Unwed mother makes case for life

To the editor:

No exceptions for rape and incest in anti-abortion legislation once seemed heartless to me, but that question was solved in a Colorado high school government class I was teaching years ago. During discussion "Sarah," a 17-year-old unwed mother, said such children were still human and precious. "Aw, c'mon, Sarah," countered a classmate. "You know if you got raped you wouldn't keep that baby." At that point Sarah decided to drop a bomb on that high school. She chose to reveal the truth to the world about her child, who everyone had presumed to be fathered by her boyfriend, "Bobby." "Bobby is not my baby's father. My baby was born because I got raped when I was a sophomore." It took her a few moments to quit crying enough to continue. "It was still a person, and my mom and I decided to keep it. We hid it from my dad until he fell in love with my baby after it was born. Then we told him. He doesn't believe in abortion any more either." And Bobby? He had courageously played the dubious role of an irresponsible teen father for nearly two years.

The class was dead quiet. The point had been made. Sarah and Bobby remain among my heroes.

MIKE WOELK, Cape Girardeau