Offering FREE Sonograms Helps Save Innocent Lives!

There are many creative and effective ways to reach women in the midst of crisis pregnancy. One way is by offering Free Sonograms! EMC employs 4 Sonogram Technicians operating in several different locations throughout New York City. This gives Mom a precious chance to see her beautiful child growing in her womb. A chance so often hidden when women enter abortion clinics. Here is video taken just 2 days ago at our Crisis Pregnancy Clinic in Brooklyn!

Sweet Goodbyes.....you 5

One last thing I want to write it this:
Thank you so much Julia, Heather, Carmen, Liz, and Linda. The 5 of you had tremendous impact on my life.
You taught me patience,love,and hope. I am so thankful that I got to room with Julia and Heather. God really uses people in your life when you live with them.
Julia, you definitely taught me how to have a compassionate heart, even at one o'clock in the morning when you want to sleep and girls are calling you for help.
You taught me how to be patient and not get so bent out of shape over silly things. You taught me how to be a good sidewalk counselor. You are going to have many rewards in Heaven my dear.
Heather you taught me patience! Thank you so much for explaining as well as LIVING the Catholic faith. I never truly understood it till you and Gloria and Mary. But mainly you.
Thank you for taking the time out to discuss it all with me. You are such a good listener.
Liz and Linda you are going places! It amazes me how the 2 of you run your centers the way you do. You get the roughest groups of people,yet still press forward. You taught me endurance. You taught me what it means to be strong. You taught me what it means to put others before yourself. Even when it means you don't get a lunch break everyday. Even when it means your work overtime. You both are truly selfless.
Carmen. Where do I begin. You have taught me what it means to LOVE. You have lavished love on me so much, it's overwhelming. I will never forget all the times you gave and gave to me. You went through a hard time at the beginning of Feb, and you pushed through it. You have such a soft,CARING,considerate heart. You taught me what it means to love. Your generosity is something I will take with me forever.
Thank you Chris for all the events you took us to.
Praise God for you people. God has used you in a mighty way and will continue to you use you and myself.
See you soon!

Farewell NYC; But not for Long

Well, after 4 ridiculously amazing months of working for EMC, it is time for me to take a minor break. I leave today for NC to be with my family for a month or so. But I am definitely planning on returning to working with the Pro-life movement somewhere. Whether it's in NC,CA, VA, or NYC.
I never even thought I would be good at what I did the past 4 months. It's insane how God operates.
I found out about EMC by randomly going on a weekend trip to TN that one of my roommates in VA invited me to. It was random, but it wasn't. There are reasons for everything.
After all of this, what continues to go through my thoughts consistently, is WHO God is.
He is Yahweh; the three in one; the creator of everything; the Lord of all; the Rose of Sharon; Jesus Christ; God the Father; God the Holy Spirit...
He sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for the sin of the world. He didn't stay dead. NO! He rose again from the grave. He has conquered death!
He died for every single innocent baby that was aborted. He died for their mothers that chose to abort them. He died for ME.
Worthy is the Lamb- who was slain.
Praise God that his salvation and his rescue is applicable to ALL. "But as many as received him, to them God gives power to become the child of God". John 1:12
I go can go to a church and tell the story of how Christ died for everyone in that room, just as much as I can go to the dirty streets of New York City and tell the broken people there Jesus Christ died for them.
I pray that God will continue to forgive us. I pray, "Hosanna! save us! Please"...
After seeing how many abortions take place, after seeing how much evil is being done e-v-e-r-y- s-i-n-g-l-e d-a-y-, praise God for his grace. He would totally be justified in destroying the entire earth.
I continue to pray that God will break my heart for what breaks his.
I made that prayer back in September and I ended up here. Trust me this prayer will work for you too!
Thank you so much for all your prayers and comments over the past 4 months. Let us all finish this race God has set before us strong.
May the Lord God in Heaven bless you.
Cheers

Success Stories!!!

This is an oldie...but definantly a goodie! Pulled from the treasury of EMC success stories. You will hear from the women themselves who we have had the honor of helping!

Please Pray For This Case

Today I stood outside of the abortion clinic in the Bronx,Dr. Emily's. I was able to meet with this young lady who has a child. She was at Dr. Emily's today to get an abortion.
I told her that she has other options and so forth. She began to tell me that one of our other interns, Heather, had already talked to her "about all this". I asked her, "when did you talk to heather? Last week?" She said, "oh no. Last year...she talked me out of getting an abortion. She was also able to talk to my boyfriend...she got him!"
I thought, "wow!"
So then I asked what she was doing here. She said that she needed to get an abortion this time. She said that she cannot have another child with her financial situation.
I told her that we can help her. That we can provide sonograms and MD's for her when she needed them.
We talked for about 30 minutes. You could simply tell that she did not want to do this. She wanted to keep her child, but because she did not have family or her boyfriend to be there for support her, she couldn't keep her child.
If you have read this, please pray for this young lady. I have her number and will be calling her later this week.

NYC Pro-life

One of the great things about this internship with EMC, aside from the ability to save lives, is the great location! NYC is a hub of pro-life action with such groups as the Sisters of Life, Priests for Life, C-FAM, Silent No More Awareness, the Helpers of Gods Precious Infants, the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, and Gianna Health care for Women. It is such an honor to fight this culture war alongside these dedicated people!
There is always a pro-life event going on in the City. Since starting my internship I have had the honor of attended a Silent No More event, a taping of Sunday Night Live with Fr. Benedict Groeschel, a Symposium on Abortion Law put on by Columbia University's Law Students for Life, the Profession of Vows of the Sisters of Life, a talk by Bobby Schindler brother to Terri Schiavo put on by Fordham University's Respect Life Club, the 50th Anniversary Mass of Fr. Benedict Groeschel, a National Right to Life Banquet honoring Ambassador Mary Ann Glendon, a Tim Tebow Rally at CBS Studios, the March for Life in DC, an Anti-Obamacare Rally on Capitol Hill in front of Nancy Palosi's office, the Family Life Conference in honor of Cardinal O'Conner hosted by the Sisters of Life, and a Pro-life Speaker Training Seminar in the Bronx. I have also gone on retreat with Helpers founder Msgr. Phillip Reiley, Met former Planned Parenthood Clinic Director Abbey Johnson, Fr. Frank Pavone and Fr. William Scott Daniels of Priests for Life, Alveda King Pro-life Advocate and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, Janet Morana of Silent No More Awareness, Jason Jones Producer of the movie Bella, the inventor of the Precious Feet pin, and Mark Karney co-founder of 40 Days for Life! This has truly been an amazing experience for me!

Girls Initially Desire Purity

See, girls are actually pure and innocent. They start out wanting to be pursued by Prince Charming. They don't mind waiting for his pursuit at all. They know they are precious and valuabe.

As they get older, something happens. They go out into the "real world" where there are other fellows that do not treat them like this. They are by no means a prince charming. Instead,they are insecure themselves and talk to these precious gems as if they were their prey. Unfortunately, these men don't have any good examples to go by.
Society has lead us to believe that this is "normal". It's written all over our music videos,tv shows,etc. No wonder these kids act the way they do. It's no excuse,but.
My goal is to simply remind these girls. Remind them of something they already knew,but just forgot. Women by nature WANT to wait, and be pursued affectionately,respectfully,and purposefully by a man. They do. It's a fact. What is so sad, is that they get side tracked by all these little boys.
These girls in this picture came to Julia and asked her to tell them to not have sex. Julia called me up and turned them over to me and said "abby, give them one of your abstinence speeches!" And I did.
These are good girls. One might look at some of their actions and judge, but its not their place anyways. God knows. And God will judge. But God also loves.
And loving these girls is exactly what I intend to do.

The Body of Christ is Incorporated in the Harvest

This is Carmen, the director of our EMC center in Queens. She is holding a bib in this picture. A bib which was donated to EMC by a generous individual.
EMC can only exist as long as we have the help of our donors. People like Carmen and I are too busy doing the "hands on" work with these women, we don't have the time to make money.
We need help. I personally have to have people supporting me and helping me in more ways than one.
In Matthew it says, "the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few".... To me, this includes the workers doing the hands on work, like what Carmen and I do. But it also, just as importantly, includes the workers who work hard to make the money so that Carmen and I CAN do this work.
Both are just as important as the other. We are a body. The arm is as important as the leg. We have to unite together and figure out where we fit in.
This ministry has to be about PEOPLE. People like YOU. People like ME.

Truth Speaks for Itself

She came into our center in Queens 2 months ago. She came to see about getting an abortion. We talked for quite a while. I told her that since she was interested in getting it done, she needed to know the facts about it.
We talked about the septic infection and so forth. Then we watched a video about the procedure and more of the risks and complications.
About 5 minutes into the video, she started to say things like "are you serious?...is this for real?"
She couldn't understand how people could be ok with an abortion, after she saw the truth of what it was.
Even though she watched the video to its entirety, she was still having her doubts. She knew that her mother would not approve and would most likely kick her out of the house. There was much at stake for her in terms of keeping this baby.
Next, I told her that we could provide her with a free sonogram. Luckily we were able to do it that same day! This was when the miracle really started to happen.
She SAW her baby. She was immediately moved, to tears! Then, she heard her baby's heartbeat! This was THE defining moment in her life.
When she heard this, she called her boyfriend. He was just getting out of school. She told him that there was something IMPORTANT he needed to see. He rushed over immediately!
We waited until he got there, and he got to see his baby too! He was unsure at first what was going on. Then his whole body language began to change. He became excited!
I brought both of them back into the counseling room to talk. Both of them agreed together that they were going to keep this baby. Abortion was out of the picture at this point.
All I did was tell them the truth, and they decided on their own what to do.
Praise God!

Good Kids, Need Good Adults

Saturday afternnon at EMC's South Bronx Pregnancy Center, and a beautiful young girl with a big bright smile walked into out office. She came in just to get our services and get out. Or so she thought............
As she and I spoke, I began to fall in love with her! She is such a beautiful young lady with so much potential!
This girl is only in 8th grade, but has the smarts of a college student.
She's one of the brightest young ladies I have met here in NYC. This picture was taken on her second second visit us. She stopped by to say "Hi!"
The first time she came, her plan was just to get our services and leave. But as we spoke, she grew attached to me.
Now we meet once ever so often to catch up and talk about boys, school, etc. She says that she loves me! She trusts me with all that she tells me. She is such a good girl.
She's living in a foster home now. She wants to go to college. She and I have had many, many abstinence talks. She says that she is planning on being abstinent until she gets married.
Like I said, she is a good girl.
These are good girls we have here in NYC. They just need good adults in their lives telling them the truth about sex. They don't know it. It's a shame. What will YOU do ?

Want to Hear Life? Come to EMC.

I got a phone call from one of my girls one day, she came into our center in Queens back in Feburary. This time she just wanted to get together, you see at EMC we foster relationships with our clients. We ended up going out to dinner in Manhattan. This girl is great!
She has her bachelors, and is now working on her Masters at a school in Long Island.
She is very driven. Her ambitions are definitely there. She does not ignore them. She wakes up every morning to make her bowl of oatmeal and get dressed for the day, to conquer it.
This is her mentality. She does the things logically that she needs to do. But she also does not ignore the dreams that she has.
When she came into our center a few months ago, she was highly contemplating the thought of getting an abortion after she discovered that she was pregnant. Because of all these dreams and aspirations, she thought the baby might get in the way. All women think this way. But little did she know, there was something for her to hear...
That same first day that she came in, I met with her first, then told her she should get a sonogram. She agreed. As soon as the sonogram started, her body language started to change. Then Rosanna pushed the button to allow all of us to hear the baby's heartbeat.
After it was over, Tiffany and I met back in the room. I asked her, "so what do you think now?"
She said, "Oh no! No way....after hearing the baby's heartbeat?....no...I'm keepin my child".
So apparently there IS something about the heartbeat.
Now, she is finishing up this semester. She works so hard. We talk or text once a week so that we keep in touch. She knows that I am there for her. She knows that she can count on EMC.

Thank You Donors

Rosanna is the far left who is our sonogram technician. Next is Francesca who is deciding to keep her baby. Next is myself and then the beautiful Carmen.
This is the third time I have seen Francesca. She loves coming to our center. Every time she comes, the 4 of us hit it off as if we were best friends from the past.
We engage in conversation about politics,marriages, celebrities,etc. We light up when we see each others' faces.
It makes me feel so good that this woman walked into our clinic one day, not knowing what she was walking into. Then she gets our services done. She feels comfortable with us. She feels as if she can come to us with her questions about her pregnancy.
Not only can she come and get information from us, but she can also enjoy our fellowship. None of this could occur if we did not have the space and the center to begin with. She would have never met Carmen and I.
It is a necessity to maintain a place where these women can go. We could not do that, if they're were not gracious donors across the state and country giving.
Thank you for all that you do.

Like Scraping Peanut Butter from the Bottom of the Jar

It's always interesting to find out what doctors are actually telling teen aged girls in reference to sex and abortion. On a sunny spring day a beautiful girl in her late teens came into our South Bronx Pregnancy Center. She had been to see her pediatrician, who told her that she was in fact, pregnant. She was scared, she was confused, and she wanted to abort. Liz, the Director of our Center sat down with the young lady. She asked her what she knew about abortion, if she knew what the abortionist does during the procedure, and what advice had her doctor given her to prevent pregnancy?. "Oh yeah.", she said "My doctor told me what they do! They scrape you out, like when you're trying to get to the last of the peanut butter at the bottom of the jar."

You'll have to excuse the hint of sarcasm, but what respect this doctor must have had for her patient! She must have really valued her intelligence! To think that this vibrant young woman would not be able to grasp the concept of a Suction and Curettage surgery, that instead she must liken it to sandwich making. The audacity! I am happy to tell you that once we explained the abortion and risks and complications that it can involve, she chose LIFE for her unborn child! All glory to God!

No Regrets

This picture was taken in the Bronx where one of our EMC centers is located. These 2 kids are brilliant little souls.
The mother of the 2 of them is a very strong woman. The doctor had told her when she was pregnant with the young man, that he was going to have a birth defect.
The doctor tried to persuade her into getting an abortion. He didn't really care either way, but he made it clear that she definitely had that option and it would be completely understandable if she were to.
The young man is outstanding smart. I got to hang out with him here for a few hours. There is nothing "wrong" with him at all whatsoever. He has one of the brightest personalities I have ever seen.
He talked to me with respect. He loves his younger sister there. And the mother is content with her decision with both of these children. No regrets.
When you are faithful to God, He is faithful to you.

Brooklyn Girls Are Rough

The girls of Brooklyn are very rough to say the least. Out of all the boroughs that I have worked in, I would personally have to say that Brooklyn has the toughest crowd.
These girls put up with the lowest of the lows from the guys their age. This past week I went to Brooklyn to help Linda out and was able to meet with 9 girls that stopped by.
They told Linda and I what guys say to them. They told us the expectations from guys are these days. And lets just say that it's not a walk in the park, as to what they are after.
I feel so bad for these girls. One of the girls there complained to Linda and I that the state has closed down a lot of the parks and the regular hang out places in these kids' neighborhoods that they usually go to.
She said that the only place that people her age go to are each others' houses. And that is where the whole act of sex begins. She said no one else ever talks about sex the way Linda and I were talking about it.
We shared with the girls how God wanted us to wait til we were married to have sex. That it is an act between a man and a woman in a commitment before God that they should perform. It's not so that young people like them can participate in an activity with someone from their school. And for it to serve no purpose.
We told these girls that sex is sacred. The purpose of it is not only just to create a union and intimacy with the man and woman, but to also create offspring. God gave us the opportunity to create other souls and bring them into this world. What a blessing we have.
And when we decide to do an abortion, we are slapping God in the face. We are saying to him, "ok, I know you want me to create another child, but it's just not working with MY plan, so......"
These 9 girls ate this stuff up. They said that no one has ever told them this. I told them the safest sex is no sex. The best form of birth control is abstinence. I got very vulnerable with them and told them that I personally was a virgin. And that I am choosing to not have sex until I am married.
They didn't believe that I was a virgin, which really makes me sad. That was so hard for them to even comprehend. These were good girls. Most of them were 16.
Praise God that they had a place like EMC in Brooklyn where this picture was taken so that they could learn more about the TRUTH.

Mother Who Decided to Keep

Working with EMC, I go to the center in Queens a lot of the time. There, I counsel girls that are wanting to keep their baby, wanting to get an abortion, or wanting to make an adoption plan.
I have not had one girl decide that she wanted to make an adoption plan. The culture here in NYC is very traditional on the family. It is a slap in the face to the family to carry your child for 9 months to then make an adoption plan where the child lives with another couple.
I find it very interesting, because these are the same girls that are in the front of the line to get an abortion. Weird.
This was a young woman who thought about getting an abortion. The thought occurred in her mind, because she was a very special case. There was crime involved with how she got pregnant. After Carmen met with her many times, and counseled her, this woman decided for HERSELF that it is wrong to abort her child.
She chose for herself that she wanted to keep this child. She just recently had the baby. And ironically, she named her ABIGAIL!

The Truck that Transfers the Aborted Babies

Working with EMC, we stand outside of Dr. Emily's abortion clinic at least 3x a week. We stand on the sidewalk, with EMC pamphlets that we give to the girls going in. We tell them that they have other options,other than abortion. We tell them that EMC can help them.
One day, as I was doing just this, I looked in front of me to see this truck. I didn't think much of it at first. Then Julia, one of my superiors, turns to me and says, "hey abby. That's where they take the dead bodies of the aborted babies. In that truck".
I said to her, "are you serious?" "Dead serious". She replied to me. No pun intended.
On the truck it reads "REGULATED MEDICAL WASTE". I thought to myself, well, it's good to know that the human bodies are regulated! I mean, regulated or not, doesn't make much of a difference once they have gotten to that point.
The man started out with 2 big empty boxes. He pushed his wheeley pusher into the abortion clinic. Next, he comes back out with the same 2 boxes, except this time they are filled with the bodies of aborted babies.
Babies that deserve to live. Babies that are PEOPLE that deserve to live.
Even with me, myself, being a woman, it is still NOT my right to decipher between life and death. I have no business saying whether or not a person should live or die.
Especially a person that is innocent, and free of any crime whatsoever.

Miracle of the Hand at EMC Brooklyn Clinic

Clinic Director Linda, tells the story of a miracle that took place in the Sonogram room, at our EMC Clinic in Brooklyn, NY!

Final Reflections

As I conclude my time (at least for this visit) at the Lifehouse and at EMC, it really is amazing what I've done while I have been here.

The internship is truly a unique learning experience. Living and working in the Bronx is unlike anywhere else I have lived or worked. Oddly enough, even as a Southerner and agrarian at heart, I will miss the Bronx. It's a very special place and it has been wonderful to try and save the babies of this area.

Best of all, I've met some wonderful people, both at EMC, with the various Catholic agencies that work with us, and the people who support us with kind words and hugs from the neighborhood. There is nothing that improves a hard morning of sidewalk counseling quite like the grandmotherly woman who walks by and gives everyone a hug or a man walking to the store who stops and tells you how good it is to be out doing what we do.

Within the centers, it's been quite an experience as well. This is not a cake walk. The women who come in are each individuals, they are quite often very difficult cases and tend to think that they are set on an abortion.

Each woman is different. What works with one may not phase another. Yesterday, a woman broke down in tears just because she held a model of what her baby would look like. Other women think it's all a game. There can be no one-size-fits all strategy here. It's a very difficult skill to learn, but I hope I've picked it up somewhat.

My time here has been a very informative and challenging time, but I've also enjoyed it. There is no better feeling in the world than seeing a woman decide to keep her child and be at peace with her decision. For the opportunity to experience this I am very grateful.

The Power of One Life

Some days, working at the centers it can become rather trying when after an hour or even more time is spent with a woman explaining to her what her real options are and what the consequences of her choices are only to have them seem to be unaffected.

Other girls make up phone numbers or just tell us what we want to hear and then, when calling to follow up, they've decided to have the abortion anyway. Not every meeting ends as I would prefer, but all I can do is my best and leave the rest up to God.

Some places, I see counts of babies saved. This is of course wonderful, but I really hope that the numbers undercount the children saved. Of course they must, since we're not just saving one baby, but we're saving that child and any children that are the descendants of that child. To just think of how big a number that this might be from any given baby is impressive.

When I'm working in the centers, I must go completely against my empirical nature and avoid thinking of such counts. One thing that is certain is that nothing is certain. Only God can know what change we work on the women we talk with day after day. What must be focused on, instead is the woman in front of me. What can I do to reach her and help save her child, her grand children, her great-grand children,....

What wonderful work we do! Deo Gratias!

EMC Saving Babies and Forging Friendships

One of the great things about EMC is our clients, and the relationships that we are able to build with them. Once she has changed her mind and chosen LIFE for her baby, she is so grateful to us for having helped her! So much so, that it is not at all uncommon for previous clients to stop by one of the centers just say "Hi"! This helps us to find out how she's doing and to continue with counseling and resources, be it material or emotional support if need be. The Mom's are always so proud to bring their little bundles of joy to meet us! Allowing us the privilege of seeing the fruits of our labor, in the form of beautiful, little, Miracle Babies!

About six months ago I met a young lady who had been a previous client of ours. She had spoken with our Center Director Liz and decided to keep her baby. She was just by for a visit to see Liz and introduce her to the baby. As we sat in the lobby that day we formed a friendship. I became the honorary 'Tia' or Aunti to her beautiful daughter Vivianna with the big brown eyes. What an honor! It's occurrences like these that make me that much more grateful to be doing this work!

Into the Tomb

This morning, there were times when I felt something (in a much milder form, I guess) like how the disciples must have felt on the first Holy Saturday. They were alone in the world with demons and those who wished to do them harm all about. And yet, they still believed.

On Saturdays, when the clinic has deathscorts (a very dour looking and rude lot) out on the sidewalk to prevent us from talking to women, there is often a feeling of being alone and trapped surrounded by these coworkers of Satan. We all know that murder is going on by the dozens day after day inside of Emily's, but there are walls to keep the evil in. Very little seeps out to the sidewalks where we are compared to what is inside. It is when the deathscorts come out, get in our faces, and try their hardest to keep us from saving lives that the chill of evil becomes more real.

Thankfully, Satan isn't a very smart fellow and he and his helpers in the mass murder of babies cannot win in the end. To see the deathscorts' reactions when the Sisters of Life, or as happened today, the CFRs come out to pray and sing is rather amusing. There are saints that recommended laughing at Satan. After all, Satan has now power over us, as scary as he may be.

Satan is a joke. God is in control and Satan sits in Hell gnashing his teeth because he knows that in the end he has lost. All he can do is try and drag as many poor souls as he can down into his misery to share the same lot for eternity.

Thinking of this and watching the deathscorts squirm while a friar talks to them or a sister prays certainly drives away the feeling of abandonment outside the dark Satanic mill.