Over a decade ago a liberal friend of mine posted on a popular social media site the following question “Has anyone truly had an epiphany?”
He clarified the question was not in a religious context but specifically under the definition of epiphany where someone has a “sudden insight or intuitive understanding” or “an intuitive grasp of reality through something (such as an event) usually simple and striking”. [ref: Websters Dictionary]
My reply was:
A few years ago my wife and I were blessed with news we were going to have a second child.
Shortly after, my wife started to complain about sharp pains in her lower back. Her Gynecologist recommended an ultrasound to rule out the possibility of an Ectopic Pregnancy, a rare but potentially life threatening situation where the 8-week old fetus could be developing in the fallopian tube and not the uterus.
A medical technician performed the ultrasound, which the doctor would later professionally evaluate. As the procedure was being done my wife and I were obviously anxious to know if her and our baby’s life were in any danger so we asked the technician “Is everything OK?!” The technician replied “I am not allowed to say anything but you are welcome to have a look!”
Previous to that moment I was neither for or against abortions. I did not have an opinion because I honestly had never been forced to personally face such an issue.
With that casual invitation from the technician my personal opinion changed from ambivalence to life begins at conception. I was in awe. Before me, at 8-weeks from conception was my child, with a head, and eyes, little arms and legs but most importantly a heart, an independent heart, beating at 169 beats a minute! This was a child, my child, not a blob of cells or an unrecognizable inhuman object as some insist defining these babies as. This was my beautiful child and I have been Pro-Life ever since.
My daughter was my epiphany.
My liberal friend must have not liked my reply. Shortly after posting my ‘epiphany’ on his feed, and dozens of likes and supportive comments from some of his other social media friends, he deleted the question and unfortunately me as a friend as well.