Let’s Celebrate the Sanctity of Every Life

When I served on the National Council on Disability in the ‘80s, all 15 bi-partisan council members responded vehemently against a report from the National Institutes of Health which listed abortion as a ‘disability prevention strategy.’ We all strongly advised the NIH to remove any reference which used abortion as a tactic in eliminating disability.

Yet now, both here and internationally, there are those who boast about eradicating certain disabilities through abortion.

To me, this is the ultimate form of discrimination against people with disabilities.

Each individual, no matter how significant one’s limitations, is an image-bearer of our Creator God. Each human being showcases God’s creative genius.

Psalm 139:16-17 reminds us: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well” (ESV).

When President Ronald Reagan established Sanctity of Life Sunday in 1984, it was with the intent to recognize the human dignity of unborn children.

Psalm 127 (NIV) says, “Children are a gift from the Lord”—and that includes all children … disabled, unborn, boy or girl.

And yet, in America alone, more than 900,000 children are aborted each year (Pew Research), many because they were diagnosed with conditions like Down syndrome. My heart breaks when I read the abortion statistics of unborn children with disabilities, and I recoil at the horror of infants with disabilities who quietly vanish under the shadow of infanticide.

Sadly, many Christians are undecided about abortion. Others aren’t sure how to express their convictions in a disagreement about abortion. It’s why I’m grateful for my friends at the Colson Center for their article Answering Pro-Abortion Misinformation to help equip us in answering arguments for abortion.

But it’s not only the unborn and newly born whose life-value is questioned… it’s the elderly, the medically fragile, those with catastrophic disabilities, people with psychiatric disorders, and more.

When we at Joni and Friends consider the plight of these individuals who have been discounted because of their limitations, we run to:

“Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.”

(Proverbs 24:11, ESV)

We are passionate about promoting a pro-life perspective, as well as pro-life action points we can take to help the fragile and vulnerable!

Join us in praying for these precious individuals and be encouraged by the interviews below. Together, we can defend life in the name of Jesus!

–Joni Eareckson Tada