Pleading the Cause of the Unborn

This episode contains portions from the following programs:

"Why Is Human Life Precious?"

"A Picture of Redemption"

"Speaking Up for Life"

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Dannah Gresh: Every baby deserves the chance to live. I believe that. Do you?

You know, I was talking with Abby Jo—one of our Gen Z team members here at Revive Our Hearts. She shared with me something that my heart can barely stand. Nearly one-third of her generation has been lost because of abortion. 

Now let me explain. Countless Gen Xers were aborted. Those babies would have grown up to have babies of their own. Gen Z babies. But they never got the chance. There’s one report that surmises something interesting based on that. There may have been 800–900 million more thirteen to twenty-eight year olds on the planet today if abortion had never been. But those people never got the chance to live. 

Today, we’re pleading the cause of the unborn. Because every human being deserves the chance to live.

I’m your host, Dannah Gresh. You’re listening to Revive Our Hearts Weekend. This weekend, people across the United States will celebrate Sanctity of Human Life Sunday—a day set aside to celebrate the inherent worth of every human being—both those born and those unborn, healthy and sick, young and old.

As a society, we’ll never defend the lives of the unborn if we don’t understand the intrinsic value of every baby to begin with. My good friend, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, takes us to God’s Word to help us see why human life is so precious. Let’s listen.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Man was created to reflect the image of God. You’re familiar with the passage in Genesis chapter 1, verse 26. God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” This is the Trinity holding a council in heaven. And they say to each other, “Let us make man in our image.”

So God created man in his image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And god blessed them. (Gen. 1:27–28)

Unlike ladybugs and daffodils and geese and turtles, cute as we may think all these things are, man and woman, unlike all the rest of life, are created in the image of God, in the likeness of God, to reflect the glory of God. So human dignity and value and worth is not based on what we can produce or our achievements or our IQ or abilities or earning power or physical abilities or disabilities or how we measure up to others. Our dignity, our worth, our value is based on the fact that we were created in the image of God. By the way, that includes you.

Our dignity, our worth, our value is based on the fact that we were created in the image of God.

Flawed and failing though you may see yourself to be, you were created to reflect the image of God. To devalue or harm human life is to devalue God. It’s to attempt to harm God Himself. God takes it personally when we devalue human life.

And then, affection. Human beings are uniquely the object of God’s attention and affection. Don’t you love that passage in Psalm 8 that spells this out? The Psalmist says:

When I look at your heaven, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place [The implication is that those things are awesome; they’re amazing; they’re mind-boggling.] But what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? [Who are we?] Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly being [the angels] and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea. (Psalm 8:3–8)

Listen, you may love your pet, but I’m telling you, your pet is nothing compared to you. God has a unique affection for human beings—for men, for women, for His creation— that is different than what He thinks or feels about any other created thing.

We have switched the price tags on God’s creation. We devalue human life while elevating other created things.

This building that we are in today, this Ministry Center, is sitting on a beautiful piece of property. I remember years ago when we were getting ready to build here, we owned the property and were getting ready for construction. The EPA found this tiny, little flower called a Prairie Trillium, that was growing on this property. That Prairie Trillium is considered an endangered or threatened species. It's protected by the state here in Michigan. We had to go through tons of red tape, holding up the construction, while each of those little flowers were rescued. That's the term they used. They rescued those flowers—each one under the watchful eye of the EPA, someone who was approved to do this. They had to pick up each one of those plants and replant them on another site on the property. The EPA cares a lot about those Prairie Trilliums!

God cares about plants and animals. He made them too. They are beautiful to Him. But He cares infinitely more about you, about human beings.

You see that contrast on the Sermon on the Mount. Remember that passage in Matthew chapter 6 where Jesus says:

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them [He cares for them; He takes care of them]. Are you not of more value than they? . . . Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? (Matt. 6:26–30)

You see God’s priorities, the value God places. Yes, He cares for birds. Yes, He cares for flowers. Yes, He robes them so they are beautifully dressed and adorned. But the way He cares about us is unique. It’s distinctive. God uniquely places His affection and attention on human beings. He cares for birds and flowers. How much more does He care for us?

Throughout the gospels you see that tender, caring heart of Christ for people—not just wealthy people or smart people or people in big positions, VIPs. You see His heart for the poor, those who are weak, those who are disenfranchised, those who are needy, those who are oppressed, those who are children. In that day women and children didn't rate very high on the pecking order. But Jesus loved women; He loved children. He cared for them. He cared for those who were rejected; those who nobody cared for. It’s a reminder that if we want to be true followers of Christ, true women, then we will have the heart of Christ. We will have affection and care and compassion for those who no one else cares for or thinks very much of. Every life is precious to God. Every human life is distinct from all other living things.

Dannah: Amen. Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth on the inherent worth of every human life. 

Now, I want to take a moment to acknowledge something. Research suggests 1 in 4 women have had an abortion in their lifetime. That’s no small number. So many of my friends live with the pain from abortion. Maybe you do, too. I just want to tell you that in Jesus, there’s hope and there’s healing. Romans 8 tells us there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Hear those words today.

Laura and Fausto Gonzalez found this to be true in their own story. Laura is director of Aviva Nuestros Corazones, the Spanish arm of Revive Our Hearts. She and her husband entered marriage as unbelievers, and they had unbiblical views of the value of children. Let’s listen.

Laura Gonzalez: Fausto was not "into" children.

Fausto Gonzalez: I did not have a good relationship with my father. He would say, "I don't like children" in front of us. I also thought I would never be a good parent. So, I knew at some point Laura was going to say . . .

Laura: Okay, it's time to try to have our first child.

Fausto: Then I'm going to have to say "okay," but I would have delayed that as long as I could have, because I didn't want them. Then it happened . . . she finally got pregnant, and I remember when Sarah was born. 

Laura: It would be good to have another child, and I kept talking to Fausto about it.

Fausto: I didn't want that!

Laura: About two weeks after we went to Orlando, I got chickenpox. I got it really bad, so I went to my family doctor. The first thing he did was a pregnancy test. I said, "Oh, no, I'm not pregnant!" And yes, I was! The doctor said there are many cases of birth defects when children are conceived in that part of your chickenpox. He said I needed to see other doctors, and everybody concluded that I needed to get an abortion.

Fausto: So I convinced Laura, "We need to do this." Again, it was good with me, because I didn't want to have another child. I remember the day of the abortion . . .

Laura: It was in 1991, and that was the most horrible day of my life! I can remember the sound of the vacuum, and I remember driving home—I felt so miserable. . . . 

I put in a cassette and this lady was talking about how God had changed her life. I remember sitting down at my kitchen counter, listening to that, and my eyes were opened. I understood life in a minute. I understood I was a sinner, that Christ had come to bear my sins, and had washed me with a sacrifice. I understood the gospel in an instant!

Fausto: After that, it all made sense. I understood everything and our lives changed completely! We left everything behind.

Laura: When I came to Christ, immediately the first sin that came to mind was my abortion. That's when I realized I had committed a sin. I had thought I was a nice person. I thought I was a good person.

It was when I started reading the Bible, I realized I was a baby killer. I killed a baby, but immediately I felt the grace of God! Christ is too great a Savior and His grace is so unmerited and His blood is so sufficient, so I've never felt guilt after knowing Christ. I've just felt the sense of loss.

Fausto: One Sunday morning, it could have been the third Sunday or the fourth Sunday after our conversion, I looked toward the ceiling and I said, "God, if in order to have You as a Father, I have to not have one, or have the one I had, I'm okay. I'm okay, because I wouldn't exchange this for any excellent father on earth." And I settled that right there, and it's never been a problem for me, ever.

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God moved our hearts to go back to the Dominican Republic after almost twenty years in the U.S. We'd had no plans for going back to the Dominican Republic, but we just wanted to do what God wanted us to do.

I became an elder at our church in Santo Domingo . . . a family pastor! We felt called to minister to marriages. I guess that's how it started.

Laura: The mercy of God! Even though we were murderers, He allowed Fausto to become a family pastor, to talk to young people, and to share with them the blessing of the family. He taught them not only to be pro-life—that you don't kill babies—but that you have them! You welcome babies. You don't try to avoid them.

Fausto: Isn't it just like Him? That thing I didn't want . . . Now He rescues you, He changes you, and He gives you something that's opposite.

I know the difference is Christ—that's the whole difference—because now I feel love for children.

Laura: We have three grandchildren, and they come to our home every Thursday for lunch. We have a table full of children now, and it's so amazing. God's grace is just amazing. He can redeem everything! He restores the years that the locust has eaten.

Dannah: Laura and Fausto Gonzalez on learning to love children like God does. What a testimony of hope and healing in Christ! 

Now maybe you’ve been listening today and your heart is broken for the unborn. Maybe you’re asking “What can I do?” “How can I help?”

That’s why we’re wrapping up with a word from Autumn Higashi. She’s a member of Gen Z, and she believes the generation most affected by abortion will be the one to end it. 

Autumn first joined the pro-life movement when she was sixteen, and since then her passion for life has only grown. For seven years, she worked with the organization, Students for Life. But today, she advocates for pro-life values while raising her adopted son and baby girl alongside her husband, Nate. We talked with Autumn during the early days of her involvement in the pro-life movement. There’s just such a passion in her voice—I love it! She’ll tell you how you can get involved too. 

Autumn (Lindsey) Higashi: You know, the more you get involved, the more you care. I’ve also seen the more I get involved, the harder it is for me to even understand why anyone is pro-choice. Because when you research about not only the pro-life movement, but abortion . . .

You have to educate yourself on what is actually happening. I was researching for a blog post on different abortion procedures. If anyone really saw an abortion, there would be very few people who thought it was fine. They’re kind of under that misconception that most of the time you just take a pill and everything goes away. But that’s not the reality of it.

I think the further I get into the movement, the more knowledge I get of what abortion is and the effects of it, I think I definitely have grown more passionate for this movement. Our local group is really, really amazing with getting a group of teens to go stand and protest for four hours on a Sunday afternoon near a local brewery, because I think for a lot of people, that’s terrifying!

Talking about abortion is one of the hardest things, but that’s what we need, because when we’re talking about abortion we’re winning! When we’re starting a conversation, we’re able to discuss it and share the truth with people. That’s a benefit for us.

I think the most important thing is just getting people out there talking about it. In the end, that’s really going to benefit us.

Nancy: I think Autumn’s story can challenge all of us to consider whether there may be more that we could be doing to encourage a culture of life. That may mean that we need to sacrifice some other lesser priorities in order to get more involved.

Autumn: I know that people get busy and they have their lives, but this is a movement that is in desperate need of people who are willing to speak up! I used to have a horse; I used to play piano; I had a lot more free time. I don’t necessarily enjoy talking about abortion as much as I do, but that doesn’t change the fact that abortion exists.

Because of that, we need people who are willing to put this as their priority—or at least one of their priorities. Maybe clean your room tomorrow and today go to this protest and stand up for life, because at the end of the day, that is incredibly more important because there are millions of babies that are being killed because abortion is legal.

That is absolutely something that needs to change! But we need people to speak up.

Nancy: Autumn has done that by partnering with a group: Students for Life of America.

Autumn: Other ways you can get involved are donating to your local pregnancy clinic, going outside of Planned Parenthood, and praying. There are lots of small ways you can get involved that aren’t going to take up a huge amount of your time, but anything is really going to help.

Nancy: Autumn doesn’t believe in all this activity just for activity’s sake. She truly believes that today’s young people can bring about change in our nation.

Autumn: We’re often called “the pro-life generation.” It’s this generation that’s rising up, and I strongly believe that this generation will be the generation to end abortion, or to make it no longer legal. I think it’s just so important to have young people getting passionate about this issue, because quite frankly, we need more people angry about what’s happening.

The fact that an abortion is happening every ninety-seven seconds is something that should motivate us all to get involved in hopes of making a difference. Because if you save one life, that’s hundreds of generations! So even one life is going to make a huge difference!

My hope is just to get more people involved and more people passionate, but that starts with getting more people to care about this movement. I think as you get further in this movement, you really understand that life is incredibly valuable! You understand that more, because when you’re involved in the movement, you’re seeing it happening.

I love babies! I have my two nephews, and I adore them more than anything! My cousin was told that her son had Down Syndrome while she was pregnant. And they were offered an abortion as an option—as most people do. And there was nothing wrong with him when he was born. He was perfectly healthy and one of the most amazing little boys that I know!

I’ve just seen so many instances where people were told that they should abort their babies—but that life is incredibly valuable! So whether the circumstances that you’re born in are not ideal, whether you’re born into poverty or into a family that isn’t necessary ready to have a child, that does not mean that that child’s life is less important!

I just think that no matter what age, life has incredible value. It’s something that we should absolutely protect! Something my mom always says is, “Where there’s life, there’s hope.” My youngest sister is an amazing example of this.

She was born in China, and she was found in a ditch under a streetlight at one day old. I think she weighed four pounds. If you look at that, being born and being left in a ditch is the definition of “helpless.”

But because her mother chose life, she’s now living in America with an amazing family that adopted her—two loving parents, six siblings, two iPads, food, shelter, love. Because her mother chose life, we now get to enjoy her!

No matter what circumstances you’re born in, things will change. Adoption is an amazing thing! That’s why we have my youngest sister and soon-to-be younger brother. So where there’s life, there’s hope. Choosing abortion should never be an option.

There are resources for you, there are options for you. At the end of the day, there should be no reason to choose abortion.

Dannah: Autumn Higashi on choosing life—and inviting you to join the pro-life movement.

I hope today has been a sweet reminder that every life is precious. We plead the cause of the unborn because God does—in His Word. 

Speaking of God’s Word, we’ve got some beautiful new Scripture cards to offer this month! When you make a donation of any amount, you can request your own set. Along with those, you’ll also receive a printed copy of our 2026 Bible reading plan. 

And if you make a donation of $50 or more, you’ll also receive a pretty floral journal and a zipper pouch filled with assorted highlighters, pens, and sticky notes. To give and request your Bible study resources, visit ReviveOurHearts.com.

Well today you heard Laura and Fausto’s story, but they’re not the only ones who’ve experienced God’s grace after abortion. We’ve heard so many redemptive stories over the years, and we’re going to share more of them with you. You’ll want to be back to hear those next weekend. 

Thanks for listening today. I’m Dannah Gresh. We’ll see you next time, for Revive Our Hearts Weekend.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

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