8 Aug 2019 was one of the darkest day for us here in New Zealand when 94 MPs voted in favour of an extreme abortion bill to be passed. A day of reparation was organized by Family Life International and since I wasn’t physically present, I decided to spend sometime praying for the intention of life. I was overwhelm with a sense of heaviness when praying, knowing well that majority of Parliament was going to vote in favour of the bill being passed. It was then I asked God, how should I pray?

The answer I received in my heart was to remain hopeful, pray for hope in the hearts of the warriors of LIFE and pray for hope to fill the people. That was the moment of breakthrough and I felt the peace to declare that God’s will be done no matter how I dislike the look of it. Despite the trust, I am still extremely saddened that it happened. I could not help but to weep for countless of unborn children and their mothers (and fathers) who would fall victims should the extreme abortion bill be passed. You can read the details of the bill here.

It doesn’t make sense to me especially if we are honest with science. How to even justify when is the limit of “non-humanity” of a baby in the womb? Does changing the term from baby to fetus justify it? Certainly not! It is inherent in each one of us to want to live and each one of us started as a fertilized egg (zygote) that developed into an embryo, then a fetus. It’s interesting to note that fetus translates to little one. How endearing is that!

My pro life stance has always been based on logic and truth that God is the author of life. I am privilege now to have my conviction strengthen even further by the honour of carrying my growing 27 weeks old baby. Her humanity is confirmed from the moment my husband and I found out about her. It was a great day of joy mixed with the worries of all sort. Our lives were changed and enriched, so is our prayer life. We speak life and blessing upon our child and we pray for her protection every single day. We want to give our child the best chance in life.

Our baby’s strong heartbeat was detected at 5 weeks. At 10 weeks, she was moving actively, we can see her spine and it was a delight to see her dance literally through the ultrasound image. I started feeling her physically at 17 weeks. She is responsive to her father’s voice that every time her Papa called on her and placed his ears on my belly, she would give him a good kick. Her awareness of different noises around is really fascinating. One vivid instance was her being shocked by the sound of the vacuum cleaner when I felt a jolt while operating the vacuum cleaner (this was when she was less than 20 weeks old). My personal favourite was how she was leaping in joy whenever I spend time at Eucharistic Adoration. These are tender moments that I never thought I would share so publicly but I guess it is essential to witness to the joy I experienced and hopefully move hearts to be voice of the unborn.

The way the legislation is being drafted literally means my husband and I would have to fight hard for our child’s right to be recognized. We believe our little one has the basic right to life, so is her unborn peers. It is disheartening to know that our law does not provide such protection to the most vulnerable of our society, little ones who could not speak for themselves. These children are potentially my baby’s playmate. They are human being with potential to be great men and women who will leave lasting legacy.

With so much of emotion stirring within, I believe the best way forward is still to remain hopeful and trust that God’s will be done in the best of our interest. The battlefield would need more warriors for life now than ever. Let’s actively and boldly choose life. Let us remember that we are but a link that forms the great fabric of society. When each of us do our part is in speaking a language of life, we would actively participate in life. Raise our children to honour God and to live life to the fullest. Raise communities that would support each other in building the culture of life. Be bold about our faith and live out our faith radiantly. We are all sinners on the journey towards sainthood, so let’s love each other into being and work collectively towards a better world for our children and generations to come.

Dear friends, I pray that my honest sharing would encourage you to be the voice of the unborn and their parents. May we be empowered to do the little we can to support pregnant mothers (and fathers of the unborn). Growing a little human is really a marathon that requires heaps of strength – make it a point to encourage a pregnant woman that she has the capacity and capability to accomplish this great race, cheer her on all the way as her body is doing some miraculous work. I believe women deserve to know that they are able to mother well and be successful at the same time. Our children is often the catalyst for us to want to be better. May we leave a legacy of life for our future generations.

With lots of love,
Irene