Survivor of War

By Rev. Daniel Woodring

It was the summer of 1968. United States Combat Troops were entrenched in the middle of the Vietnam War. An estimated 58,000 Americans would be killed during that brutal conflict. Total casualties would exceed one million. Back home, in the midwestern United States, another war was raging in the most unlikely of places. A mother of three children had just resumed her career as an occupational therapist at an extended care facility. The kids would be starting school. The crib, highchair and stroller had been given away.

Ruth did not greet the news of another pregnancy with feelings of thankfulness and joy. Her husband, a social worker, was adamant in not wanting another baby. Ruth’s closest friends were kind, sympathetic and supportive. But as dismayed as she was, she was not prepared for one of the suggestions that came forth. A co-worker handed her a piece of paper with the name and telephone number of an abortionist! Although abortion was not legalized until 1973, Ruth found herself in the middle of another kind of war, a terrorist attack on the life of her unborn child.

The idea seemed horrible. Ruth’s mind went back to the exhibit of the stages of fetal development that she had seen so many times at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. Those images were imprinted in her mind. She knew this was a living human baby growing inside of her body. But she had almost no support for continuing the pregnancy.

Ruth expected her church and pastor to be different, to stand against abortion, to defend the life of the innocent. Instead, her pastor, a minister in the American Lutheran Church (now part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) told her that the Lutheran Church (ALC) had no problem with abortion.

Every war has its heroes, those who courageously overcome hostile pressure and obstacles. Their selfless gallantry shelters the life and liberty of others. During the Vietnam War, countless soldiers became heroes in service to their country. At the same time, in a midwestern hospital, another hero gave life to a newborn child, a survivor of the terror of abortion, a son.

It was on my 16th birthday that my mom told me I was that child. It’s troubling (to say the least) to think it was my life that was threatened by that “kind and sympathetic” woman who suggested I be aborted. That ALC pastor was idle and permissive when my assassination was discussed. I thank God that I am alive at all.

Since abortion became legal in 1973, over 41 million American babies have been slaughtered in this war that continues to threaten and terrorize the unborn. Over 1.3 billion children have been aborted worldwide. While we have recently been reminded that there is evil all around us, it is hard to imagine any more horrific than the evil of abortion. Each abortion is the destruction of a human being, a life like yours and mine.

The Rev. Daniel Woodring is president of Higher Things, Inc.

While some church bodies, such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, support abortion on demand, The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod (LC-MS) has consistently opposed abortion. During the summer of 2001, delegates to the LC-MS Synodical Convention reaffirmed this historic position stating, “Elective Abortion is a sin, as it is a violation of God’s Command, ‘You shall not murder.’“