Coincidence or providence?

Last monday I was sent to the corner of the 3rd avenue with 149st to deliver pro-life newspapers. I thought it was a useless thing to do, something for just not being stopped at home. It was a hot day. In every newspaper we put a sticker with our offices' telephone numbers and a tittle whose tranlation to spanish is "GRATIS ABORTOS ALTERNATIVAS".

While giving them out, a woman sitting beside me who was selling things asked me to give her one of these newspapers. She was hispanic, and she was looking at me with a strange face. She might had understood bad the add, I thought. I approached to speak to her and explained her it was against abort. She began asking me questions about what appeared in the panflet, like if the baby was really this like after 5 weeks

and I told her: yes, he already has his eyes and little hands. She told me she was pregnant of about 8 weeks and that she had an appointment for that day to abort. I told her to visit us at the bronx office.

On wednesday I was sent to the office late after being that morning at emily's, something strange among the guys. There, about 3 o'clock, appeared Roselia, the woman I had met last monday and who asked me she wanted to see the abortion video. Of course that case was for me. I filled her sheet with the help of Cynthia and showed her and the father of her son the video. Now, the abortion is not an option for Roselia.

The Way of Pain

Oftentimes sidewalk counselors arrive early to abortion clinics (before they open) so that they can be sure to be there for the very first arrivals.  The workers arrive first, and standing there it doesn’t take long to notice that there is something similar about all of them.  One by one you see young women in cute-patterned, brightly colored smocks drive up in their sporty cars and head to work.  Maybe its the liveliness of their outfits that makes it stand out, but in contrast, their faces look sad and tired.  They won’t look you in the eye—they won’t smile (at anyone, let alone you).  I still remember one day last year (not on this internship) praying outside a clinic in Dallas: two of these women were walking in that morning for work and I could tell right away that one of them was new.  No, it wasn’t because I didn’t recognize her (although that was true as well), it was because there was a spring in her step, a light in her eyes, and a smile on her face.  When we said good morning, she smiled and returned the greeting.  There was an innocence about her that made me think she perhaps had no clear idea about what she was getting into.  The seasoned “nurse” beside her?  Nothing.  She carried the same shadow as all the rest.  The spectacle was dreadfully sad as I knew this young woman’s demeanor was soon to change.  They would ask her to do terrible things or lose her job.  She would do them and quickly that smile would disappear and those bright eyes be dimmed and that light step become heavy with the awful burdens she would begin to carry.  And these were only the workers.  So many mothers walk through the doors every day seeking relief from the burdens of life.  Only the opposite is all anyone will ever find there: more pain, more grief, more suffering, and burdens so heavy they will feel crushed by them.  It’s no secret, though ignorance is ever our enemy: anyone standing by can see the pitiful change in those who walk into and out of those dark heavy doors.  Never grow weary of fighting the tragedy of abortion.

My name is Almudena. Im from Madrid and Im study communication at University of Navarra. Im here for the summer to help out and volunteering with youn mothers who are pregnant. I came here recommended by many people, he did not want to spend a summer like any other. Conando ire in this blog my experience in these months and I hope the public is encouraged to read it also to come and live a great experience.

A BIT OF ADVERTISING

On Thursday I had to take the subway at midday because we had to go from the office of the Bronx to the clinic where pregnant women are sent for ultrasounds to pick up some leaflets we needed.

On the way back we saw an advertisement for pro-choice and right next to it a EMC one. They both had a similar design: picture at the left hand side and at the other hand the text, although each advertising meant different things.

In the pro-choice ad appeared a pretty smiling young girl looking very happy, and in the pro-life one appeared a girl who looked anxious and insecure.

All the ones that were in the subway with me started to think about the two ads and how it could be that the announcement of something so horrible as abortion, which I personally know after seeing how girls come out from Emily's, was more attractive than ours.

We began to think beyond the visual impact it had and started to think about why EMC had decided to use the picture of a girl with that expression instead of another one.

We arrived to the conclusion that objectively, the pro-choice add attracts more but, what's the most important aspect in an add? The target to feel identified. And I'm 100% sure that mothers who want to have an abortion feel anxious and insecure.

It is obvious?

She wanted an abortion. That was her solution or as she said, her only option. Like many women, she was agreed that the act was morally wrong, supposed to end a life that did not own, but in her case was justified.

Why we try to justify the unjustifiable? In our case it is always right, or not so bad, and when we see the error in the outside we were shocked. We try to convince ourselves.

The nice woman, with two children from a previous marriage, planned to end the life of his son, without consulting the father of it with which has lasted three years together. Her previous failure was terrified and feared that can happen again seemed sufficient reason to terminate her pregnancy. She, probably without realizing but selfishly, thought it suited her and her preferences. She wanted a solid relationship and stability.

What greater stability than to bring together a child to the world? What greater stability in a relationship that come to an agreement about what is best for them through dialogue? This joint decision-making is a process that although can be hard sometimes strengthen the relationship, as it is based on trust.

This at some now seems so obvious, it may be in a time of great stress not as evidence. And a conversation as simple as this, it may help a mother to save her son's life. We must not forget that are God and mothers who save lives and that we are mere instruments in the service of God.

Courage

Hi there! How are you doing? This week in NYC has been such a productive week; we have worked a lot in the different offices and also at the Life-house. Little by little, we are learning how to live with lot of people in just one house. It is amazing how we do to share our time with each other. Apart of learning from the girls who come to the offices, we also learn from the other interns living and sharing with them every minute of the day in the Life-house or going for sightseeing. 

I would like to tell all of you one of the things that has impressed me the most. It is the story of one of my clients. This is a girl who is seventeen years old and she was the second time she was pregnant. The first time she was pregnant was when she was fifteen and she decided to keep the baby instead of going for an abortion or giving for adoption. She came to the office (with her cute little daughter) because she was afraid with her second pregnancy, she didn´t want to go for an abortion because she realized that her little daughter was the best thing she had in this moment (and so the new baby could be another “best thing” in her life) but at the same time she was worried because she was so young and she wanted to continue with the college. 

After talking for a while, studying all the risks that an abortion can have she decided that she was going to think carefully what she could do with her studies because she wanted to keep her new baby. I think this a clear example of courage that can teach us how we have to act in such difficult situation because everything in this world has a solution, we just have to be braves!!

Holocaust museum

I know the word Holocaust is harsh. It takes us back to a time that nobody wants to remember, but we are not aware that a new holocaust is taking place today.

 During our trip to Washington DC we had the chance to visit the Holocaust Museum and to compare and contrast the information that we learned there with the current situation going on in abortion clinics.

 This new "extermination" in which, again, allies and accomplices play a very important part, is the biggest threat that the World is going through right now and yet it is barely discussed or talked about on the news. Why is that? Why are we so aware of what happened so many years ago but are afraid to defend something equally despicable that is happening right now as you read this blog?

When we see movies about the Holocaust or read books on the topic we always ask ourselves why nobody did anything to stop it, and we brag about how much society has changed since then and how everybodys rights are listened to and respected nowadays. However, this is far from the truth.
Just like during World War II, what is much needed right now is ACTION. We cant go through life like passengers on a bus, who just observe through the window and dont participate in what is going on around them. We need to be the voice that unborn babies dont have yet.

Dont be fooled by the lack of information that we receive about abortion. Our goal is to make people as aware of the tragedy of the extermination of "unwanted" babies as they are of the extermination of Jews during the Nazi period.

What choice?

7:30 am, Dr Emily´s Clinic, the Bronx. Today, we dont only face the challenge of getting through to mothers that have decided to get an abortion. Its saturday, so we also have many "pro-choice" people and activists at both the front and the back entrances to the clinic. Whenever a woman goes into Emily´s these people escort them in and dont let us talk to them or rip the brochures that we have given them. However, even though this complicates what we do, we dont give up. We need to respect the pro-choice just as we expect to be respected by them, but we cant be outspoken by them.

This morning there were three different groups of people at the entrances of the clinic. First of all, the prolife interns. Secondly, there was a group of women who meet up on saturdays to pray the rosary together. Finally, the previously mentioned pro-choice people. Between the last group and the first two, there is a significant difference in terms of attitude. The dull or even angry faces of the pro-choice contrast with the hope and faith that is reflected on the women standing outside praying. Another difference that I would like to point out is the lack of care with which  women are treated with by these pro-choice people when they are leaving the clinic. The promises of prayers to help them, the giving out of brochures with emc pregnancy center numbers on them and the smile with which pro-life people (not necessarily us) say goodbye to the women coming outside of the clinic have got nothing to do with the lack of attention that the escorts pay to them when they leave. As I mentioned, they also deserve our respect because they have the same right to be there as we do, but I cant help but wonder if the women coming out of the clinic notice as well as I do the difference in the approach they have to them and the way we pro-lifers do things.

The importance of advertising

When David Beckham posed on his underwear for Calvin Klein for the first time, the sales of the brand increased nearly a 50%. 

This is only an example of the importance that the advertising industry has in our lives: we are surrounded by stimulus and and we end up consuming products that we see on the TV, on the street, in a magazine...

 

Therefore, why not use advertisement as an instrument to save lives?

The new pro-life campaign in New York City's subway wants to get to more people who find themselves in front of the big decision after a non-planned pregnancy: shall I keep the baby or have an abortion?

How many hours do we spend in the subway? In this big city, and as far as I'm concerned, no less than 2 a day. Sometimes, when it's not crowded, we can read or even work, but many other days we just stand up and look around.

The advertisement of Free Abortion Alternatives is working in New York City really well: the past days I went to work to the Brookyn office, and the telephone didn't stop ringing. This is great news, because the more calls we get, the more women we can help and the more babies are saved.

This kind of campaigns help people get to know us and the work we do. The new offices opened in different states have the same goal: let's all continue helping as much as we can with the pro-life movement.

Twins

I arrived to the internship a week ago and I have a lot of experiences in my mind. Fistly, I would like to say that since I didn´t start working on this program I didn´t feel conscious about how the abortion was  considered in the society nowadays and also how the women feel  before, during and after taking this horrible decision. Secondly, the way that in the EMC centers handle with the girls are quite good. I´m trying to learn how to do it as soon as I could but mostly I´m trying pray for those girls who are considering the abortion option.

One of my first counseling is something that I want to mention. I get very impressed because the women at first sight it seemed that it would be really hard to help them but when you started the first contact you realize that is not as difficult as it seems so this let me know that the key is to listen to them.  For example, Last day a 22 years old lady came because she  realized the day before that she was pregnant so we carried on with the sonogram and  by surprised we heard two heart beat instead of one. She  was having twins!!!

I will inform you about more thinks of this internship and the things that I learn about life

Excitement

This week has been my first working as an intern for EMC. During these past days I have met many young women who came into the office because they were pregnant.

Some of them had taken a pregnancy test and wanted to get a sonogram to know how far they were; others had no idea if they were pregnant or not.  Most of these women didn’t know if they wanted to keep the baby, so I was wondering what I could say that would make them choose life. There are many possible answers to this question, and on my third day a couple reminded me one of them.

On Wednesday a women came in. She said she had taken a pregnancy test and it was positive, so she wanted to get a sonogram to make sure. We were talking and I asked her what she wanted to do. She said she had no idea, cause she hadn’t planned it and was a bit in a shock. She said her boyfriend wanted to keep the baby. When she was about to go into the room to get the ultrasound her boyfriend arrived and came in with her.

It was amazing to see the look in his eyes when we started to see the baby in the screen. When he heard the baby’s heartbeat he was absolutely speechless. His eyes were wide open and he started to mumble how amazing it was, wondering how that could be possible.

He looked really excited. That made me see we need to remind people how exciting being a parent is. A baby represents a new life that comes from two different ones. Sometimes we focus on how hard raising a baby and taking care of him, but we should always remember how exciting it is. Even the smallest stuff is amazing about them: their first steps, the way they stare at everything, how they laugh when you make ugly faces…

And that’s what I wanted to say, that no one should miss all the excitement and fun having baby is, no matter how difficult it looks, it always gives back.