In the early Spring of 2012, my wife and I lost a baby.  At 17 weeks of pregnancy, nurses listened for a heartbeat and found none.  It’s possible our baby passed as early as the 15th week, but our loss was discovered at the 17th because of a scheduled appointment and check-up.

Two days after the identified miscarriage, my wife and walked somberly hand-in-hand into labor and delivery, knowing this baby already rested in the arms of Jesus.  The hospital staff administered compassionate care and packaged a small take-home memory box, a memorial tribute to our little one.  Nurses tucked a copy of Baby’s footprints into a tiny cap.  Barely the size of a nickel, those feet now run and skip on golden streets.

Shortly after this ordeal, several of the teens at church viewed October Baby, a pro-life film.  At the close of the movie, a teenager posed the following:

“Why do some people say abortion’s fine because it’s not really a baby and others say they’re having a baby and are excited?”

That’s a great question.

I explained that organizations promoting abortion soften the controversial procedure by classifying the growth a “clump of cells” or by using the impersonal term “fetus.”  However, God’s Word contradicts our culture’s ideology.  Psalm 139:13-14 says,

“For you created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;”

After the teenager posed the question, I swallowed a gathering lump in my throat, and promised to bring a picture of the tiny foot prints, proving we’re talking about a human life and not a burdensome “growth.”

I seldom reference Dr. Seuss books for theology, but in this case I can’t help but quote from Horton Hears a Who,

“A person’s a person, no matter how small.”