We lost a few subscribers this week. I’m sorry to see them go.We lost these subscribers due to my strong comments last week in this space on the need to save unborn babies from abortion.One reader commented that a man “cannot understand a woman’s perspective, from happiness to panic/dread affecting all her future life.” Not entirely true. I have been married 30 years, I’m finally beginning to get the idea.#placement_573654_0_i{width:100%;max-width:550px;margin:0 auto;}var rnd = window.rnd || Math.floor(Math.random()*10e6);var pid573654 = window.pid573654 || rnd;var plc573654 = window.plc573654 || 0;var abkw = window.abkw || '';var absrc = 'https://ads.empowerlocal.co/adserve/;ID=181918;size=0x0;setID=573654;type=js;sw='+screen.width+';sh='+screen.height+';spr='+window.devicePixelRatio+';kw='+abkw+';pid='+pid573654+';place='+(plc573654++)+';rnd='+rnd+';click=CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER';var _absrc = absrc.split("type=js"); absrc = _absrc[0] + 'type=js;referrer=' + encodeURIComponent(document.location.href) + _absrc[1];document.write('');And if we give this subject some honest thought, we can pretty well understand the feelings and fears a young pregnant woman is facing. We understand the inconvenience that an unplanned pregnancy represents: the plans that must be changed, the opportunities that will be forfeited, and the need to face responsibilities that one would prefer to avoid. An abrupt end to childhood itself.“For what, a tiny piece of tissue that is lodged inside my body that I hardly even notice?”“I barely even know the guy.”“I was drunk.”“He said he loved me.”“He says it’s all my fault, it’s my problem, not his.”“I don’t want my parents to find out.”“I have big plans for my future; I can’t let this interfere.”“What will everybody think?”“I screwed up, now I gotta make it right.”“No one will ever know.”“It’ll be quick, in and out in less than an hour.”“I’ll just pretend it never happened.”“I can go right back to doing what I’ve always done.”Okay, young lady, things will be different. You will have more than just yourself to think about from now on. You are bringing a new life into the world. A baby so completely helpless, that it needs you more than anything or anyone else will ever need you again. A baby so precious and unique that there is no other one just like it, just like you.“But I’m not ready for this.”“I won’t know what to do.”“What if I make a mistake?”“I won’t have anybody to help me.”“I’ll have to give up my job.”“I will lose my friends.”It’s okay. You’ll be fine. You will have achieved something so special, so incredible that giving birth to your baby is truly one of nature’s great miracles.Your parents will be proud, surprised at first, but proud.The creepy friends you had will be replaced by new friends who truly love you.You’ll have time to get ready and time to learn along the way.You can do it. Others have done it since the beginning of time.And you will get help from the many community organizations that are there to help you and your baby.You and your baby will be safe, warm, well fed, clothed, and protected.Both you and your baby will receive the care and support you need. You will not be alone.A year from now. Five years from now. Fifty years from now. This will have been one of the best things you ever did in your entire life. How do I know? Because almost 50 years to this very date, just after the Roe v. Wade ruling and my high school graduation, a young woman made a different decision and gave up her child, our child. I was 18.I think about that child every year, marking how that child’s life would have progressed. The first steps, entering kindergarten, birthday parties, graduating from high school, jobs that came and went, getting married and having children of his or her own. That lost child, my lost child, would now be old enough to be a grandparent.It took me another 20 years to find someone I could love, and who could love me in return. And now, 30 years later, we are still together. We never had children. But she retired last year after 30 years as a Neonatal Intensive Care registered nurse. And I smile when I think of the many thousands of newborn babies she helped into this world.Please give your baby a chance. It won’t be easy. It won’t be without frustration and fear. And you may have to settle for a different set of dreams than you had as a child. But you will be so much happier for it. And so will your beautiful baby. Daniel J. SchmidtEditor googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1515727'); });