By Bonnie Finnerty, Education Director
Her spirited bounce down the path to our display got my attention. Her wispy curls pulled into a ponytail and ample rosy cheeks melted my heart. As she got closer to us and saw the treasure that awaited, her big brown eyes twinkled. I was completely enchanted. She picked up the fetal model and her delight became palpable.
She first raised the baby in the air, marveling at it. She then imparted a gentle kiss.
Cradling the 30-week fetus in her arms, she listened as her mother softly whispered that this is what mommies grow in their bellies, a beautiful precious human life.
She’s only three years old, but she instinctively knows a truth that many adults and our world at large have long forgotten. She knew this truth even before her mother spoke a word. Life is precious. It is a gift to be celebrated and cherished. And protected.
She needed no prompting. Her affection was genuine and unlimited. Loving this baby came so naturally, even to a toddler.
She was the very last person with whom I interacted at Creation Music Fest, where we had shown the humanity of the preborn to thousands of people with our fetal model display, witnessing their fascination with life within the womb and their sadness at how disposable it has become. Our table was steadily busy for three days, and we had many productive and informative exchanges with passersby. This sweet little girl was the last to visit before we closed up. How perfectly profound, as she left me with a beautiful truth to take home and ponder.
We are all born pro-life.
Show a small child a fetal model or a picture of an ultrasound and ask him or her what it is. Do the same with an older child. They readily identify a baby, a living human being in its earliest form of development.
It is so clearly self-evident to those who have not had the world un-teach this to them. It is so clearly self-evident because it is nature’s beautiful plan, and the most innocent among us honor what is natural.
Abortion is the most un-natural thing in the world. And it violates what all of us, especially children, know to be right, true, and good.
We are all born pro-life, but some allow themselves to be corrupted by a confused world, becoming defenders and promoters of abortion. I think of this little girl and wonder how did these people get so very far away from a self-evident truth, one that is written on our very hearts?
Is it doubt, fear, desperation, misguided compassion, greed, rationalization, de-humanization or a combination of these that steal this basic truth from them? I don’t know the answer. What I do know is life begins at conception. Life is precious. Life is to be treated with dignity and protected from harm.
Even a 3 year old knows that. May she never allow the world to un-teach her that fundamental truth.