(will upload pictures of the signs when I get better internet connection!)
When we arrived in South Africa, one of the first thing I noticed was the abortion signs. Everywhere. They cover every single stop sign, light post, and wall in the city and around the city. We have been here for almost 2 months and I have yet to see a single pole without at least 3 abortion advertisements on it. It broke my heart. It absolutely broke my heart. They’re super simple signs with the words “ABORTION” or “SAFE, PAIN FREE ABORTION” and a phone number under them. Guess what! Those abortions are not safe and are not pain free. Women find themselves in situations where they become pregnant from rape or become pregnant and the boyfriend abandons her. One of the first things I read when I got here during training was that a girl here is more likely to be raped than to learn how to read. My heart is broken and will always be.
Here’s another thing that broke my heart: some women won’t have abortions here, but they will abandon their baby at the hospital or even in the trash bins or in toilets. Around three babies are abandoned a day in Johannesburg. One of our local friends here told us about how one of his friends once found a three month old baby (not alive) in a dustbin (trash can) that we pass a lot at ministry. Another woman told us about how she or someone she knew found a newborn in a drain. These things happen every day. This world is so broken and, wow, does it need to know about Jesus.
So why am I telling you all of these depressing statistics and things?
Because of New York.
Our team found out about the law in New York being passed that allows abortions up to the birth date pretty quickly, and we all actually couldn’t believe it. My view on it is that, as soon as a baby is conceived, it is a child. I view abortion as killing an innocent child. The Lord loves that human even before he/she is conceived. He wants that child on this earth. With that law being passed, it brought up a lot of conversations here between our team and I also saw a lot of conversations on social media about it too. People talking about how sick it is to legalize the things that have become legal in New York.
This week, the week that law passed, was our first time working with IBR (Impact Baby Rescue). Before we left for South Africa, I already knew about Impact Africa. I had heard about their baby rescue program before launch and put it in the back of my mind as something I could maybe do after the race. During team time one day in Costa Rica, we talked about dreams and the future and my team told me they could see me getting married, moving overseas, and/or fostering rescued babies. So I told them about Impact Africa’s IBR. Not joking, THAT NIGHT the boys came and told us that our South Africa ministry was at Impact. I’ve known for a while that the Lord’s been pulling me in this direction, I just didn’t know what it meant.
I think that there is a reason that we started doing the Impact Baby Rescue the day/week the abortion law in New York passed. Our team has been able to talk to women who are pregnant and struggling. We’ve been able to talk to women whose friend is thinking about abandoning their baby or having an abortion. Personally, this caused my heart to break harder. It made me passionate to make a change; to do something. The Lord gave me a passion for babies and for kids that I knew I had before, but definitely not to this extent. I’m excited to hopefully pursue this further when I get home.
What can we, as Christians, do about this? How can we make a change?
Continue to pray for our broken world. Pray for healing and for softened hearts in the government.
The Lord will bring fruit through this heart-shattering time. There’s no doubt about it. But if your heart is breaking for all of those innocent lives, it’s okay to feel that. The Lord is breaking your heart for what breaks His. Continue to pray for our brothers and sisters who are not even given a chance on this earth. Also pray for the sisters we have who are struggling and are thinking about abortion, because we love them and the Lord adores them, and we pray for faith that He will get them through this difficult time and we pray for the Lord to show up in miraculous ways to show them that there is another way.
Psalm 139:13-16
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
