by Kerby Anderson, Point of View: Tenor Andrea Bocelli has become one of the best-known Italians in the world. He has sold more than 70 million records, and has moved people with his beautiful voice.
Recently he moved his audience with a story. While sitting at the piano at a charity performance for Haiti, he told the story of a young pregnant woman who went to the hospital with appendicitis. The doctors put ice on her stomach. And then later they suggested she have an abortion, since they believed the baby would be born with some disability.
"But the young brave wife decided not to abort, and the child was born," the singer recounted. "That woman was my mother, and I was the child." Andrea Bocelli went on: "Maybe I'm partisan, but I can say that it was the right choice." And he added, "I hope this could encourage any mothers who sometimes find themselves in difficult situations, in those moments when life is complicated, but want to save the life of their baby."
What a testimony for a man who often sings about tragedy who was willing to share that he almost became one. Of course, he received criticism for his testimony. And some even argued that he was making all of this up. You see, abortion wasn't legal until years after he was born.
Did these critics ever consider that the doctors were encouraging his mother to get a back alley abortion? Funny how we have heard pro-choice people talk about back alley abortions, but someone manage to forget about that possibility as soon as someone gives a pro-life testimony.
What we need are more pro-life people to give testimonies that start with their appreciation that their mother did not abort them. In fact, that is a great way to engage a conversation on abortion. When someone says that the mother has the right to choose, then ask them if they are glad that their mother chose life rather than death.
The testimony of Andrea Bocelli will no doubt cause pregnant women to reconsider abortion. In this case, an Italian tenor changed the tenor of the abortion debate. I'm Kerby Anderson, and that's my point of view.
Tags: Kirby Anderson, Andrea Bocelli, abortion, not aborting, pro-life, tesimony