Ryan Bomberger’s message for Jesse Ridgway: ‘Life is purpose’

For Ryan Bomberger, who was conceived in rape and later adopted into a loving home, stories like the one involving YouTuber Jesse Ridgway and his wife announcing they aborted their baby after a Down syndrome test strike a chord.

“Life is purpose. Whether planned, unplanned, abled or disabled, every single life is purpose,” Bomberger told The Christian Post.

The pro-life advocate and author believes that society too often judges human worth based on circumstances beyond a person’s control, including how they were conceived or whether they have a disability.

Earlier this month, Jesse and Ashley Ridgway drew headlines after they announced the abortion of their preborn child after a test revealed the baby would likely have Down syndrome. Jesse Ridgway listed the potential challenges a child with Down syndrome may face and expressed concern about potentially outliving his son.

Ashley Ridgway told TMZ Live in an interview that she hoped to be a voice for women facing similar situations and wanted to help normalize conversations surrounding abortion after a Down syndrome diagnosis.

“I don’t think the killing of the most defenseless and innocent should ever be normalized,” Bomberger said.

While acknowledging that parents can experience heartbreak when reality does not align with the idea of what life should be, the advocate stressed that joy can overcome the pursuit of perfection.

For parents facing a Down syndrome diagnosis. Bomberger encourages them to seek support from organizations, medical professionals, pregnancy resource centers and families who have firsthand experience raising children with disabilities.

“There are families out there who have been through this and can tell you of the trials and the triumphs of raising children with genetic disorders,” he said. “They’re beautiful, and honestly, having grown up in it, I know the happiness that can come from it.”

Parenting itself is never free from challenges, the leader acknowledged. He and his wife, Bethany Bomberger, share four children, two of whom are adopted. In 2009, the couple founded The Radiance Foundation, a faith-based, life-affirming nonprofit organization.

“It doesn’t mean there aren’t difficulties,” the husband and father said. “I have children who don’t have physical disabilities, and I have difficulties. This is the reality of parenting.”

For the pro-life advocate and adoptee, however, the discussion extends beyond disability. It reaches into his own life story. Conceived through rape and adopted as an infant, Bomberger said he is one of the people often cited as an “exception case” when abortion is discussed.

Bomberger was the first of 10 adopted children in a family that ultimately included 13 children. His adopted family is diverse, with many members coming from different racial backgrounds.

“My family’s white, black, we’re mixed, we’re Native American, Vietnamese, able, disabled,” he said. “Our family became a testament to the community, not just on adoption, but also on race. We were a testament to how God’s love changes everything.”

At age 13, Bomberger learned that he had been conceived in rape. Just weeks after learning the truth from his adoptive mom, he delivered a speech about abortion in eighth grade.

“I saw the way my teacher reacted, my fellow students, my friends,” he recalled. “I knew that I had a story to tell.”

That story eventually became the basis for his autobiographical book and documentary, Should Have Been Aborted.

Starting in 2004, Bomberger searched for his birth mother to thank her for giving him “the incredible gift of life and the gift of adoption.” His search lasted into last year, but he found nothing until he obtained his birth certificate in 2023, after Pennsylvania changed a law concerning adoptees’ access to the original document.

“And it was from there that I saw for the first time in my life … the name of my mom, my birth mom. I had never even known her name,” he said. “But from there, within minutes, my wife Beth and I were looking online, and Bethany turned to me, and she said, ‘Oh my word, Ryan, I found her. I found her obituary.'”

Although he never had the opportunity to meet his birth mother, the discovery eventually led him to members of her family.

Bomberger and his wife later found the obituary of one of his birth mother’s sisters, which helped them connect with another surviving sister named Carol.

According to Bomberger, Carol had raised her sisters and helped care for his birth mother after the rape. Bomberger and his family keep in touch with his birth mom’s sister.

The husband and father also pointed to his wife’s experience as a single mother as a reason fear should not be the driving force behind decisions about pregnancy. Bethany Bomberger raised her daughter on her own before she married.

“Our present doesn’t have to dictate our future, and if we allow ourselves to make a decision out of fear, I think, too often, we’ll look back and regret that decision,” he said.

“Bethany never regrets rejecting the violence of abortion, never regrets being a single mom for almost two years, never regrets getting married to a man who was adopted and was more than willing to adopt,” he added.

“Adoption, like everything else in life, not everything goes the way that we expect or plan. But when we pour ourselves into something that is so right, there is so much goodness that flows from that.”