I Am my Brother’s Keeper

An Uber driver stopped on his way out of the abortion clinic after driving a woman there. He pulled over to talk with one of our counselors. He had not known when he took the fare that the woman was going to an abortion clinic. As soon as he found out, he did everything in his power to convince her not to abort. He knows Jesus and knows abortion is wrong. He took our literature and told us he would likely be the one picking her up as well. He spoke Spanish, and she spoke no English.

Before the abortionist arrived, the Uber driver returned. He waved to us as he pulled in. The Hispanic woman came out. She had changed her mind! The words of the Uber driver must have percolated in her heart, and in the end, brought her to a different decision. As he pulled out, I went to the window of the car. 

“Do you speak Spanish?”the Uber driver asked.

“Yes,” I said. I don’t except for a few words. I figured they were enough.

“No aborto?” I asked her.

She shook her head. She had not aborted.

We gave the Uber driver the literature we have in Spanish with our Spanish speaking counselor’s name and phone on it. We urged him to explain to her that we have many resources and would be eager to help her if she needed. Just call us.

A second woman pulled over on the side of the street, smoking a cigarette. I approached and asked if she was going to the abortion clinic. She said she was. She was meeting a friend to “be a support.”

“Do you believe in God?” I asked her.

“Yes, and so does she.”

I shared the many verses that talk about the sanctity of human life.

“I know,” she said, “But I can’t say anything to her. It is her decision. I am just here to support her whatever she decides. Jesus tells us not to judge but to love one another.”

“He does tell us to love one another, but He also says that we are to try to intercede when we see the innocent led to the slaughter. He speaks in love, but He never shied from speaking truth either. Like the woman Jesus met at the well that had lived with several different men. Jesus was quite clear with her that those men were not her husbands. He confronted her in her sin. Our model is not to be silent in the face of sin. We are clearly commanded to speak for the voiceless, defend the defenseless, and protect the innocent.”

“I don’t disagree,” the woman said. “OK, give me your information. I will try to bring her out to you.”

Sadly, her friend did not come out.

Two stories of two people who had the opportunity to change hearts and minds. One spoke courageously for the baby’s life for as long as he could. That baby is alive today. The second did speak up...finally...at the last minute, having been silent for the many days she could have perhaps swayed the decision. That baby is dead. I am glad she tried in the end, but what if she had tried all along? Might there have been a different outcome?

Every day I am at the abortion center sidewalks, I hear that same spineless platitude: “It’s her decision. I will not judge her, but love her and support her whatever she decides.”

Do we say that when someone decides they want to end their life, or kill their mother, or sell cocaine to teenagers, or any of a million other wrong and harmful choices? No. Not if we love them. Why in this instance, when a baby’s life is on the line, do we think silence is loving or compassionate? 

I pray God brings a special blessing to that Uber driver. He deserves it.

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Psalm 82:1-8 

A Psalm of Asaph. God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?  Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. ...