Remembering Mom and the Sanctity of Human Life

With Mother’s Day in the month of May, I had a flashback to my teenage years, the years just after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe decision made abortion legal nationwide for nearly 50 years until the Court overturned Roe in the Dobbs case last year.

So, rewind to 1973. My mother never had a driver’s license, but I had a 1965 Ford Fairlane 500 passed down to me from an older sister. So, at age 17, the deal was mom would pay for the gas in my car as long as I made myself available to her whenever she needed a ride. While some teens would be embarrassed to be seen driving around with their mother, mom and I got along great. Except for that one day …

As I pulled the car up to the curb at our house, we had just heard a news story about abortion on the car radio. My comment was, “Well, if a woman doesn’t want to have a baby why force her to have a baby?”

What came next left a lasting impression on me. I can’t remember mom’s exact words, but it was something to the effect, “I can’t believe I raised someone who would think like that.”

Then she slammed the car door as hard as she could and walked toward the house leaving me still behind the wheel stinging from the words of a woman who birthed me and my four older sisters, and lost a sixth child in utero.

When I was in my early 20s and the Lord saved me, my eyes were opened to how He views the sanctity of human life from the preborn to the aged.

God even reveals how intimately He knows us in the womb. He told the prophet Jeremiah:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
And before you were born I consecrated you;
I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5)

As David marveled on God’s omniscience he wrote in Psalm 139:13-14

For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
 

While some Christian leaders struggle with how to approach the life issue, I’m happy to say, that at Columbia International University, the position is clear. The employee handbook states:

“CIU is firmly committed to the fact that human life begins at conception, that human beings are made in the image of God, and that the Bible clearly forbids the wanton taking of human life. Our ministry opposes abortion on demand.”

Made in the image of God. That thought alone should give us pause to consider the sanctity of human life at any stage of life.

Perhaps there is a young person in your sphere of influence who needs to hear your passion on the subject, just as mom did in her own way for me. And then go further. Lead him or her to the Scriptures that lead to the concept of the sanctity of human life, as well as eternal life in Christ.

CIU is celebrating 100 years of its mission to “educate people from a biblical worldview to impact the nations with the message of Christ.” The university consistently ranks among the Top Regional Universities in the South by U.S. News & World Report, as well as a Best Value Regional University in the South. Apply now or request information on enrollment by contacting Admissions at (803) 807-5024 or admissions@ciu.edu.