Complex Case

What a week we have had! A couple of days ago, some of us interns spent the morning side-walk counselling outside Dr. Emily's abortion facility in the Bronx. We spoke with some women and handed out leaflets at a reasonable distance from the entrance. A few hours in, the security guard must have felt threatened by our presence ... He called the police. The girl nearest the front door was well out with the 15 feet boundary, so the police seemed less than impressed that they'd been called out 'again' for nothing. When the police left, the security guard followed one of the interns around. He was trying to intimidate her. Luckily, Hannah was not upset by this and stood her ground. A true prolife warrior!

For the second half of that day, I went to the Bronx clinic. For five hours I sat with one woman - an extremely complex case. In short, this woman wanted to have her baby, but an incredible number of unfortunate circumstances placed doubt and fear in her mind. She was told this pregnancy could kill her, she and her family are about to move away, she has job interviews lined up, she has plans for her life that don't include another baby. On the other hand, she feels like she knows this one is a girl, her boyfriend is desperate to keep his daughter, she keeps finding herself in the baby aisle of the supermarket, and she 'knew' she was pregnant before she missed her period. The five hours consisted of a lot of uncertainty and fear.

We discussed her belief in God and His plan for her life. She feels her baby would be better off in heaven and that she has been forgiven for her past abortion. (We talked about John 8:4-11 for a while. 'And Jesus said, “... Go and sin no more.”') We discussed at length the place God had in her life and how He brings life and takes it away. She left the office still undecided so please pray for a conversion of heart, and that a good doctor can assess her situation and give her the truth (It has been known for people with big families to be told that future pregnancies would be dangerous to their health by their doctors).

As I mentioned, this is a very complex case - God alone can work this out. 

One last thing I'd like to mention about this situation, is that during our session, we discussed how the current law is influencing her decision. She knows God doesn't want her to have an abortion, but as the law allows it, she feels she can make the decision and that in time she will heal and be forgiven again. 

This crime - that society accepts and normalises the fact that women undergo surgery to make them equal to men, but ridding their pregnant bodies of their children - is unbelievable. One day, I truly believe we will look back and ask where we all were when these lives were being taken, and when women were demeaned in the name of choice.

A C. S. Lewis quote from The Screwtape Letters comes to mind:

"The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid ‘dens of crime’ that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices."

How true.

God bless, Vx. 

Our Lady of Gaudalupe, pray for us.

St Michael the Archangel, pray for us.