Links: * https://li-v.com/ Prenatal Diagnosis Support: * https://fetalconcerns.com/ * https://mamabearcare.org/ * https://prenataldiagnosis.org/ * https://www.benotafraid.net/ * https://directory.herplan.org/provider-search?categories=6246cff1cbec72bd7cdb441b%2C6246cff1cbec72bd7cdb441f%2C6246cff1cbec72bd7cdb441d Transcript: Everyone, welcome to Chaney for Change, a podcast of Toward Home LLC, where we talk about changing the culture through innovation and collaboration, often starting with our own hearts. Wow, we have Suzanne Guy here with us today, pro-life activist extraordinaire with all the love and mercy that should come from pro-life in a pro-woman way, as I say. We are dear friends. Some of you may have watched the previous episode with her daughter, Rachel Guy. The two of them share a wonderful substack. And I’m excited, Suzanne, today to just really hear your heart because everybody that hears your heart is inspired by you. You were pro-life woman of the year. You’re now starting your own nonprofit to expand your model that you’ve kind of created of connecting the church and pro-life ministry together. So there’s so many places we can start and apologize for the noise with technical difficulties. Of course, in the irony of Toward Home LLC, my own home is getting a new roof. We’re going to take that as a spiritual sign of Christ giving us extra protection. And here we are. Suzanne, would you just refresh everyone’s memories for a moment of your pro-life story when being pro-life actually came Toward Home? Well, first of all, Chaney, one of my dearest friends, I adore you. It’s a privilege to be with you. Thank you for having me. And thank you for the beautiful work that you do. And thank you for how beautifully mercy driven you are, truth driven that you are. And you just make such an impact on all of us. And I just want to share with anyone who’s listening that even as we were talking beforehand, you were so beautifully giving language to something that I was Kind of trudging through and trying to make sense of. And you gave some God-given language that helped me have a better understanding of some logistical things I’m working out as we work on the Live Ministry. So thank you. Thank you very much. Well, you know, shame tries to get into us when we’re in ministry work. And for all of us, I think that’s one really special thing about our little group text, which we call Aslan’s Army. But, you know, you and I have kind of developed this community of activists that have really dedicated ourselves to this as a vocational calling. And sometimes that can be lonely. We’re all doing it in our own ways. We all kind of start to buy into the devil’s lies of limited resources. And so being there for one another is really vital to long term sustaining this work. I love that you said that. And even how you talked about your ministry and about collaboration and all of us being connected really does make all the difference in the world. And of course, that is the Lord’s heart. So thank you for what you do. And it’s a privilege to serve with you, my dear friend. And thank you about your initial question. As I know, you talked with Rachel, but in a nutshell, Three doctors insisted that my husband, Peter, and I abort Rachel. When we first discovered, they discovered half my amniotic fluid was gone. And then a couple weeks later, all my amniotic fluid was gone. And through a series of many different conversations, constantly being pressured to abort Rachel. All because of a diagnosis. And it was so shocking to me. Even though I was very pro-life, I had no idea that the medical community told parents that the solution to their child’s struggle in utero was a death sentence. And of course, as many know, The diagnosis ended up being wrong, but that’s not even the point. The point is, even if the diagnosis had been right, no one is defined by their diagnosis, whether inside the womb, outside the womb. A diagnosis does not define us. A diagnosis does not all of a sudden make some lives less valuable. A diagnosis is merely that, a diagnosis. And the medical community should be fighting for and protecting and cherishing every single life. But instead, my husband and I found ourselves on the receiving end of pressure to abort. And then we were saying back to the doctors, no, no. How many different ways do we need to say no to have you understand we won’t abort? And then they just washed their hands of us. They would they basically they were like, this is this is your only option. Take it or leave it. And they said at one point, go when my husband said, well, what will you do for us? Because clearly we won’t abort. And this was after so many conversations. And he said, I don’t know, because everyone in your position has always aborted. And that has never left us. Hmm. And has really impacted not only Peter and my life, but Rachel’s life to say, we’re going to do everything in our power until Jesus takes us home to try to get the medical field to do what they said they went to school for, which is to do no harm, which is to heal, which is to give health care. And as we know, abortion is not health care because killing somebody is not health care. It’s so sickening. It’s so disturbing. It’s so shocking. And it’s terrifying because by nature, we trust our doctors, but we forget that doctors are just people with biases and a sin nature and all these things. And so we have to sow Know the Lord, be grounded in the truth and be the advocates that we are called to be for our children. So if we are facing someone in the medical field who is pressuring us that we run for the hills and get into the hands of other doctors, but also have a very kind, honest conversation saying you have no business telling any parent that you will do anything other than fight for those children. Do the best you can to protect them, help them to live, give your all. Suzanne, I saw a heartbreaking meme right up the other day on a secular pregnancy and infant loss social media channel that basically said termination for medical reasons is I made a hard decision so my child wouldn’t suffer. And there is this understanding that abortion in these kinds of complex prenatal diagnosis cases is relieving our child from suffering like some kind of mercy killing. Can you speak directly to that mama who’s like, I don’t want my baby to be in pain. What am I doing? Yes. This is what I would say to a mom, a dad in this kind of a situation. I would say, first of all, Remember the humanity of that child and how God made that child for a purpose. And I would also say there is this very strange dynamic. We would never say to a parent who had maybe a one or two year old that all of a sudden was diagnosed with cancer that was going to have to go through so much chemo and all these different things. We would never say, Oh, your child is going to suffer. Your child is going to have to go through so many rounds of chemo. So just end the child’s life right now. It’s a merciful thing to do. We would never say that. So there’s such a disconnect that somehow we are able to believe if we can’t see the child, if the child is inside the womb, that somehow we It is merciful to end that child’s life. But if you apply that to a child outside of the womb, where we would fight for that child, we would say no matter how many rounds of chemo, no matter what that child is going through, no matter what struggle they have, we will fight for them. We will make them comfortable. We will give them love. We all have struggles this side of eternity. The answer to our sufferings is not a death sentence. So there’s some kind of disconnect that we really have to stop and think. Why am I thinking this way? Would I think this way if my child was outside the womb? No, I wouldn’t. And even when hospice care is the right option or choice, that’s why there’s the beautiful perineal hospice providers that treat the hospice, which of course, though, has to be coupled with informed consent because there … Get full access to Toward Home at towardhome.substack.com/subscribe
