Focusing on adoption rather than abortion, El Paso county commissioners this morning passed a resolution proclaiming Jan. 17 through Jan. 24 as “Sanctity of Human Life Week.”

“This proclamation has a special meaning for me,” said Commissioner Wayne Williams, who is celebrating his 47th birthday today and was adopted as an infant in California. 

Williams says he knows little about his birth parents, except that his mother was a senior in high school and a newspaper editor and his father went to college on a football scholarship.

 On hand to receive the proclamation was Brady Boyd, senior pastor of New Life Church. Boyd’s church, together with Focus on the Family and other area churches, began a coordinated campaign 18 months ago to see that more children awaiting adoption in Colorado found homes.

The effort’s paid off, Boyd told commissioners, adding that the number of kids waiting adoption has dropped from 750 to 550.

“I have such a tender spot  in my heart for adoptions,” said Boyd, who has adopted several children of his own. “It’s such a redemptive process.”

Although ‘abortion’ was mentioned in the proclamation itself and read into the record by Wayne Williams, the commissioners didn’t mention the word in their public discussion.