Point of View

On Mother's Day this year, I found myself thinking of my mother's unselfish concern for my sister and me. It caused me to recall my family's first winter in Alaska when I was a very small child.

We found ourselves stranded by bad weather in our cabin for several months, as our food supply dwindled dangerously low. Wild game was also scarce because of the weather. The situation became so serious that our provisions were nearly gone except for some smoked fish, raisins, popcorn and a little flour.

My mother ground the popcorn, mixing it with flour and water to make pancakes. She fried them in fat rendered from a beaver carcass. I remember that it was not a delightful breakfast, but it kept us alive!

I will never forget my mother claiming she was not hungry and offering me her little pancake. It wasn't until years later that I realized that good mothers like mine think nothing of sacrificing for their children.

Because I learned at an early age how mothers should act, it makes me wonder how any woman could knowingly allow her unborn child to be butchered by an abortionist. And this wonder grows even greater when I think about the large number of women who cannot have children and are desperately seeking to become adoptive mothers.

You can see why it sickens me that pro-abortion forces express such dismay at the Supreme Court's recent decision upholding the partial-birth abortion ban. They loudly bemoan the fact that there are now no exceptions for women who want a partial-birth abortion for "health" reasons, a phrase that has been broadly interpreted to include such factors as "mental anguish" and even financial difficulty.

I wonder how many babies have been aborted since 1973 for "health" reasons—even babies who would have easily survived along with their mothers. How many promising lives have been snuffed out for "health" reasons since Roe v. Wade legalized "partial-birth" abortion and all its other barbarous forms?

My husband Mat's mother, Rose (whom I have known for many years as "Mom") was warned that she should not have another child and, in fact, that she would never be able to carry him to full term. Thank God, she did not believe the doctor and his dire predictions.

Mom is on my mind a lot lately—not just because of Mother's Day or the fact that we will celebrate her 90th birthday this month. As I write, I am sitting in the hallway of a hospital waiting for a doctor to cast her right arm that she broke.

I know that Mom is thankful she does not have to face this time of her life without family. If she had never given birth to Mat, she would probably have spent the past two years in a nursing home instead of being able to enjoy a little independence with us. In the future, many mothers will spend their final years alone because they aborted the only children they ever had.

The lasting effects of abortion will not be seen in this nation until the population that could bear children in 1973 fully ages. Then, all too many women will realize that abortion was the worst possible choice for their long-term health, as they will be forced to rely on strangers and the government health care system.

This month, let us all remember to thank our mothers for life—and to thank God that we finally have the chance to see the end of Roe v. Wade's hideous effect on our nation.

Anita L. Staver is President of Liberty Counsel, a nationwide public interest law firm dedicated to advancing religious liberty, the sanctity of human life and the traditional family. She is a member of First Baptist Church in Orlando. Anita is also an attorney, but her most cherished title is "grandmother."