Dear Pro-Lifer~

"Dear pro-lifer,
I have a hard word for you. I don't usually do this, but I have to get it off my chest and I think some of you might need to hear it. Abortion is a hot topic right now, trending on social media and being discussed at the highest levels of government. Christians are rightly rooting for the end of abortion. It is evil. You know is what else is evil? Some of our hearts. I've seen it. I've heard it. I've lived it. The same people who I know are pro-life, I've overheard saying, "I could never adopt. I could never love a kid who wasn't mine." I've heard say, "Foster kids have issues, I wouldn't want them around my children." And, "I would never bring an adopted kid into my home, all the ones I know are messed up." On top of that, "Adoption is so expensive, it's not an option." Someone asked me, when we were adopting, "Why would you want to get involved in someone else's mess?" Another told me, "You need to just care about the (biological) kid you have." And about fostering, " You seriously want to add to the chaos in your house?" I've seen Christians look at unwed mothers and say (in a church nonetheless), "I hope she doesn't think she can walk back in here and we'll help her." Are you really pro-life if you cannot love a child who is not biologically related to you? If a baby placed for adoption is someone's else's "mess?" If unwed mothers are seen as a plague? Dear pro-lifer, if this is your heart, you are *Not Ready For Abortion To End.* You denounce pregnant women seeking abortion as selfish, narrow minded, and too focused on their circumstances, quality of life, and finances to make a big sacrifice for that little life... Pro-lifer, So Are You. If we want women to choose life, we have to love it - openly, unashamedly, through hardship, through financial stress, through personal sacrifices, through the mess. No turning back. God help us."

*Lauren Merritt*