Dear People Who Bullied My Unborn Child,
I’m going to call it what it was — bullying. You thought you
were so smart when
In your mind, he was just an extension of his rapist father,
guaranteed to bring nothing but pain and heartache to me and to the world. And
I know for sure you were uncomfortable and sometimes even mad about my decision
to keep a child conceived in rape. You couldn’t imagine why in the world
someone would want a baby you saw as being so worthless and loathsome, and when
you realized I loved him, you eventually bullied him the way you’d been
bullying me and trying to push me into aborting him.
Just like all bullies, you overlooked all the important things
about my son and focused on something that was irrelevant and completely out of
his control — his conception. And like all bullied children, he deserves better
representation than the words you chose for him.
The reality is that this baby makes people smile everywhere he
goes. He’s pretty smiley too! He has brightened the days of the elderly in a
nursing home. Tuesday he dressed up like an elf to attend an angel tree party
our church puts on for underprivileged kids from the elementary school nearby,
and the kids were so excited to see him.
He makes people happy because he is a joyful, radiant light.
This is the child you bullied — this sweet, giggly baby. And I’m the mom you
tried to bully into aborting him.
Many times during pregnancy, I wondered how the Virgin Mary
would’ve fared had she been a single, pregnant teenager in this century. Born
into a poor family in the hills of Galilee and betrothed to a humble carpenter,
Mary’s life seemed like one that would always remain humble and lackluster. And
it was the womb of this poor, unmarried, young lady who God chose to bless with
the life of Jesus.
Mary often comforted me during those late nights during my
pregnancy when I was awake in bed thinking about the the way you treated my son.
I’d think about her faith, the shaming and bullying she must’ve gone through in
her own day and age, and that humble birth we celebrate each December. Her own
son – our Lord and Savior – was the target of infanticide soon after his birth.
We read about this in Matthew: the Magi announced the birth of the real King of
the Jews, angering King Herod (the people’s choice), who then attempted to
preserve his power by ordering the murder of every baby boy in the vicinity of
Bethlehem to make sure Jesus was eliminated.
The Massacre of Innocents, as it is known, is fairly similar to
what goes on today with the targeting of babies for abortion. Babies being born
to poor, single, and/or teenage mothers are bullied by weak minds, like yours,
which can only envision them as inconvenient pulls on already strained systems
of government aid. And I can speak from experience about the bullying of
children conceived in rape. I watched and listened while you berated my baby
boy while he bounced in my womb, his only “offense” being his audacity to
continue living.
I wonder if Mary were living in today’s world, would our modern
Mary’s friends support her and welcome the Christ child with love? Or would
they bully her unborn son the way you bullied mine and pressure her into making
him a statistic through abortion, the same way you “encouraged” me?
Based on my experiences with you, I’m sad to say I believe it
would be the latter. And if Jesus Christ, having been bullied and targeted for
the circumstances of his conception and birth, could be killed before he had
the chance to save the world, what other gifts are we all missing out on when
women are bullied into aborting the babies who would bring them?
The cures for cancer, HIV/AIDS, and other devastating diseases?
The ending of human trafficking, the development of nuclear weaponry, and war?
Or, perhaps, all of the above and more.
I don’t know what all the gifts my 2-month-old son has brought
with him to the
When I think of my son Caleb’s own story: conceived in rape,
bullied, targeted for abortion, born, loved… well, he didn’t come to save the
world, but in many ways, he saved me by giving me a reason to continue living
after the devastation of rape. You saw the opposite – the fake news you
invented to avoid facing the truth, which is that a child conceived in bad circumstances
is a child as worthy of life as you.
That’s why you called him horrible names and bullied him before
he could even exit the womb. And it’s why you tried your best to convince me
that he was an “evil,” unwelcome “spawn of Satan,” rather than a gift of God.
Satan’s only offering here arrived through you in the form of
your ignorant statements, and I thank God for the wisdom to have seen that from
the beginning, just as I thank him for giving each person inherent worth and
value. That includes my son as much as it includes anyone else!
And you... well, know that I forgive you and pray for you. I
pray you see your error. I pray you find truth. I pray you get to meet the baby
who changed my life in every good way. I pray you let yourself experience God
through my child — each and every time he smiles, there’s nothing to feel but
the warm love of God.
And I pray you won’t feel compelled to bully another child,
regardless of how he or she was conceived. Because whether we’re talking about
the real baby Jesus or the baby who plays Jesus in a pageant and an elf at a
Christmas party, all babies deserve more than you’ve given my son.
May you do better in 2018. May you build up instead of bullying
and tearing down. May you love yourself enough to begin loving others.
Sincerely,
The elf’s mom
BIO: Paula K. Peyton is a writer, mother to Caleb and now a pro-life blogger for Save The 1. She resides in Memphis, TN.
Dear People Who Bullied My Unborn Child,
I’m going to call it what it was — bullying. You thought you were so smart when
In your mind, he was just an extension of his rapist father, guaranteed to bring nothing but pain and heartache to me and to the world. And I know for sure you were uncomfortable and sometimes even mad about my decision to keep a child conceived in rape. You couldn’t imagine why in the world someone would want a baby you saw as being so worthless and loathsome, and when you realized I loved him, you eventually bullied him the way you’d been bullying me and trying to push me into aborting him.
Just like all bullies, you overlooked all the important things about my son and focused on something that was irrelevant and completely out of his control — his conception. And like all bullied children, he deserves better representation than the words you chose for him.
The reality is that this baby makes people smile everywhere he goes. He’s pretty smiley too! He has brightened the days of the elderly in a nursing home. Tuesday he dressed up like an elf to attend an angel tree party our church puts on for underprivileged kids from the elementary school nearby, and the kids were so excited to see him.
He makes people happy because he is a joyful, radiant light. This is the child you bullied — this sweet, giggly baby. And I’m the mom you tried to bully into aborting him.
Many times during pregnancy, I wondered how the Virgin Mary would’ve fared had she been a single, pregnant teenager in this century. Born into a poor family in the hills of Galilee and betrothed to a humble carpenter, Mary’s life seemed like one that would always remain humble and lackluster. And it was the womb of this poor, unmarried, young lady who God chose to bless with the life of Jesus.
Mary often comforted me during those late nights during my pregnancy when I was awake in bed thinking about the the way you treated my son. I’d think about her faith, the shaming and bullying she must’ve gone through in her own day and age, and that humble birth we celebrate each December. Her own son – our Lord and Savior – was the target of infanticide soon after his birth. We read about this in Matthew: the Magi announced the birth of the real King of the Jews, angering King Herod (the people’s choice), who then attempted to preserve his power by ordering the murder of every baby boy in the vicinity of Bethlehem to make sure Jesus was eliminated.
The Massacre of Innocents, as it is known, is fairly similar to what goes on today with the targeting of babies for abortion. Babies being born to poor, single, and/or teenage mothers are bullied by weak minds, like yours, which can only envision them as inconvenient pulls on already strained systems of government aid. And I can speak from experience about the bullying of children conceived in rape. I watched and listened while you berated my baby boy while he bounced in my womb, his only “offense” being his audacity to continue living.
I wonder if Mary were living in today’s world, would our modern Mary’s friends support her and welcome the Christ child with love? Or would they bully her unborn son the way you bullied mine and pressure her into making him a statistic through abortion, the same way you “encouraged” me?
Based on my experiences with you, I’m sad to say I believe it would be the latter. And if Jesus Christ, having been bullied and targeted for the circumstances of his conception and birth, could be killed before he had the chance to save the world, what other gifts are we all missing out on when women are bullied into aborting the babies who would bring them?
The cures for cancer, HIV/AIDS, and other devastating diseases? The ending of human trafficking, the development of nuclear weaponry, and war? Or, perhaps, all of the above and more.
I don’t know what all the gifts my 2-month-old son has brought with him to the
When I think of my son Caleb’s own story: conceived in rape, bullied, targeted for abortion, born, loved… well, he didn’t come to save the world, but in many ways, he saved me by giving me a reason to continue living after the devastation of rape. You saw the opposite – the fake news you invented to avoid facing the truth, which is that a child conceived in bad circumstances is a child as worthy of life as you.
That’s why you called him horrible names and bullied him before he could even exit the womb. And it’s why you tried your best to convince me that he was an “evil,” unwelcome “spawn of Satan,” rather than a gift of God.
Satan’s only offering here arrived through you in the form of your ignorant statements, and I thank God for the wisdom to have seen that from the beginning, just as I thank him for giving each person inherent worth and value. That includes my son as much as it includes anyone else!
And you... well, know that I forgive you and pray for you. I pray you see your error. I pray you find truth. I pray you get to meet the baby who changed my life in every good way. I pray you let yourself experience God through my child — each and every time he smiles, there’s nothing to feel but the warm love of God.
And I pray you won’t feel compelled to bully another child, regardless of how he or she was conceived. Because whether we’re talking about the real baby Jesus or the baby who plays Jesus in a pageant and an elf at a Christmas party, all babies deserve more than you’ve given my son.
May you do better in 2018. May you build up instead of bullying and tearing down. May you love yourself enough to begin loving others.
Sincerely,
The elf’s mom
BIO: Paula K. Peyton is a writer, mother to Caleb and now a pro-life blogger for Save The 1. She resides in Memphis, TN.
Dear People Who Bullied My Unborn Child,
I’m going to call it what it was — bullying. You thought you were so smart when
In your mind, he was just an extension of his rapist father, guaranteed to bring nothing but pain and heartache to me and to the world. And I know for sure you were uncomfortable and sometimes even mad about my decision to keep a child conceived in rape. You couldn’t imagine why in the world someone would want a baby you saw as being so worthless and loathsome, and when you realized I loved him, you eventually bullied him the way you’d been bullying me and trying to push me into aborting him.
Just like all bullies, you overlooked all the important things about my son and focused on something that was irrelevant and completely out of his control — his conception. And like all bullied children, he deserves better representation than the words you chose for him.
The reality is that this baby makes people smile everywhere he goes. He’s pretty smiley too! He has brightened the days of the elderly in a nursing home. Tuesday he dressed up like an elf to attend an angel tree party our church puts on for underprivileged kids from the elementary school nearby, and the kids were so excited to see him.
He makes people happy because he is a joyful, radiant light. This is the child you bullied — this sweet, giggly baby. And I’m the mom you tried to bully into aborting him.
Many times during pregnancy, I wondered how the Virgin Mary would’ve fared had she been a single, pregnant teenager in this century. Born into a poor family in the hills of Galilee and betrothed to a humble carpenter, Mary’s life seemed like one that would always remain humble and lackluster. And it was the womb of this poor, unmarried, young lady who God chose to bless with the life of Jesus.
Mary often comforted me during those late nights during my pregnancy when I was awake in bed thinking about the the way you treated my son. I’d think about her faith, the shaming and bullying she must’ve gone through in her own day and age, and that humble birth we celebrate each December. Her own son – our Lord and Savior – was the target of infanticide soon after his birth. We read about this in Matthew: the Magi announced the birth of the real King of the Jews, angering King Herod (the people’s choice), who then attempted to preserve his power by ordering the murder of every baby boy in the vicinity of Bethlehem to make sure Jesus was eliminated.
The Massacre of Innocents, as it is known, is fairly similar to what goes on today with the targeting of babies for abortion. Babies being born to poor, single, and/or teenage mothers are bullied by weak minds, like yours, which can only envision them as inconvenient pulls on already strained systems of government aid. And I can speak from experience about the bullying of children conceived in rape. I watched and listened while you berated my baby boy while he bounced in my womb, his only “offense” being his audacity to continue living.
I wonder if Mary were living in today’s world, would our modern Mary’s friends support her and welcome the Christ child with love? Or would they bully her unborn son the way you bullied mine and pressure her into making him a statistic through abortion, the same way you “encouraged” me?
Based on my experiences with you, I’m sad to say I believe it would be the latter. And if Jesus Christ, having been bullied and targeted for the circumstances of his conception and birth, could be killed before he had the chance to save the world, what other gifts are we all missing out on when women are bullied into aborting the babies who would bring them?
The cures for cancer, HIV/AIDS, and other devastating diseases? The ending of human trafficking, the development of nuclear weaponry, and war? Or, perhaps, all of the above and more.
I don’t know what all the gifts my 2-month-old son has brought with him to the
When I think of my son Caleb’s own story: conceived in rape, bullied, targeted for abortion, born, loved… well, he didn’t come to save the world, but in many ways, he saved me by giving me a reason to continue living after the devastation of rape. You saw the opposite – the fake news you invented to avoid facing the truth, which is that a child conceived in bad circumstances is a child as worthy of life as you.
That’s why you called him horrible names and bullied him before he could even exit the womb. And it’s why you tried your best to convince me that he was an “evil,” unwelcome “spawn of Satan,” rather than a gift of God.
Satan’s only offering here arrived through you in the form of your ignorant statements, and I thank God for the wisdom to have seen that from the beginning, just as I thank him for giving each person inherent worth and value. That includes my son as much as it includes anyone else!
And you... well, know that I forgive you and pray for you. I pray you see your error. I pray you find truth. I pray you get to meet the baby who changed my life in every good way. I pray you let yourself experience God through my child — each and every time he smiles, there’s nothing to feel but the warm love of God.
And I pray you won’t feel compelled to bully another child, regardless of how he or she was conceived. Because whether we’re talking about the real baby Jesus or the baby who plays Jesus in a pageant and an elf at a Christmas party, all babies deserve more than you’ve given my son.
May you do better in 2018. May you build up instead of bullying and tearing down. May you love yourself enough to begin loving others.
Sincerely,
The elf’s mom
BIO: Paula K. Peyton is a writer, mother to Caleb and now a pro-life blogger for Save The 1. She resides in Memphis, TN.
Read her prior
Well written, Paula. I've always believed in a woman's right to choose, but have never understood how a woman could abort her child. Of course, since I'm not a woman, I can never view this decision as a woman does, but I was a young dad once (23) and the notion of any of my children being aborted is unfathomable to me. Allison was young when she became pregnant with Caroline, and we hadn't known one another for more than a month. But we were both in love and wanted that child. 32 years later, we're still together and our daughter is now a PhD and published Historian planning her own family.
ReplyDeleteYou made the right choice, Paula.