First Day

Finally! I am in New York City for an EMC internship! I have been anxiously waiting to come up here from my hometown of Louisville, Ky for four months. On my first day here I went to Dr. Emily's abortion clinic and to the EMC center in the Bronx. I had never before stood in front of a clinic during its hours of operation and it tore my heart to see these women walking in to the clinic to make one of the worst decisions of their lives. Some of these women looked distraught and hopeless, while others were just nonchalant and indifferent about entering the abortion mill. After staying at the clinic for a few hours I went to Liz's center located in the Bronx. I was treated like family there and shown videos to educate me about abortion.

A video that really struck me was "22 weeks," a movie based on a true story about a young girl who goes to a clinic to get an abortion at 22 weeks. They inject her with a poison to stop the baby's heart and she was to just "pass" the baby through the next day. She ended giving birth to a live baby in the abortion clinic's restroom. She was locked in the bathroom after screaming for help and asking the clinic's workers to call 911. She had to ask her friend to call for her and by the time they arrived it was already too late.

This incident is something that should have never happened in a million years; yet episodes similar to this continue to happen. Seeing these women walk into these clinics and watching videos like "22 weeks" helped prepare me mentally for what I would be facing in counseling these women.