'Love Saves Lives'
Photos by DEVIN WEEKS/Press More than 100 people of all ages attended Coeur d’Alene Right to Life’s 38th annual Right to Life Rally in the Skate Plaza parking lot Saturday morning. After several guest speaker presentations, the attendees walked along U.S. 95 and carried signs that included sentiments such as, “Life begins at conception,” “Pray to end abortion” and “Choose love, choose life.”
Hayden resident Shannon Kline places her hand on her son Joshua’s head as she tells of her decision to not give up on him when her water broke only 19 weeks into her pregnancy. She was given the option to terminate the pregnancy, but decided it was in God’s hands. Her son was born 71 days after her water broke. She spoke Saturday morning at the Right to Life Rally in Coeur d’Alene. Her daughter, Ally, 8, and son Hunter, 10, are also pictured.
Holding signs and bundled for the cold, more than 100 people walked along Dalton Avenue and U.S. Highway 95 to raise pro-life support and awareness Saturday morning during the Coeur d'Alene Right to Life Rally. (DEVIN WEEKS/Press)
Open Arms Pregnancy Care Center executive director Janet Valov addresses the crowd of more than 100 people who attended the Right to Life Rally in the Skate Plaza parking lot Saturday morning. The 38th annual rally was held in conjunction with the national rally in Washington D.C., which has been held for 45 years - every year since the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling to legalize abortion under the 14th Amendment. (DEVIN WEEKS/Press)
People held signs, rosary beads, flags and cups of warm coffee Saturday morning as they listened to speakers at the 38th annual Right to Life Rally in Coeur d'Alene. Rally-goers also marched along U.S. Highway 95 to show their pro-life support. (DEVIN WEEKS/Press)
By DEVIN WEEKS
Staff Writer
COEUR d’ALENE — Hayden mom Shannon Kline lovingly placed her hand on top of her son Joshua's head as she told the story of his miraculous birth.
"With my third pregnancy, my water broke at 19 weeks," she said to the crowd at the Right to Life Rally on Saturday morning.
"We were halfway," she said. "The statistical chances of survival with a rupture at 19 weeks are 1 percent. The statistical chances of a healthy, functional, normal human being with a 19-week rupture are much smaller."
Kline, a registered nurse, immediately saw her doctor and underwent testing. She and the baby were fine, but she had almost no amniotic fluid and the baby was breech. Doctors did not expect the little guy to make it; the chances of delivering a healthy, live child were slim, so she was given the option to terminate.
She and her husband made the decision that it was in God's hands.
"We had the conversation that that was not our life to take," Kline said.
She went home, knowing she would have to monitor her health and have blood tests every week. At 21 weeks, the baby had turned and started to ingest just enough fluid to possibly develop his lungs.
"That was a miracle. Babies don't just turn themselves without any fluid," she said. "I stayed pregnant."
Through bed rest, numerous trips to doctors and never-ending prayers, Joshua Gabriel was born 71 days post-rupture. The first day of his life was the hardest, Kline said, but about 12 hours after he was born, things started looking up.
"This young man will be 5 in April," she said, looking down at her son as the crowd cheered.
Kline's story of following through with this pregnancy in the face of such adversity and not giving in when giving in would have been easy clearly illustrates the theme of the 2018 March for Life: "Love Saves Lives."
The 38th annual Coeur d'Alene Right to Life Rally was held in conjunction with the national rally, which has been held in Washington, D.C., for 45 years — every year since the announcement of the Roe v. Wade decision on Jan. 22, 1973. The landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling supported the constitutional right for a woman to choose to have an abortion. This was legalized under the 14th Amendment.
More than 100 people gathered in the parking lot of Skate Plaza Roller Rink to hear the guest speakers and show their support for the pro-life side of the hot-button issue of abortion. Rally-goers of all ages carried signs as they walked along U.S. 95, including signs that read, "Jesus forgives and heals," "Every life is a gift" and "Choose love, choose life."
"We are here because our nation must choose life," said the Rev. Mariusz Majewski of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, who also spoke at the rally. "Abortion, first and foremost, is a human rights issue. It is an issue of human rights. It is not simply, as many people would say, a personal decision that somebody makes in isolation.
"It is not a matter of personal choice," he said. "It is a matter of life and death."