“I failed you. Forgive me Son.” “Forgive Me. I Love You.” “My grief is like my love, endless.” “My heart aches for you.” “I am sorry, forgive me.” “Forgive me my child.” “My heart grieves for you and my arms ache for you.” “I miss you with every fiber of my being.” “Longing for the day I will hold you.” “I realize now the life I could have had with you.” “In God’s care, Our daughter.” “Forgive me angel for robbing you.” “Forgive me Son.” “Forever in my heart.” “My one and only child.” “Gone but not forgotten. Precious Jacob, you will always live in my heart.” “Always in my heart, Please forgive me. Mommy.” “ Don’t blame Mommy, she was told lies. Now Daddy cries.” “I’ll hold you in heaven. Love. Your Family.” “Forgive me. I am sorry.” “I will always love you. Love. Mommy.” “My treasure, finally found.” “I see you everywhere. May you rest in peace.” “You are a path not taken.” “Miss loving you.” “Always in my heart. I am sorry. I love and miss you. Mom.” “I will hold you, Son.” “Forgive Me.” “Joseph, You are loved and missed.” “I love you my little Ella Mae xxx. Love. Mommy.” “Forgive me. I love you.” “You brought me to Christ. I miss you.”
These are the unedited synthesis of women’s and men’s emotional and psychic eulogy over an abortion. They are moving. They are painfully transparent. They are real.
Thousands of plaintiff cries from the deepest part of humanity make deep cry too deep at the most moving place in Chattanooga. Thousands of women and men over the years have braved their heart and enshrined a distillation of their longing and loss at 6230 Vance Road in Chattanooga, The National Memorial to the Unborn.
These 4-by-1-inch plaques fill the marble wall of this most remarkable memorial to Love Lost. It is a modest building that has an elegance, not of design, but of suffering and loss. Most of the plaques have names, which are omitted here. You can go see them yourself. The Memorial is open 24/7/365.
If you go there, you will find a shelf along the memorial wall filled with flowers, notes, and pink and blue stuffed bunnies, bears, and rabbits. If you look further, you will find a book of notes from parents of grief and forgiveness.
To look on another wall is to find statements of repudiation by two of the most significant women of the 20th century, Sandra Cano and Norma McCorvey. These are the women who are recorded as the cause of Roe v Wade and Doe v Bolton some 50 years ago which created the widespread abortion culture.
To those who come here for help, abortion is much more than a political issue. It is the tragedy that had marked their life. One they have come to terms with. One they felt an unfathomable deep resolve for some type of closure through the ministry of The National Memorial.
The National Memorial for the Unborn is a ministry dedicated to healing generations of pain associated with the loss of aborted children. The Memorial also offers programs, friendship, and counsel.
It is more than a cemetery. These little lives still live in the memories of regret and longing. Yet, there is hope, not for the life of the child, but hope in a God who can forgive anything through Jesus Christ.
The memorial can be reached at 423-899-1677 or found on the web. There are loving, understanding people waiting to help you.
As you consider the question of life for those conceived but yet to be born, the matter is of such consequence for millions, that a visit to this shrine is a matter of justice, a severe equity, bringing light to a dark time in our nation’s/mankind’s progress.
"Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.”
Doug Daugherty