Dear parents and friends,

You cannot imagine how tiny I am but I am alive. Every day I grow a little bigger. I tell myself that one day, I will grow to be a big baby, ready to enter the world outside the womb.

But how’s life in the womb? Do you really want to know? Well, it is a beautiful world of its own. We communicate with our mother more than you can ever imagine. Yesterday, mum ate a thick messy stuff I didn’t quite like. I told her not to eat that food again. She listened but not before I had kicked and punched her with my tiny legs and hands.

I am surprised many, many people don’t know much about us- unborn babies in the womb. Simple morality dictates that unless and until someone can prove that we are not alive, you must all give us the benefit of the doubt and assume that we are alive. Have you forgotten so soon what the Catholic Church says about us? I just know it because mum repeats it over and over again “Conception is the beginning of human life. From the time that an ovum is fertilized, a new life begins that is neither that of the father nor of the mother. It is rather the life of a new human being, with its own growth. It would never become human if it were not human already.” (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Procured Abortion, 1974.)

I hear and feel in the womb that some people don’t want us to live. Why do they think like that? Listen to me: if we can accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? We unborn babies know that the care of human life and happiness and not destruction should be the first object of all good governments.

Mothers and young girls, the biggest test of your worth is the way you treat every human being but more especially the weakest and the most defenseless.

Even though I am still in the womb, I hear a lot about what people say about us. You remember Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta? She once said “There are two victims in every abortion: a dead baby and a dead conscience.”

That is the reason you must never agree to abort us. The pain and guilt will always remain on your conscience. You can never get us off your mind. The other day, mum was conversing with another lady and I heard them clearly because I was wide awake. Mum said a lady and a gentleman had committed seven abortions together. They were students then. They finally got married but never had a child of their own during their entire marriage. The gentleman took to drinking and eventually became an alcoholic. Along the line, he lost his job. His wife could not cope with the situation and soon left the marriage to settle in the US. The gentleman is currently a nervous wreck in a psychiatric hospital. Mum said the man had been weighed down, over the years, with guilt and regrets. This should never happen to anyone.

I also heard mum say that being pregnant was very much like falling in love. “You are so overjoyed. There are no words that can express having a baby growing inside of you.” I think she must be sincere because she usually sings to me .

The other day, mum visited the parish priest at the parish and they conversed for a long time. The priest said one day we would all be accountable to God for our decisions, actions and inactions.

I am already hungry…..but remember this: each child is sent into this world with a special gift and the world will be poorer without that child.

Finally, if you are thinking of joining the abortion movement to kill us off, remember what President Ronald Reagan said many years ago: “I’ve noticed that everyone who is for abortion is already born.” Mum told a neighbour she would join a group called Pro- Life. I understand the members fight for unborn babies. Yesterday, I said a short prayer for its members. I asked Jesus to make them bold and strong.

Now that you know our story well, don’t ever say that there are too many children in the world. It is like saying that there are too many beautiful flowers in a garden. Goodbye for now…..I am feeling really sleepy now….

The writer is the Executive Secretary, Dept. of Social Communications, National Catholic Secretariat Accra. dandzide@yahoo.com