OPINION:
She chose life when she put her son up for adoption. Her son is the starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, Colin Kaepernick.
He chose abortion, preferring an easier life for himself over the life of his child. He has two children now, but he’s glad he and his then-girlfriend aborted their child, because they weren’t ready to be parents.
Here are the stories of Colin Kaepernick’s birth mother, Heidi Russo, and Toure, the host of MSNBC’s “The Cycle.”
Heidi Russo, as quoted in the U.K. Daily Mail, said, “It is the toughest decision that I have ever made. But, for him, it was the right decision. For me personally, I was in a situation that wasn’t planned, certainly wasn’t in a position to give Colin the life that I wanted him to have.”
Heidi put her baby’s needs above her own. Today, he prepares for the upcoming Super Bowl XLVII, where the San Francisco 49ers will take on the Baltimore Ravens.
Toure, as quoted in the MSNBC transcript from his Jan. 25, 2013, show, said of his choice, “I knew that pregnant woman and I were not going to be able to form a lasting family. She decided it was best to have an abortion, and days later she did, we did, and in some ways that choice saved my life. I was not then smart enough or man enough to build a family or raise a child, and I only would have contributed to making a mess of three lives.”
Tour put his life ahead of his child’s. That child will not be watching the Super Bowl or following his father in a career in television broadcasting.
Heidi Russo was able to choose the family who would adopt her son. She said, “He was born in 1987, and I took care of him for six weeks, and I was fortunate enough and blessed with Rick and Teresa who adopted him.”
Heidi tried to raise her son on her own and admitted she could not, so she sought out a loving couple to provide the home and family nurturing that she couldn’t provide.
Toure chose abortion for his pregnant girlfriend and –– in a statement cloaked in sadly ironic religious language and revealing the overuse of “I” –– said, “I thank God and country that when I fell into a bad situation, abortion was there to save me and keep me on a path toward building a strong family I have now, and I pray that safety net remains in place.”
Toure actually thanks God for the ability to take his child’s life; he mentions that he “fell into a bad situation.” Let’s be clear; instead of “falling into” a bad situation, his bad choices “created” that bad situation, and he sought out an easy way. Today, his family is built on the foundation of abortion and includes the history of his aborted child.
Heidi Russo reflects on how her choice led to a good life for Colin: “I made my call on Colin a long time ago. I have to live with that. It’s his life. The Kaepernicks have been great. They have given Colin everything he could want and more. They were able to raise him in the same kind of athletic environment that I grew up in. I wanted him to have a great life, and that’s what he has.”
Toure’s statement is oddly devoid of any personalization of his child or what that child could have been had he allowed the baby to live. Instead, his comments are all about how his life benefitted from the decision to abort his child. Moreover, because he could do it, he must stay committed to supporting the right of other people to abort their children.
He says this even in light of what he saw during his wife’s sonograms, when they were viewing their “wanted” baby: “It was a thrill to watch that boy grow inside her, but I must admit that during that second trimester as we watched him move around on 3-D sonograms, I saw how human they are at that stage. My lifelong belief in abortion rights was, let’s say, jostled. … In the end, I remain committed to being pro-choice because I cannot imagine arguing against a woman’s right to control her body and thus her life.”
As we gather with family and friends to watch Super Bowl XLVII, we will see the evidence of Heidi Russo’s choice. Her choice for life and adoption allow us to watch a very talented, entertaining, polite and smart Colin Kaepernick play the biggest game of his life so far. We will never know what Toure’s child could have become, and the same tragic fate has robbed us of more than 55 million other children since Roe v. Wade became law in 1973.
Thus far, Colin Kaepernick has chosen not to have a relationship with his birth mother. She accepts that and continues to hope for the possibility that he will some day want to know her.
Toure’s choice means that possibility no longer exists for his first child.
Janice Shaw Crouse, who was a speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush, is spokeswoman for Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee and author of “Marriage Matters” (Transaction Publishers, 2012).
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