Forgiveness and Right to Life

Buddhist statues that "guard" babies who have died

Earlier this week, abortion came to the media forefront again as people observed National Sanctity of Human Life Day. The fight to protect babies in the womb continues in America, but what about abortion in Japan?

Over two decades ago, the New York Times wrote this article detailing some of the ways people in Japan handle the sorrow and grief caused by abortions. This situation continues today. The Times observes:

The signs of a pervasive but silent mourning over abortions are the tens of thousands of mizuko jizo, or guardians of aborted fetuses, miscarried and stillborn babies and those who died very early in life. In temples across the country, women and sometimes men come to stand before these monuments to express their grief, fears, confusions and hopes of forgiveness.

Reading about the guilt and sorrow these women (and men) carry crushes our hearts. They do what they "must do" because of social and familial pressures, yet they carry that burden heavily. They hope for forgiveness, entrusting the spirits of the babies to the temples and carved statues. 

We want to share about the God who forgives. We want to share about the God who cares so much about them that He established a plan from before the beginning of time to crush His own Son. God did this that He might forgive them, pay for their guilt, and bestow on them honor that never diminishes.