Every mother listens for the first cry from her newborn baby as a sign that all is well. When our first child, a girl, was born, that tiny cry brought my husband and me immeasurable joy.
When our son was born, there was only a deafening silence. Maybe it was 30 seconds, maybe it was minutes; however long it was before he cried felt like an eternity. With each passing second, my heart sank lower and lower into my stomach and tears welled up in my eyes. There are truly no words to describe that gut-wrenching feeling, and I will carry it for the rest of my life.
But then, he cried. It was weak and labored, but it was there. Standing beside the medical team hovered around our child, my husband gave me a hopeful thumbs up as they took our son away. After a stay in the NICU, he would be okay.
As a Christian and conservative, I was “pro-life” before having children. But since the blessing of motherhood, I’m pro-baby, pro-child, and protective as ever of our children’s futures.
To me, being pro-baby is all-inclusive; it means offering support to mothers during their pregnancies through education, connecting them with a health care clinic to fit their needs, and offering assistance on the road to adoption. For too long, the pro-life movement has been accused of being solely focused on the 10 (yes, 10) months a mother carries her baby. However, Susan B. Anthony List offers comprehensive assistance through the program, ‘Her PLAN (The Pregnancy Life Assistance Network).’ This effort deserves to be highlighted, promoted, and supported. SBA’s Her PLAN is the epitome of the open-arms support that the pro-life movement should give to women, particularly if we want to grow momentum for the movement. While I prefer that private entities offer this support, while serving in the state legislature, I also voted to support pregnancy resource centers.
There’s little point in being pro-baby if you aren’t also pro-child. And as a mother, I know that no one is going to fight harder for my children—or your children—than me. Right now, more than ever, our children are pawns of teachers unions backed by the far Left. Teachers unions have been empowered to close schools, force children to wear masks, eliminate recess and mandate other control mechanisms all in the name of “Covid precautions.” Not to mention CRT and other curriculum that they are forcing on our kids. But what is the recourse for our children? If we are going to pay for a government service that is not being provided, there needs to be an alternative. The simplest solution at this time seems to be vouchers— having the money for education follow our children.
As a conservative, I have long-advocated for parental involvement in schools and parental empowerment to make decisions for their children’s education. This is not a campaign position, but a personal, long-held belief—one that I have studied, fought for, and supported in the state legislature. I will continue to advocate for our children and put an end to the power teachers’ unions have over our schools.
If you are like me, being pro-baby and pro-child, means you are unequivocally pro-family. And, right now, our families are hurting. Under the Biden Administration, my family like yours is paying 50% more for gas, almost 20% more for beef and bacon, and 10% more for fish and chicken. When it costs so much more to get to and from work or school, to put food on the table, or a fresh diaper on your baby, there is a negative domino effect on everything else that goes on in the home. My husband, our two children, and I live on a family budget and are feeling the impacts of Biden’s inflation every day. Enough is enough. I will fight to end out-of-control government spending that has led to this economic mess we are in, and get our country back on track.
I’m Meagan Hanson, and I’m unapologetically pro-baby, pro-child, and pro-family.
