by Liz Osborn

Excerpted from “Our Role in Redemption” speech delivered at the Annual Care Net Fundraising Banquet on November 3, 2016.

Every life matters.
Every life is worth celebrating.
Every person is worth saving.

There’s a word for this process. It’s called “redemption.” Redemption is buying back and restoring that which was lost.

Redemption starts when we meet with a woman in that four day window between the moment she discovers she’s in an unintended pregnancy and the moment she decides the fate of her unborn child.

Every day in Dane County two women enter that emotional storm and see no way out. Robbed of hope, lacking support, without adequate information, they feel they have no choice.

Every six and a half months, about 400 lives here in Dane County are erased – lost to abortion. That’s about the same number of people who attended our annual banquet.

That’s why we’re here. We enter that chaotic turbulent time in her life with empathy, kindness, a listening ear, no judgment, and we slowdown that process to help each mom think through her real options, take a look at her child pictured in that ultrasound, and to make room to make a choice for life.

Redemption starts when we give life a foothold. But it doesn’t stop there.

Children need flourishing families where they can be nurtured toward their full potential. Young parents need to be empowered to build a healthy and thriving family.

With hope, we minister to one mother, one father, one baby at a time adding to the more than 531,977 unborn lives saved in the last 8 years through Care Net centers, like ours, across the country. More and more women and men are finding their way out of hopelessness into the beauty of an abundant life.

With your help we will keep moving toward our big vision:
To become the first choice for every woman and man in Dane County facing an unintended pregnancy or sexual health concern.

Yes, it could be a wonderful life.

The dollars you invest, the hours you volunteer, the prayers you pray — all of this makes redemption possible.

We see it every day: Despair turned to hope.

For the babies saved — From the mothers who didn’t have a dime to spare; from the fathers who wouldn’t be there – if it wasn’t for you; from the overwhelmed teenager who didn’t know what to do and, from the grandparent who now cuddles his or her grandbaby…For and from each one I thank God and I thank you.