I had a medical school colleague one time who told me
that he would just as soon step on a cockroach
as perform an abortion procedure. We live in such a
schizophrenic society, so full of double standards.
My name is Robert E. Jackson Jr. I'm a family practice
doctor. I've been in family practice for 35 years. I've been in
this practice for 32 years. I'm an ROCD - stands for Regular Old Country Doctor.
I love my patients. I love taking care of my patients.
Really family medicine is not a way of making a living,
it's really a ministry, and for me it's a way of ministering
to folks and sharing the Gospel, and connecting with
my patients. Teaching them biblical principles of life
and telling them about Jesus.
First of all, I wrote this book to describe my personal
pro-life journey. I believe that most Christians have
a pro-life journey, and my challenge is for us to
extend grace to other folks.
Being pro-life is being an advocate for life - from the
cradle to the grave. Pro-life is loving life, and valuing life.
And understanding that all human life comes from God,
and is created in the image of God, and that human life
deserves to be preserved and protected. And that as
Christian folks, it's our responsibility to be an advocate for life.
And so my book is an attempt to describe the pro-life
journey that I took, which was actually a fairly long
12 year journey. It took me a while before I became
an active pro-life person. And so I try to explain to people
what my journey looked like, and the learning process.
The other part of my book is to help people understand
how they can be involved. Each chapter gives resources
that help people understand how they can be
involved with a crisis pregnancy center, or involved as a
foster parent, or involved as a counselor, or involved as
an adoptive parent. So the book is full of resources and suggestions.
It recommends books they can read. It even gives recommendations
for how they can help educate the next generation
of young pro-lifers.
We're not done yet. There's a lot more to do. And I'm
thankful to the Lord for what's been accomplished,
but we won't be through until God helps us to
end abortion in South Carolina, and then ultimately in
the entire United States.
When Thomas, our little Downs boy, was two-years-old,
he graduated from most of his doctor visits.
He became relatively strong and robust, walking at 18 months,
although he continued to attend physical, occupational
and speech therapy. He was and still is a delightful child
who brought smiles and laughter into our home, and we
could not get enough of squeezing and hugging that precious
little boy. One day, our then 16-year-old daughter, Rebecca,
was playing with Thomas on our sofa.
She was tickling his ribs just to hear him laugh - a most
contagious laugh. Suddenly she popped her head over
the couch and said to my wife and me, "Every family should
have a Downs baby!" Then she commenced to tickle
her youngest sibling once again.
My wife and I looked at each other in amazement,
wondering how in the world she could say such a thing
at such a young age. Would we really wish a Downs
baby on every family? We looked at each other and smiled.
Yes, a resounding yes! Thomas was and still is
a great blessing, and a great joy to our family.
Even though his first year of life was quite arduous for all of us.
