today?” In this month of October, dedicated to respecting life, I’m sharing here my answer to that question.

You, who are pro-choice, hear pro-lifers say that we want to stop elective abortions in order to save the lives of children. So you ask us how many starving children we have fed today.

I don’t know how many I’ve fed.

I give ten percent of my income to charities that help impoverished families. I try to support candidates for public office who are in favor of WIC programs, Medicaid for children, expanded access to daycare, as well as the right to life. (Yes, it’s extremely difficult to find such a candidate.) Wanting to help feed needy children in any way that I can, I give every year to my state food bank; I asked the guests of my sister’s baby shower to bring baby food donations for an organization that helps mothers transition from homelessness; I co-ran an awareness campaign to support a local crisis pregnancy center; and I pray daily for parents and children in need.

None of this ends global poverty, of course. Not even local poverty. My little monetary donations certainly don’t bring an end to poverty in the lives of those who receive them. I am only one person and I, like every person on the planet, can only do so much, yet could do more. I’m little. But I try. I try to give hope to the hopeless, food to the hungry, shelter to the homeless, and loving care to those in need. It saddens and upsets me that I can’t do nearly enough.

I assume, because your question voices concern about children who are at risk of death by starvation, that you are also concerned about children who are at risk of death by violent dismemberment or lethal injection. Right?

Do you try to help children whose lives are going to be terminated and the desperate women who don’t see any other choice but to prevent their children from seeing the light of day? Or do you find it easier to deny the humanity of a fetus and the long term effects on a woman who has suffered an abortion?

Lest we quibble over the term “children,” allow me to remind you that I am my parents’ child. Although I am entering the “middle age” of human development, I have always been their child — as a blastocyst, embryo, fetus, neonate, adolescent, and adult — and I will always be their child, even if they should be deceased and I a geriatric. The stages of human development are the stages of human development, they are not about how you develop into a human but about how you develop into each stage of being a human.

I regard every human being as worthy of continued life, in every stage of development and in every walk of life. You don’t need to be rich, beautiful, kind, law-abiding, talking, or walking for me to champion your right to live. I am pro-life.

I will respect and protect you, in the little ways that I can. I may be little, but I know how to love unconditionally, without prejudice. Do you?

© 2019 Christina Chase

Feature Photo by Tanaphong Toochinda on Unsplash