Childhood on the Farm Teaches Lessons for a Lifetime
Childhood lessons from farm life first introduced me to the mysterious beginning and ending of life for plants, animals for human survival. I learned that God created me to know, love and serve Him in this life and be happy with Him forever in eternity. Loving Him meant loving all His creation, including my younger sister, my epileptic cousins, and the new orphan on my school bus.
Lessons Learned Remembered
Years later, I was a public health laboratory chemist developing tests to diagnose, treat and monitor disease and inborn errors of metabolism. It troubled me that the data could be used to selectively extinguish rather than promote life.
While working in a public health children’s clinic, I developed a panel discussion on Medical Ethics at the Georgia Public Health Convention. Terry Weaver (no relation), founder of Birthright, inspired me to lobby against the new Georgia abortion bill at the state legislature. This I did with a babe-in-Gerry-Pak and a toddler on a leash for her own protection.
Lessons Learned Put into Practice
I joined a newly formed Respect Life Ministry at my Atlanta church.
This ministry sponsored baby bottle fundraisers, a baby shower for the local Pregnancy Aid Clinic (PAC) and coordinated with other church ministries. The clinic’s new mobile clinic van – complete with ultrasound machine and technician – parked directly in front of church, offering tours.
Around 2012 at the National Right to Life convention in Nashville, TN, I met Gen Wilson who referred me to Aileen Barreca, first chair of the new Atlanta Chapter of Georgia Right to Life, Inc. As Secretary, I helped interview political candidates, host chapter meetings, lobby and attend state legislative hearings. When Aileen left Atlanta in July 2019, I continued the Atlanta Chapter work as the new Chair.
The current Atlanta Chapter has fifty-seven members, most of whom live in Atlanta and Fulton County. The Chapter aims to inform members about current pro-life issues from conception to natural death, to lobby for pro-life legislation and to conduct public witness on interstate Bridge Days.
The Chapter has supported the GRTL Cobb County Chapter booth at the North Georgia Fair, the REACH fundraiser, GRTL’s walk in the Cumming Fourth of July Parade, and the GRTL booth at a convention at Pray’s Mill Baptist Church.
The chapter developed a list of contact persons at Atlanta Fulton County schools and churches for the purpose of recruiting students for the GRTL Oratory and Video Contest. Some members also support the 40 Days for Life vigils at Planned Parenthood in Marietta and at the Feminist Women’s Health Center in Atlanta. Several members networked with other pro-lifers at the monthly Restoration Project meetings chaired by Catherine Davis.
As a volunteer with the Chaplain’s office at Emory Hospital Midtown, I promote the sanctity of life at all stages for hospitalized patients. An Atlanta church uses my pro-life resource list to refer women to local service providers or domestic violence shelters. A sponsorship is available for burial of miscarried babies. One resource is a daycare center for children with Down syndrome.
Lessons that Last a Lifetime
How do I love pro-life work? Let me count the ways; but they are not always evident. These are a few: the smile of a new baby, a trucker’s thumbs-up on Bridge Day, the strong hug of a challenged child, an expectant father’s surprise at holding a fetal model, and a family praying with a loved one at the end of life. All these experiences warm my heart and spur me on to continue the good work of GRTL.
Georgia’s pro-life deserts need voices to cry out against the culture of death. While the results of Chapter activities are not always immediately evident and measurable, the activity or information shared by them may be the basis for the recipient’s future decisions.
Any disappointments experienced along the way call for prayers, not compromises for the value of every human person. Loving all God’s creation unequivocally is risky, but He risked loving and creating us. It is the least we can do.
Cathy Weaver, Chapter Leader
Atlanta Chapter of Georgia Right to Life