Fewer children aborted, more children in need: how pro-lifers should respond

By Sarah Terzo –

I read a quote today in from clinic worker Marva Sadler, who works at Whole Woman's Health Clinic of Fort Worth.

She said:

"We called a total of 15 patients this morning and, of those 15 patients, 14 of them agreed that they're going to be forced to be mothers because they cannot afford to travel to the further distances to the clinics that are currently open."

Assuming Sadler is telling the truth about these fifteen women, fourteen lives have been saved. Fourteen babies will not be torn limb from limb in their mother's wombs. Sadler says that these women will "become mothers" but, in fact, they are ALREADY mothers. Their unborn babies exist and are alive, and, thanks to the efforts of pro-lifers, they will remain alive.

However, despite my happiness at the thought of these children being saved from abortion, I am a concerned. Because I can't help but think that if these women can't afford to abort their children, how will they afford to feed their children?

This is where Texas pro-lifers need to step up to the plate. There are women who will be having their babies who are no longer able to abort. This is a good thing. But we as pro-lifers need to be there for these women and children.

It has been said many times that pro-lifers only care about children when they are in the womb, and when they are born, they don't care anymore. I feel bad when I'm forced to acknowledge that the same conservative politicians who fight for the lives of unborn babies often support cuts to programs like food stamps that poor children desperately need. Even though 49% of those on food stamps are children, these politicians are taking their benefits away. Single mothers who are struggling to feed their children need help. It is not enough to tell them to have their children and then abandon them and their children after they are born.

There are other ways to help the poor than government programs, of course. There are private charities, such as the Salvation Army, food banks, and crisis pregnancy centers that can help with items that pregnant women and new mothers need.

If every pro-lifer in Texas donated ten dollars to a crisis pregnancy center and donated some items to a food pantry every month, it would go a long way towards helping these women and their children. Even just a little giving, if enough people do it, can have a huge impact.

Pro-lifers in Texas have the opportunity to prove to the country that pro-lifers don't just care about babies when they are the womb. As pro-lifers, our job is not finished until every baby is safe from abortion. And helping those babies after they are born should be part of the pro-life cause as well.