She Saved the Day

Monday this week was pretty depressing. By 4 pm we had had five girls come in; two still wanted abortions after the counseling and the other three were undecided – we had had no turnarounds, no mothers choosing to keep their babies and save them. Then three women came and knocked on the door of my tiny closet office. One, the oldest, insisted upon talking to us in private first, pushing her way in then closing the door in the faces of the other two with her. She sat down and began speaking quickly, explaining to us that she was the mother of both girls outside and her youngest NEEDED an abortion. The girl was dating a druggie and the child would definitely be “damaged” so it was an emergency and needed to be stopped immediately! I asked the woman if she had ever had an abortion and there was a pause before she said yes, she had had an abortion. As I began to outline the risks she stopped me and had her older daughter come in to hear them, insisting that the youngest – the one who was pregnant, remain outside. When I explained about the breast cancer link she stopped me to make sure that it wasn’t 100% sure and that it wouldn’t happen too soon. If the girl got breast cancer in 20 years it wouldn’t matter, if she became infertile that wouldn’t matter either. She just couldn’t have this baby right now.

                Eventually, as I continued informing this woman of all the risks of abortion, she admitted that she wasn’t really the mother – she was the aunt. Later she admitted to never having had an abortion (Thank you Linda Marzulla for teaching me how to catch them in their lies!). Then I sent those two out and spoke to the pregnant girl in private (with my partner, Dani). Soon we discovered that our client was a pro-life activist! She went to the March for Life in Washington last year and had a pro-life t-shirt from Defend Life that she had wanted to wear into our clinic! She was prepared to fight for her right to keep her child and found instead a haven of protection and aid. When her mother arrived we spoke to her and she was just upset that her daughter had hidden the pregnancy for 5 months. She wasn’t going to try to force her daughter to have an abortion – she wanted nothing to do with her daughter or grandchild. At least, she wanted nothing to do with the decision-making aspect of the situation. She still will give her daughter a home and all the necessities of life, she just won’t help her figure out how to deal with all this. If the girl could get along for 5 months without her mother’s advice in this concern, then she can continue for the next 4 months without that help. I can’t blame the mother for feeling that way, and I think I would do the same!

                Now this girl has nothing to worry about except dealing with her aunt and cousin. They will surely continue to push for an abortion, but now she knows that they can’t force her to do anything – especially because her mother won’t try to force it. She said she prayed so hard before coming to our center – praying for God to help her in this struggle – I think it worked!!

P.S. I called this blog “She Saved the Day” because the day was really awful until she came in. After that the day really brightened up and it didn’t seem so bad!