THE GRANTING OF POSTERITY

THE GRANTING OF POSTERITY

Gloria Phifer

As I view the news with abortion and women's rights being an on going debate;

I am deeply stirred.  It reminds me of an incident that occurred in our family during

The Second World War….

In the year 1943, a seventeen year old war bride, disillusioned with a hasty marriage;

Left behind by a husband going overseas; and having to move back with her big

Family; discovered she was pregnant.

When she revealed her condition to her mother and older sister their solution was…"abort the baby".

The young expectant mother struggled with her situation. She had seen one of her sisters make the decision for abortion and had seen her sad and depressed.

She had the conviction that the child she carried must be given life.

Come December, in a makeshift, Doctor's office/hospital, the young woman gave birth to a nine pound baby girl.  When the mother and daughter returned to the crowded household, they were welcomed with joy.  Young aunts and uncles received the child as one of their own.  The grandmother and older sister, whose only solution had been an abortion, now cuddled and loved the baby girl.  What had been perceived as an unwanted dilemma, now was a blessing…a gift to the family.

As you may have guessed I was that baby girl; my mother's only daughter. Although I knew I was born during a difficult time of my mother's life; it was later on in my life that she told me about the discussion of abortion. I couldn't even imagine my grandmother and aunt suggesting abortion, for they always loved me dearly. 

As my mother looked around at my three children she remarked, "Thank God I didn't have an abortion or I would have nothing now."  You see, my children were my mother's only grandchildren.  If she had chosen to abort me she would have been destroying her posterity.

I will always be grateful to my mother for giving me birth.  Life is precious.  Every human being denied the privilege of living leaves a vacancy in all mankind.  With the dawning of a new generation, will our nation awake to the sad discovery, that in allowing the abortion of millions of babies we have destroyed our posterity?

Note:  I wrote this article for our home town paper, the Press Citizen, it was published in 1987.  Since then my mother has passed away.  Our posterity continues: My husband and I have seven grandchildren.  Thanks be to God…He is the Giver of life.