Baby safety begins long before birth

Covering wall outlets and sharp corners on furniture, blocking staircases, using proper car safety seats, cutting food into small pieces, nursing and feeding babies nutritional foods, keeping small items out of reach, and more. These are the things most parents do every day to keep their babies safe. We do them because we love and cherish our children and want to protect them from danger.

But there’s an even greater danger to the lives of our nation’s children. It’s a threat that many don’t acknowledge or understand. It’s also one that many welcome and cheer for. This threat comes in several forms, but it most commonly comes from pills and Sopher clamps; these are the tools of abortion.

September is National Baby Safety Month—“a month dedicated to one of the most precious gifts in our lives—babies [and] a time to raise awareness and promote knowledge about ensuring the safety and well-being of our little ones.”

But this celebration leaves out an entire group of babies: those facing threats to their lives on a daily basis.

Babies are precious gifts, which is why we must not only acknowledge but teach the truth that a baby’s life begins well before birth—at the first moment of creation—and her safety in the womb deserves the same efforts as her safety after birth.

The CDC reports that 20,500 infants died in the US in 2022. Each of those deaths is a tragedy. But this number pales in comparison to the 613,383 abortions that were reported to the CDC that same year. Because that number comes from only 48 reporting areas, as not every state reports its abortion data or pill abortions, we know the actual number is significantly higher.

Preborn babies are dying at an alarming rate because mothers, doctors, and society in general fail to see their beauty and value.

Anyone who has ever watched a baby move, yawn, stretch, or flip around on a sonogram knows that this is a human being. His body and his DNA are separate from his mother’s. Even his blood type can be different. Historically, those who advocated for abortion called this baby a “clump of cells” to justify their actions. Today, most don’t dispute the fact that he is a human being. A sonogram proves she is. They simply don’t care. And they instead refer to him as a “choice” because, in their minds, he is too small to make a difference and is easily thrown away. Out of sight, out of mind becomes their mantra, as they wrongly believe that someone so tiny and someone they cannot see without technology can be wiped away with no ramifications.

“My body, my choice” is the slogan most often used now. It puts all the emphasis on the mother and none on the baby. It treats the baby like an inconvenience and a burden, allowing her to be killed and her body discarded because she is unwanted. This truly tragic mindset has become so pervasive in society because, for over five decades, we have drilled it into girls’ heads that abortion is okay because it’s legal. We fail to address the fact that legal does not mean moral. Nor does legal mean right. Let us not forget that slavery was once legal as well.

Today, abortion is sold as “healthcare,” but true healthcare should never involve the intentional death of an innocent person—before or after birth. When a human being comes into existence at the moment the sperm fertilizes the egg, she should inherit all the human rights that a born person enjoys. That’s what it means to keep him safe and to protect him. This will never happen in a society that disregards the truth that the baby has value.

How do we transform our society into one that chooses to celebrate a baby safety month that also includes the preborn? We know we can’t change minds and hearts overnight, but we must keep teaching the truth in love. And that starts with a deep respect for one’s own body and one’s sexuality, both of which are gifts that should not be used recreationally. We stop glorifying one-night stands and sex for fun and instead teach authentic love.

And then we focus on the humanity of the baby and on her right to continue to live, regardless of how she was created. We help moms understand that there’s a vast amount of assistance available for her and her baby, and we explain that adoption is a loving and selfless choice if she feels she cannot take care of the baby. We teach the truth about what abortion really does, not just to babies but to the moms. And we do all of this calmly and with genuine compassion for her and her developing baby, because only with love can we expect love to grow.

Our world is full of dangers, and a month focused on protecting babies is a good start. But we cannot forget to also protect babies in the preborn stage. This month, let us think about the threat of abortion and how we as individuals will help keep preborn babies safe, for they cannot speak for themselves. Their little lives depend on the voices and actions of each of us.