From the desk of Joanna Schaper, AGM Staff Writer

I follow Fr Frank Pavone, the National Director of Priests for Life, on Instagram. Priests for Life is the largest pro-life ministry in the Catholic Church.

He recently posted a picture about “unwanted” children not being about the children, but about the society who abandons their “unwanted” children.

It really struck a chord with me.

Why has society become so entirely selfish? Why is it that mothers, and/or fathers, who feel they can’t love or care for such a small, innocent being, can’t even love that precious life enough to bring the pregnancy to term and give the child up to a family who desires to love and raise?

Is it the simple “burden” of giving up the mother’s body for 9 months? Is it that the parent(s) may actually grow to love the unborn child and they may not want to give the baby up after all? How is the idea of murdering that “blob of tissue,” that has a heartbeat by the time most women find out they’re pregnant, less horrifying than giving that life a chance?

God is the author of life. Who are we to attempt to rewrite what He has ordered? No matter the circumstances of how the little one may have been conceived, or what mental and physical handicaps it may have been blessed with at conception. God has a plan for all of us. For some, our mission is obvious and we live day in and day out fulfilling what God has brought us to. For others, our mission will always remain hidden from us until our final judgement. We may have been put on this earth to simply say one kind word to a stranger one day. We may have been put here to spread the word and help women understand what, who, is growing inside them. Show them there are so many safer, better alternatives than Planned Parenthood’s abortion mills and pills.

I hope we can make ourselves, and in turn our society, better by making good decisions regarding situations that feel bigger than us. To embrace what stares us in the face and not take the easy way out. The no-guilt-attached option of adoption; the no-guilt-attached option of carrying a child to term and giving him/her a chance at a wonderful life.

If we search ourselves honestly, we will find we were created to serve and help others. There is so much happiness found in assisting and doing for others. Some may help out at the local soup kitchen or visit nursing homes. However, some may just give themselves up for the life of an unborn child. They may keep, love, and raise that child forever, or they may feel compelled to give that baby up for adoption for whatever the reasons may be. Either choice is far superior to the alternative. Only good can be reaped from one of those two decisions.

Most crisis pregnancy centers, churches, hospitals, and fire stations offer a Safe Haven to drop off an unwanted child aged 3 days to 3 years no questions asked. And, if a parent or legal guardian is too frightened to do it them self, some states will allow an appointed adult to do it so long as the parent or guardian approves it and the child is unharmed.

If you, or someone you know, needs help or encouragement, please point them in the right direction. All children ARE wanted. Maybe not always by the woman who carries them, but parents all over the globe are waiting to love them. Let’s make our society a better one. One positive decision at a time.