April 4th.

 post by Casey.

2 controversial posts back to back…*deep breath*…here we gooooo…

I wish I knew exactly what it was that lead me to switch ‘sides’. From ProChoice (I’m going to refer to it as ProAbortion going forward) to ProLife. 

I keep thinking that if I knew what it was exactly that opened my eyes to the truth about what abortion is and what abortion does, I’d be able to share that with you and it would change minds and hearts, just as it did for me. But I know it’s not that simple. 

I believed I was ProAbortion prior to having my own children. 

I believed I was ProAbortion after having birthed my first baby. 

I believed I was ProAbortion, even still, after having my first miscarriage - the mental gymnastics I had to do to mourn that loss of life but still deny that it was a life at all?!.

I believed I was ProAbortion while listening to and watching Theos heart beating on the screen at only 6-1/2wks gestation. 

This disconnect between what was my body and the baby’s body would go on for many years. 

Looking back, I’m thankful for the endless little conversations and questions (and fights;) with Jacob on these topics. I didn’t have any solid argument and I refused to look at the statistics - see those below. Gosh…I’m thankful for a husband that didn’t bow down to my beliefs or force his on me but instead, was faithful in helping, guiding and just truly believing that I would find my way.

I’m thankful for the accurate and horrifying videos that exist to accurately depict what abortion is - below I’m sharing 2 videos. The first may be difficult to watch but I hope that you do. Then watch the 2nd video, which glosses over what’s actually happening during an abortion. Pay attention to what is and isn’t said and the language being used.

2nd Trimester (usually preformed between 14-22wks).

You can watch the above video here.

The glossed over version here.

Language is important here…A tube or forceps are used to remove the ‘pregnancy’. 

Here is what ‘pregnancy’ looks like. THIS is what is being removed. Unfortunately, abortion not only ‘removes a pregnancy’…it absolutely ends a life.

In Minnesota you can get an abortion for any reason, up until ‘viability’ - which can be 24-26weeks (see above).

You can find all state guidelines here.

When I started truly believing in the sanctity of life…maybe even as I’ve begun to believe in God and the importance of that belief…it’s, honestly, shifted my entire life. Things and days and kids and life…they’re all still…hard. But it’s somehow different. And becoming different…better…more peaceful. Hard and peaceful;).

“Hard is not the same thing as bad.” 

- Abbie Halberstadt, M is for Mama

I fear the further we get from God…the less we believe in that, if we don’t believe in that…we might be more inclined to have more fear around what’s to come. The fear of death. The fear of hardship…of suffering on any level. 

Hard is not the same thing as bad. 

I’d argue that some of my own life’s biggest lessons come not during a season of ease but of discomfort, struggle, sacrifice…?

Have you heard of MAID? 

MAID is Medical Assistance in Dying (in Canada - yes, it’s very real). You can find out the requirements to qualify for medical assistance in dying here.

More recently they’ve tried to add having a ‘mental illness’ to the list of qualifying criteria.

The following Boomclap Podcast episodes touch on this and morality, among other things. I really encourage you to listen - there are too many good ones. OR just go ahead and join the BoomClap Community HERE:)!

Episode 60: CRT and Abortion with Samuel Sey

Episode 72: Loss of Moral Objectivity: The Root of Societal Problems…and Updated CDC Guidelines

Episode 73: Lazy Journalism, Morality Part 2 and Assisted Suicide

Episode 80: Prayer, Voting and the Way to Enact Lasting Change

Okay…because I truly believe SO much of this is intertwined…it’s difficult not to get off track. All I really know is that it always circles back to God, for me. God is the way. God is life. 

When we start to choose ease and any way to avoid struggle…I believe we miss out on so much. I too would prefer not to have to suffer in any way…but I know - from the bit of experience I do have - that there can be such beauty on the other side of it. There are people out there with much much harder stories than mine and yet they still have something very worthwhile to share. They still have purpose and their lives, meaning. What if they had given up? What if they had been encouraged to give up? What if they’d never been born at all?

On April 4th, vote for life. Pray for life - of the unborn babies and their mothers.

I’m so thankful that when I look at my babies now…I see how they’re perfect, unique, purposeful little lives began the very moment of conception and they’ve been alive and living and worthwhile and perfectly made…for such a time as this…ever since.

Man. I don’t know what life will hold but the only guarantee with abortion is that you’ll never have the opportunity to find out. 

Life is just so so fucking precious. An incredible gift. I used to think they were most fragile while growing inside me but that was clearly the safest place for them. The hard - not bad:) - work has just begun. 

Find your local polling place, here.