Our twins’ milestones remind me of the sheer gift of life

Over the Christmas holidays, my Timehop app reminded me of the very day, one year ago, that I took a snapshot of their very first ultrasound – the picture that confirmed our much-awaited pregnancy and astounded us with the announcement that there were two lives and not just one inside of me. 
    

It was the picture that I sent to their grandparents, aunts and uncles. The picture that, upon seeing it for the first time, my dad didn’t need to wait to be told that there were two: he could read it and saw the two little circular shapes.
    

That picture is now framed in their nursery – “Love at First Sight” – and it was.
    

Which is why I felt anger when I saw the “cemetery of innocents” appear overnight in the middle of an open field on my way to work. Rows upon rows of small, white crosses marking the 60 million abortions that have occurred since 1973. Sixty million lives lost.
    

I thought about my own difficulties getting pregnant, my own difficulties during my pregnancy and my constant fear of miscarriage. I thought about close friends who had experienced – all too often – miscarriages when they so desperately wanted to carry life within them. 
    

And, I thought of more friends who were in the process of adoption, fulfilling their desire for children after the pain of infertility or the grief from loss. 
    

The annual March for Life held in January in Washington, D.C., recalls why individuals and communities stand for life and defend life at home. The march creates a public image of unification and sends a clear public message: the unborn child is a human being, a human being who holds a life of value and whose life must be protected by society.
    

But underpinning this so-called “anti-abortion” march  is another universal message: the value of all life. It’s a march that is about much more than abortion.
    

Our faith provides us with the cornerstone for sharing this message of the value and sanctity of all life – or, as I recently saw in a hashtag, “from womb to tomb.” 
    

The Catholic Church has never wavered in its commitment to the dignity of life in all human persons – from the initial moment of conception to the final moment, whenever it comes, of that person’s death. And, in all the stages between, our Church upholds its commitment to protecting and celebrating that life.
    

This year, perhaps due to the hormonal fluctuations of postpartum life, those rows of crosses hit me with a much stronger force. But, as I drove away, I remembered the reason for their arrival: the 47th annual March for Life. And, in that moment, my anger abated to give way to hope, for this generation of young adults is calling itself the “pro-life generation.” 
    

Despite the awful statistic of 60 million total abortions, the number of yearly abortions continues to decrease and the number of abortion facilities continues to dwindle. 
    

Dr. Heather Bozant Witcher can be reached at hbozantwitcher@clarionherald.org.