Many years ago, Bishop Fulton Sheen said that no pastor in America should condemn abortion unless he is providing a free alternative to it.
For the past two-plus decades, I have been heeding that advice through the Liberty Godparent Home – our Lynchburg, Va.-based home for pregnant teen-agers – and the Family Life Services Adoption Agency.
This past Sunday, during the worship service at my Thomas Road Baptist Church, I invited a young couple to the platform with me. This sweet couple has not been able to conceive a child and have subsequently been waiting to adopt a child through our agency. They thought they were there to speak about the need for adoptive babies.
However, I pulled a fast one on them.
One of our Godparent Home representatives joined us on the platform and presented them with a beautiful little girl. I have done this on a few occasions and must admit that it has never ceased to touch my heart as young couples tearfully welcome a little baby into their arms.
This week, during a special Sanctity of Life Celebration at Liberty University, one of our students testified how she had, as a young girl, become pregnant out of wedlock. Thank God, she decided against abortion. This beautiful young lady testified how her life was not ruined by this occurrence. In fact, she came to know Christ through this experience; and today, she is a resident assistant at Liberty and a campus leader.
During the same service, a young man named Ryan Dempsey, a Liberty University freshman, told how his birth mother rejected abortion, instead choosing to give birth to him and allow a Christian couple to adopt him. (Ryan's father, Todd Dempsey, is a Liberty graduate who co-founded the Columbus, Ohio-based New Life Community Church.) My heart rejoiced as this handsome young man bore witness to the fact that adoption is the life-affirming alternative to abortion.
Earlier this week I watched C-SPAN's coverage of the National Abortion Rights Action League's (or NARAL Pro-Choice America, according to their new label) "celebration" of the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. At the event, a bevy of Hollywood luminaries and political leaders arose to declare, "I am pro-choice America." Democrat presidential candidates appearing at the event included: Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt (who was once a pro-life advocate), Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman and the Rev. Al Sharpton.
Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright spoke of the "truth" as it relates to abortion. She didn't bother to mention the fact that a host of scientific studies have found disturbing links between abortion and breast cancer, or that other studies have found that women who abort their babies often experience dire emotional dilemmas.
These people speak of truth and unashamedly ignore the facts. They are embracing and espousing a policy that offers only death and sorrow and act as if they are heroes. However, it's problematic to present yourself as heroic when the blood of 40 million aborted babies cry out from the grave across this land. This is selfishness at its ugliest.
Thankfully, a majority of Americans are beginning to understand that there is no honor among the abortion-rights community.
We in the pro-life community are winning the battle of ideas. We press for life-establishing alternatives such as homes for unwed girls and adoption. The only outcome of abortion is permanently fatal.
This week, multiple thousands of pro-life Americans marched on Washington. Publicly voicing our beliefs is indeed important. But even more important is becoming proactive in your beliefs.
I urge everyone reading this column today to get involved in pro-life activity. There are homes for unwed girls across the nation that need volunteer workers. I guarantee that many rewards will come with such activism.
We must continue to fervently work together to provide protection for the unborn and, as President Bush has stated, defend "those without the voice and power to defend their own rights."
By Rev. Jerry Falwell
