Recently, one state in the US instituted a law requiring each pregnant woman considering an abortion to watch a sonogram of her unborn child, receive medically accurate explanations of what she views, and listen to her baby’s heartbeat. Following the law’s passage, a blogger who supports abortion raised money and bought iPods for abortion clinics. Her purpose? To provide each patient with a way to drown out the sound of her baby’s heartbeat. By cranking up the volume, she can stifle the sounds of life within her.

Mary could feel the life within her. The promised child (Luke 1:30-32) stirring in her womb stirred her heart with joy during the final days of her pregnancy. When she and Joseph reached Bethlehem, Jesus was born and she tenderly held Him in her arms for the first time. Lovingly, she “wrapped Him snugly in strips of cloth and laid Him in a manger” (Luke 2:7). This was the normal behavior of a loving mother—tenderly cradling human life created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27).

Sadly, a ruthless king would try to destroy Mary’s child, out of fear that Jesus would ultimately seize his throne. Herod “sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under” (Matthew 2:16). This horrific act led to “a cry . . . heard in Ramah—weeping and great mourning” (Matthew 2:18). Women wept as they heard their babies’ final cry.

When a child is aborted, it defies normal, motherly love, and it destroys life made in God’s image. It’s not normal; it’s aberrant. By God’s grace, those who have allowed a baby to be taken through abortion can find forgiveness (1 John 1:9). But if you’re considering abortion today, don’t drown out the truth of God’s view of life and the sound of a baby’s heartbeat and cry.

NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Mark 1:16-39