It’s a parent’s worst nightmare — hearing the words, “You have a very sick child.” For a dad, it’s particularly difficult because his job, besides providing materially for his family, is to protect his loved ones from harm. But when illness strikes a child, a dad often stands helpless to “fix it.” Decisions about dealing with a critical illness in an already born child are difficult enough, but when that illness occurs in utero, parents are faced with another issue. The question is inevitable – “Will you keep it?” Since Roe v. Wade made abortion-on-demand legal in all 50 states at any time during pregnancy, vulnerable families faced with a sick little one are often given the bad news and immediately invited to consider abortion. How will they respond to the challenge? Anthony Horvath, in his book “We Chose Life: Why You Should Too,” shares his story, his faith, and the reasons he believes others should “choose life” as he and his wife did. Those who find themselves in similar circumstances with a seriously ill unborn child would do well to put their panic on hold and read his story.

In December 2006, after two normal pregnancies that filled their home with three boys including a set of twins, the Horvath’s were thrilled to learn during a routine ultrasound that they were expecting a little girl. Then the shoe dropped. The ultrasound showed something else. “The doctor came in. She wasn’t smiling. Her expression was grim … she went right to the point. Our new baby girl had a lot of fluid in her skull, a condition called hydrocephalus. The doctor told us that it could be just hydrocephalus, or, worst case scenario, it could mean that she had spina bifida (SB)” [spina bifida is a general term for a group of a neural tube defects where a segment of the spinal column fails to close resulting in a buildup of fluid in the brain.]

A second ultrasound showed that the baby had the most severe form of the disease, myelomenigocele spina bifida. While there was no way to know the severity of the outcome, the baby could end up mentally and physically handicapped, catheterized, and permanently unable to walk – or not. “Here was the brutal reality,” Horvath says, “There was no way of knowing the future.”

Like other families faced with similar bad news, the Horvath’s went into mourning. “I descended into the depths of self-pity,” Horvath says, “I had thoughts, some of which I will not dare to share here. … Together my wife and I entered the grieving process although no one had actually died. But that isn’t really true. Someone did die.” He goes on to describe all the normal events of childhood and laments, “We mourned the daughter we would not have.”

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Anthony Horvath and his wife were given the option to ‘terminate’ their daughter after learning that she had spina bifida.  They rejected this ‘choice’ emphatically.  Their beautiful daughter proves every day that joy transcends circumstances.  Though as a Christian apologist and author Anthony has always been pro-life, the situation has added new fire to his position and credibility to his arguments.  Elected in July of 2010 to be the Vice President of Wisconsin Lutherans for Life, Anthony is actively living out his principles and passions.

Pro-Life Presentations

• We Chose Life:  Why You Should Too (see outline)
• You Can Be a Hero
• Customize… see below for other websites Anthony is associated with for ideas.

Study Guides

Study guide for the We Chose Life book:  Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.

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Anthony is a member of the national speaker’s bureau for Lutherans for Life.  He spoke at the national Lutherans for Life convention in the summer of 2010.  At the same event he was elected to be the vice president of Wisconsin Lutherans for Life.

He has spoken at numerous high schools, colleges, and churches, having presented on one topic or another over fifty times.  He is a former junior and senior high school religion teacher and taught at a small Bible college while in Rockford, Illinois.  He was a Director for Parish Ministries at a Lutheran church in Wisconsin for about three years.

His current activities, besides his pro-life speaking and discussing his We Chose Life book, are related to his apologetics ministry.  His columns have been published at Worldnetdaily.com and he has been interviewed on close to 30 Christian radio programs and heard by millions of people.  He is a blogger for the ChristianPost.com and a columnist for TheCypressTimes.  This page has links to his articles, columns, and some radio interviews.

Other webpages:

• Athanatos Christian Ministries:  www.athanatosministries.org
• Birth Pangs book series:  www.birthpangs.com
• Apologetics Blog:  www.sntjohnny.com
• Christian Writing Contest:  www.christianwritingcontest.com
• Online apologetics conference:  www.onlineapologeticsconference.com

Images

Browse various sized images of Anthony for use in web content and articles.  (Smaller, web ready images here.  Portrait Images, here).

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