By Maria V. Gallagher, Legislative Director, Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation
It looked for all the world to be a scene worthy of a priceless painting. But not only did I not possess a paintbrush, I also lacked the artistic talent to bring the scene alive on canvas. Still, I feel the image will remain with me forever—a slice of American life in the age of the Coronavirus.
Through the clear glass patio door, I saw them sitting on the hill outside my apartment building—three children encircling a blanket, looking as if they were holding an outdoor tea party. They appeared healthy and strong, completely untouched by the disease that had ripped through the Big Apple, the Big Easy, and so many other parts of the U.S.
What set them apart as well was their unbridled joy, which bubbled up faster than the flowing of their imaginary tea. They had found contentment in their family, in the kin who were accompanying them along their quarantine journey.
Through their eyes, I could glimpse a tomorrow when the pandemic had subsided, where the death and destruction leveled by COVID-19 were just a memory. Each child was an incredible treasure, a gem of inestimable worth.
I thought of the other children…the ones unable to take part in tea parties and trampoline contests…the ones denied their right to be born. Our best estimates indicate that annually, over 900,000 children are lost to abortion.
Among them would be the heroes of their generation, first responders and doctors, nurses and teachers. Indeed, there may have even been one child who, if given a chance at life, could have grown up to solve the riddle of pandemics.
How much potential…how much talent…how much skill…how much grace…how much love and laughter and light we lose with each and every abortion.
We extinguish the fire of humanity and we are left with a pile of ashes that fuels a deadly cycle—one abortion leading to generations lost, a whole branch of the family tree severed.
But on this day, I am viewing the survivors of Roe v. Wade, happily playing on a carpet of grass, never knowing that, just with their very being, what an incredible impact they have.