Sharing My Story

One day in Fall of 1970 I entered the campus
Student Union building. Off the the side was
a display that made a profound affect on me.
The tables showed the development of a
human pre-birth baby (“a fetus”). The display
was put on by a pro-life group and was an
educational effort to inform the students
about the beginning of human life. That Fall
a referendum was on the ballot (for the
mid-term elections) in Washington to greatly
liberalize the state’s abortion laws. I was
disturbed to think that a referendum had
gotten on the ballot that would mean the
death of helpless and innocent human infants.

Before this I had not thought much (if anything)
about the subject of abortion. I realized then
that unrestricted abortion was a social evil
that should be suppressed. While activism
in the incipent pro-life movement was not
in my thinking this display helped to
determine my thinking on the subject.
Abortion—the taking of innocent human
life was wrong and reprehensible. This was
the first election I participated in and was
happy to cast my vote against this referendum.
I was very disappointed when the referendum
passed making Washington one of the first
states to liberalize their abortion laws. This
was a distinction that I was not happy about.

This came at a time when I was deeply
involved with the evangelization of our
college campus. A bitter disappointment
cropping up during a time of exciting happenings.