As our nation marks the fourth anniversary of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, I find myself reflecting not merely on a legal decision, but on a deeply personal reality: I am here because a woman facing overwhelming circumstances chose life.
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This reflection is dedicated to the mothers who made that same choice when every visible factor suggested otherwise.
In discussions surrounding abortion, much attention is given to difficult circumstances, and rightly so. Poverty, addiction, instability, fear, abandonment, and uncertainty are genuine hardships that deserve compassion and support. Yet amid these conversations, we often fail to ask a fundamental question: Does the difficulty of a circumstance diminish the value of the life growing within it?
My own story compels me to answer that question with a resounding no.
I was conceived in adultery. My father was married, and his wife was approximately eight months pregnant with their son at the time of my conception. By every modern metric, my conception represented a situation many would classify as undesirable, complicated, or irresponsible. Yet the moral failure surrounding my conception did not diminish the worth of the life that resulted from it.
My parents’ circumstances were equally complex. My mother was a black woman recovering from crack cocaine addiction, with little financial security and already raising five children. My father also had a history of addiction. After finding recovery, he founded Starlite Drug Rehabilitation Center in Cocoa, Florida, where he served as a counselor. It was there that my parents met. My mother entered the program seeking freedom from addiction, and my father was among those helping others pursue the same recovery he had experienced.
Their story was marked by brokenness, redemption, and human frailty long before I was conceived. Yet despite their shared journey of recovery, my conception occurred within a deeply complicated situation. My mother now found herself carrying a sixth child conceived with another woman’s husband.
Under Roe v. Wade, she could have chosen abortion. Many would have considered that decision understandable. Few would have blamed her.
Instead, she chose life.
Not because her circumstances suddenly improved. Not because financial security appeared. Not because the future became clear.
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She chose life because she believed that the existence of her child carried greater significance than the difficulties surrounding that child’s conception.
I share these details not to shame my parents, but to honor the courage required to choose life amid circumstances many would have viewed as hopeless. Through faith in Jesus Christ, both of my parents experienced redemption and restoration. Their stories are not ultimately defined by their failures but by the grace of God.
My mother’s decision also challenges a troubling assumption that often underlies abortion advocacy: that some lives become less valuable when conceived under undesirable conditions. Yet if human dignity is intrinsic rather than conditional, then its value cannot fluctuate according to income, parental readiness, relationship status, addiction history, or the circumstances of conception. A child conceived in stability possesses no greater humanity than a child conceived in chaos.
Three decades after my conception, Roe v. Wade was overturned. Whether one celebrates or laments that decision, it has forced America to confront questions that legislation alone can never resolve. The abortion debate is ultimately about human dignity, what it means to be human, when life has value, and on what basis we assign worth.
A culture that values life must also cultivate virtue. It must teach responsibility, self-discipline, accountability, and moral courage. Scripture reminds us that God’s design is not intended to restrict human flourishing but to protect it.
One of the greatest failures of modern culture is that we often reject moral conclusions without understanding the wisdom behind them. Young people deserve more than rules; they deserve truth. They deserve examples of people willing to speak honestly about past mistakes while pointing to the redeeming power of Christ.
As we remember the overturning of Roe v. Wade, may we do more than celebrate a judicial milestone. May we pursue a deeper cultural renewal rooted in compassion for mothers, reverence for human life, personal responsibility, and moral courage.
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For every child conceived, regardless of circumstance, bears the image of God.
I know this not merely as a matter of theology.
I know it because I am one of them.
Image: Author Grace Glass as a child.