Heartbeat Press - September 2024 Edition

A Moment in Time - The Voice of a Culture Saved from Death 

    On a warm, slightly breezy spring day in 2019, dozens of Pro-Lifers milled around behind the curtain of a large out-door stage in New York City. A hundred more stood out front, waiting for the next speaker who was scheduled to appear that day...and Christina Bennett took a moment to breathe and offer up a silent prayer before stepping out from behind the curtain. She wasn't nervous. She had spoken at enough of these events to forgo any pre-speech jitters, but every time she spoke she was reminded of just how powerful her message was. Like everyone here, she cared deeply about the fight for life. But, unlike the majority, this fight was extremely personal to her. She had to convey the depth of this cause every time she spoke, a feat she knew she could only accomplish with the Lord's strength, not her own. 

    Born and raised in Hartford, Connecticut, Christina Bennett almost didn't make it to her birthday. If you were to ask her about it, Bennett would point out that this nearly happened because her mother, a young, single, lower-middle class, Black woman was part of the key demographic Planned Parenthood geared its abortion propaganda towards. To this day, the nation's biggest abortion provider routinely targets "disadvantaged" groups, reasoning that they need access to abortion more than other demographics and providing guilt-free murder enables the company to engage in essential social justice. In 1981, Bennett's mother fell for their highly-polished sales pitch.

    Unexpectedly pregnant and unsure what she should do, Bennett's mother scheduled an abortion, believing it was the only option left to her. She had no support system to speak of, so the facade of care oozing from her neighborhood Planned Parenthood offered a sickly-sweet shoulder to cry on and a "comforting" voice to assure her that the decision she had made, no matter how she might wrestle with it, was the right one. But, when her appointment day arrived, Bennett's mother couldn't shake a nagging feeling of hesitation. She wasn't sure she wanted to go through with the abortion, but as she sat in the doctor's office half-listening to the laundry list of pre-procedure paperwork being rattle off by a facility counselor, she had no time to ask herself what she actually wanted.

    Stepping out into the hallway for a moment, Bennett's mother found herself suddenly overcome with a rush of sadness slamming into her like a wave, causing her to drop to her knees to release great rolling sobs in a desperate attempt to relieve even a small amount of the pressure building inside. She didn't know what she wanted and she had no time to change her mind. What if she made the wrong choice? It was there, in that moment when Bennett's mother was only aware of her own grief, that a soft hand placed itself on her shoulder, causing her to meet the determined gaze of an older African-American woman kneeling on the floor in front of her. "Do you want to have this baby?" the woman asked. Bennett's mother could only stare at the woman through tear-stained eyes, but, almost unconsciously, found herself nodding yes. "Then the Lord will give you the strength of walk out of here." In the holy hush that followed the woman's words, two lives changed forever. Amid a severe onslaught from the abortion doctor, Bennett's mother left the neighborhood Planned Parenthood and kept the baby who would grow up to be a powerful voice in the Pro-Life movement. 

    Christina Bennett knows she should have died that day, and she has never stopped praising God for allowing her to live and share her story with millions of people. Building on the facts mentioned above, Bennett's platform focuses on the "Black Experience" with abortion, namely that it is the culture most targeted by the abortion industry. Research reveals that 16 million Black babies have been aborted since Roe's installation in 1973 (360 every day). Black women (15% of the childbearing population) receive 33% of abortions. And the abortion giant, Planned Parenthood, was founded by a racist who unapologetically promoted the extermination of the Black community through eugenics. And yet abortion is still promoted as a necessity "graciously" given to the Black community. 

    Bennett disagrees. Social justice does not demand the deaths of the innocent as payment for forward movement. The destruction of children and, by default, their mothers' hearts cannot build a brighter future. And the Black community doesn't need abortion to thrive. In fact, it has routinely proven it is more powerful when building its next generation. "This is an extension of the Civil Rights Movement," Bennett proclaimed on that spring day in New York City. This time it will be characterized by the saving of lives instead of a fight for equality. As such, it's time to pick which side of history everyone is going to be on. 

Resources: YouTube.com, CURE

Photo Credit: Focus on the Family.com