This post originally appeared at https://www.prolifewi.org/blog/2021/8/5/just-once-chance-baby-saved

JUST ONE CHANCE

By Dan Miller, Pro-Life Wisconsin State Director

It was another gorgeous day.  Perfect for sidewalk counseling.  Typically, when someone is dropped off at the abortion center, the sidewalk counselors split up to talk with the woman entering and the driver of the vehicle.  Not always, but very often in my experience, if the driver is a man, he is most likely the father of the child. 

At around 3:00 p.m. when the next car presented itself across the street at the gas station, we went to meet them, and I split off to talk to the male driver.  He accepted the literature I offered, and I told him about the free help at the pregnancy resource center nearby. He replied, “I don’t have time to watch two kids.”

 I responded, “How does watching two kids take any more effort than watching one until they start walking?  I think you can handle two babies, no problem!  That’s not a good reason to kill your child.  If it were a good reason to kill your child, why not just kill the baby in the car seat back there, and let the new baby live?” 

In a crinkled, disgusted face he said, “I could never do that.  That’s murder!” 

I followed up with, “So let’s look at what we’ve got here.  Two of your children.  One is outside the womb, the other inside.  Why does the baby outside the womb give you murder charges and the other doesn’t?” 

He said, “The baby in the womb is not a person.  You get your rights when you are born.” 

I continued, “Okay.  So, that’s like saying that once you step inside your car, you no longer have rights.  You are saying it’s all about physical location.  How would you feel if that were true?  Bad cops would love that, wouldn’t they?”  He knowingly rolled his eyes and nodded in agreement.  I said, “Right now you are being a bad cop to your child in the womb just because of his or her location.”  I then took the opportunity to follow up with his personhood comment. “Why do you suppose babies in the womb were not granted personhood by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Roe v. Wade decision?” 

He responded, “Because they wanted to make abortion legal.  If you are a person, you have rights.” 

I said, “Yes, you understand personhood very well.  It was for the same reason that the U.S. Supreme Court denied personhood to black slaves in America, so they could continue to enslave them.  This long fight for social justice for black Americans has now entered the womb.  That is why we stand out here in the hot sun, to be a voice for those babies who can’t defend themselves.” 

He still wasn’t convinced he should intervene for his child.  Then I noticed he was wearing a Milwaukee Bucks t-shirt, so I decided to make the most of that.  I said, “Giannis has an incredible story, right?” 

He replied, “Yeah, for real.” 

I continued, “Just fifteen years ago, he was begging in the streets of Greece for his next meal.  If you applied your way of thinking to Giannis, he would have been aborted.  His family was dirt poor.  They had nothing going for them.  But look at him now.  With a little hard work and determination, he is a millionaire. The whole world knows his name, and any kid who has ever held a basketball wants to be just like him.  All Giannis needed was a chance.  Same as your baby.  That’s all we’re asking.  Give your baby a chance.”  I told him to go inside and talk her out of having the abortion.  He smiled and fist-bumped me but didn’t say a thing. 

Fast forward to around dinner time.  I had completely lost track of my Giannis fan until I saw him fueling up at the gas station.  Just as I was about to say something to him, he hopped into his car and did a U-turn in the gas station lot.  I thought I had lost him, but as it turned out, he just needed to fill up his tire with air.  I walked around to the air pump and asked, “So, how did it go?” 

He smiled real big and said, “It went real good.  You were right.”

I replied, “About what?” 

He continued, “When you said we could handle another baby.  You were right.  We decided not to do it.  We gonna’ give him a chance like you said.” 

Just one chance is all we need.