Alberta Life Issues Educational Society

An ectopic pregnancy is a difficult diagnosis, and figuring out the best treatment can be confusing and overwhelming.

We believe that every human life matters from the moment of fertilization until natural death. As pro-lifers, we see both the mother and child as equally valuable and deserving of dignity. Treatments for pregnancy complications should aim to protect both lives whenever possible. Some treatments for ectopic pregnancy do not reflect this, as they directly end the life of the developing baby, which is considered an abortion.

Like most of my generation, I grew up in the public school system, moving from elementary school to middle school and eventually graduating from high school. I have two siblings, two and four years younger than me, and most of my friends came from families that looked the same. I would regularly go to other friends' homes, where I might catch a glimpse of a younger sister or an older brother passing through, but that was usually the extent of it. At school, students from younger grades were always nearby, yet social boundaries were clearly drawn: to be buddies with a kid in Grade 6 while you were in Grade 8 would be “uncool.”

I would see the occasional toddler. However most babies were usually hidden by a blanket curtain while sleeping in their strollers—mysterious, unknown, and off-limits.

This was all very normal—the way things were, social lives segregated by age-based grades.

I was adopted into a family of six when I was two years old, along with my three older siblings. Our story didn’t begin in what most people would call an “ideal” situation.

My birth mother conceived the four of us with four different men. My oldest sister was conceived when our birth mother was only fifteen years old.

By today’s cultural standards, many would say that our lives began under circumstances that justified abortion. But I thank the Lord every day that abortion was not chosen for me or my siblings.

Many people, especially pro-choice advocates, often deny the reality and impact of abortion. As a result, those who have suffered grief post-abortion are often unacknowledged or dismissed.[1] Truthfully, it is difficult to support such a gruesome act and acknowledge its full impact on a woman. In reality, many women have reported feeling negative emotions afterward. Take one example from a pro-choice comedian, Grace Campbell, who shares her experience: “After an intense seven weeks, post-abortion, the bleeding had finally stopped. But the persistent crying, self-hatred and grief followed me everywhere I went.” She also confides that she was nervous to talk about her experience “because I’ve been so afraid my words would be misunderstood or worse, I would come across as anti-choice.”