Support

“I don’t want an abortion, but I don’t know what to do.”

 

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that this week. One situation stuck out in my mind. This girl brought three friends with her to the Brooklyn office. I set up the videos and her friends immediately began squirming and exclaiming about how awful abortion looks. When I put on the second film the girl couldn’t even look at the TV – but her friends kept on talking, so she couldn’t avoid it. Her boyfriend came once the film ended and she asked if I could bring him in and put the second film in again – specifically for him to see.

                It was so hard to get him into the room! Once he was in, no one could get him to actually watch. She looked at me, asking me to do something but nothing I said could get him to turn around. He refused to give his opinion about what to do if she were pregnant – he kept saying it was up to her. Her friends said the same thing but admitted that they didn’t like what they saw in those films; abortion looked too dangerous and painful. She kept looking at her boyfriend. She was absolutely terrified, when she left the room her friends agreed that all she wanted was for her boyfriend to tell her to have the child and forget abortion. As she was leaving she needed the restroom, so another young woman who had been in a similar situation a few years ago followed and spoke to her. In the meantime, Linda, the director of the Brooklyn office, spoke to the boyfriend. The talk in the restroom led to tears while the talk in the office led to smiles that had not appeared in the entire time he’d been in the office. They promised to come back in two weeks when an ultrasound will show the child and I think they’ll come back.

                This was another instance of a girl wanting support, but this time we couldn’t give the support she wanted. Her friends weren’t enough, the promise of aid wasn’t enough – she wants his support, so now we just need to find out what he needs. We have two weeks to do that!