Pathways Clinic, a pro-abundant life pregnancy center that has served Clark County for more than 30 years, held its annual fundraiser in downtown Vancouver on Thursday, and Dr. Ben Carson was the keynote speaker

Paul Valencia
Clark County Today

His style is almost as impressive as his substance.

Using his famous soft-spoken voice, Dr. Ben Carson controlled a room of more than 500 guests Thursday night at a downtown Vancouver fundraiser for Pathways Clinic. 

The room fell silent during pauses in his presentation, as if all in attendance did not dare miss Carson’s next words.

He used humor and he described his life’s experiences in order to deliver the message of the evening:

“For God, every single life is important … from the womb to the tomb.”

Carson was the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center before turning his attention to service to the country. He was the keynote speaker at two National Prayer Breakfasts. Later, he ran for President and then served as the 17th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Today, he is the founder and chairman of the American Cornerstone Institute, promoting faith, liberty, community, and life.

On Thursday, he brought that message to Hilton Vancouver for Pathways Clinic, a pro-abundant life ministry based in Washougal that has been serving Clark County for more than 30 years. 

The theme of the fundraiser: Pathways to Freedom. Celebrating the Freedom Found in God’s Grace.

Carson spoke of his upbringing, raised by a mother with a third-grade education. She more than made up for that lack of education with common sense.

“She had faith in God. She believed that God was the answer to every problem,” Carson said. 

As a child, Ben was not a strong student. His mother prayed that God would grant her two children the wisdom of what an education could do for them.

Once it clicked for a young Ben, the whole world changed. Not just for him but the countless number of people he has saved using his talent as a neurosurgeon.

He also brought the house down with several amusing anecdotes before circling back to the message of the evening.

He said he thought there was nothing more noble than being a missionary doctor. That was his dream for a while. 

“Growing up in dire poverty, I decided I’d rather be rich,” he said.

He noticed that psychiatrists on TV were all rich.

“All they had to do was talk to crazy people all the time. It seemed like I was doing that anyway,” he said.

That was the goal, to become a great, rich psychiatrist.

In medical school, though, he became enamored with neurosurgeons. 

“One big problem. I don’t like the sight of blood,” Carson said. “Some people said, ‘But you became a surgeon.’ I said, ‘Would you rather have a surgeon who likes the sight of blood?’”

Carson is now 74 years old. Back then, not a whole lot of people who looked like him were in this field of study.

“At that time, there had only been eight black neurosurgeons in the world,” Carson said. “But I will tell you a secret, the good Lord does not dispense talent based on race.”

Then he explained how he decided to specialize in operating on children, and with babies in the womb.

“No matter how good you did on the chronic back pain patients,” he said, referring to adults, “they never got any better until they got their settlement. With kids … you can operate 10, 15, 20, 30 hours, and if you’re successful, the reward is 50, 60, 70, 80 years of life. Whereas with an old geezer, they’ll die in five years of something else. I like to get a good return on my investment.” 

Seriously, though, it was his work that helped him become the pro-life advocate he is today.

He spoke of one operation where he saved the life of twins while in the womb.

Years later, one of those twins introduced herself to Dr. Carson’s wife Candy.

“Your husband operated on me and my twin sister when we were still in our mother’s womb,” the woman said.

“That is why no one will ever convince me that what’s in a mother’s womb is a meaningless bunch of cells,” Carson said.

Still, he was brought up in liberal areas of the nation. He initially believed a liberal’s viewpoint on abortion.

“Maybe I don’t like the idea of killing babies, but what right do I have of saying anything to anybody else? I don’t have any right to tell you what to do with your body,” he said. “That was my thinking. Until one day, I was thinking about the concept of slavery. … I started thinking what if the abolitionists had said, ‘I don’t believe in slavery, but what right do I have to tell other people what they should do?’”

Carson’s mind was changed.

“Maybe there is a responsibility to do something,” he said.

He challenged the audience.

“If we’re going to be advocates for all, including those in the womb, it means you have to stand up for what you believe in. You have to have courage,” he said.

It does not mean to attack those on the other side of the issue, though.

“We should make an effort to convert them. I always say conversion not coercion. We have the evidence on our side. We need to preach it. And not go to our separate corners and throw barbs at each other,” he said.

Supporting pro-abundant life pregnancy centers such as Pathways Clinic is a blessing, he said. He also advocated making adoption in America easier. Society needs to find better options for all involved in crisis pregnancies.

Carson also paraphrased 19th-century French writer Alexis de Tocqueville, who had come to America to study the new country.

“America is great because America is good,” Carson said.

In conclusion to his 47-minute address:

“It’s time for us to become great again by picking up those values and principles that made us into a great nation, including recognizing we are one nation under God.”

Note: For more information on Pathways Clinic, go to: https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/news/pathways-clinic-fundraiser-to-feature-dr-ben-carson-on-oct-23-in-vancouver/