I can’t get my mind around a world where killing unborn babies is considered women’s healthcare.  We who oppose abortion are said to fight “the war on women”.  Something so selfish and barbaric, explained away as a choice or a right.  But none of this is a news flash, so I won’t touch on the usual talking points.

This weekend, in a moment of strange parental flashback, my mind was opened to another side of abortion that I don’t often see discussed; how men change when they become dads.

I spent about six hours Saturday using a weedeater.  Headphones on, iTunes library set to shuffle.  Usually a great time of reflection for a wandering mind.

Metallica’s “Hero of the Day” assaulted my ears, above the sound of my machinery.  And songs always remind me of events or periods of life.  My thoughts immediately went to my oldest daughter, who is away at college.

Just over 19 years ago, Metallica released Load, and it just happened to be the CD that was in the player of our Ford Explorer when my wife went into labor.  Kristy was cool with Metallica but I operated the radio with the assumption that she wasn’t in the mood for any headbanging stuff on the way to the hospital to give birth to our first child.

So the volume stayed low.  “Hero of the Day” was one track that could be considered a ballad, so it was the only song that got turned up loud enough to hear on that memorable trip of nervous excitement.

Over the years, I’ve thought of that night every time I’ve heard that song.  But on this day, after initially having thoughts of really just missing my daughter, my thoughts circled around to the kind of man I was on that last night

before I became a father.

Because I became a different man the first time I held that baby girl in my arms.  What I thought I knew about love changed instantly.  My view of the world changed the instant I became a father.

God’s love for me became more real than ever before.  I accepted Jesus as my savior shortly after.  Not saying that I’m a super Christian or even a good one, but I am saying without doubt that I am still being transformed every day, and that becoming a father is what started the transformation.

When men become fathers and embrace that role, change happens.  Selfish becomes selfless.  Unmotivated becomes motivated.  Harsh becomes gentle.  Irresponsible becomes responsible.  Apathy becomes compassion and determination.  Underachievers become overachievers.  The unloving love.  The short-sighted develop a vision for the future. Lousy men become decent men.  Good men become great men.

When men become fathers, they have great purpose in life.  They not only become valuable to their families, their potential for positive impact on the world around them increases dramatically.

Abortion robs them of this purpose.  I have no idea what the statistical factors are as to the presence of a father in abortion situations.  But I know that, in cases of abortion, the possibility of a man being amazingly transformed by bringing a child into the world, is exactly zero.

Going back in time for one or two generations, consider a small percentage of men transformed from lousy men to good men, from good men to great men.  What impact could they have had on growing children and society as a whole?  Should we be shocked by what we are seeing with the disappearance of traditional families, lack of respect for authority, and declining morals?

My main point is this:

There are 3 individuals that God has given life to in this equation.  There is mother.  There is a baby.  There is a dad.  To speak of rights and choice of only the mother is a convenient and selfish lie.

Women killing their unborn children and men missing out on the chance to be transformed by fatherhood (and men who make the horrible choice to not raise their own children).

Do we have to pretend like there are worse things going on in this country?  I don’t think there are.

I am a much different man, a better man, because my children were born.  The world is different place because my four children are here and I believe that eternity will certainly be different as well.  That is pro-life.  That is truth.