A Goodby That Disguises A See You Later

My time in the big city has now come to an end, I have to get back to my country, to my life. But I'm definatelly not going back to the way I was. This experience has taught me so much, I will never be able to forget what I've seen, and how blessed I've been to be able to meet all this women and touch their hearts.

I've learned a lot from my fellow interns, but especially from the directors of the centers. Carolina (Queens) and Linda (Brooklyn) have taught me how valuable every life is, and to give everything we are to those woman in need. HOW TO LOVE THEM BEYOND MEASURE.

Their example and hard work has been a life changing thing to witness, and I hope I picked up some of their talent. I've loved talking to women who needed help, and mostly helping them find the strenght that layed inside of them, so they could embrace the gift of life they had been awarded with.

I leave behind a great city, but specially great people, great friends that have made their way into my heart as well as made me into a better person, and for that I will allways be grateful.

I hope to take back home all that I've learned over this two months, all my moms for whom I'll be praying. And maybe come back in the future, to this amazing city, hopefully with less abortion thanks to this great organization.

Keep up the great work EMC!!!

Sizes Don't Define Us

All arround, people are tall, short, skinny, big, normal.... All kinds of sizes, but those can't define who we are, and definatelly not our dignity or value. That seems very ovious to most people, and we see campaigns all over stating that big is beautiful, but what about small?


Let's be straight foward, I'm a big girl, very tall, and not the slimmest christian in the Bible, but, above all of it, I'm a person. All my life I've been trying to fight for people to see me beyond my measures, but nobody ever doubted my value as a person, though.


In this generation that is sometimes a luxury, we live in very visual times, and for most people, what you see is what you get, appearance is all that counts. And that goes to extremes when we think of the unborn. A lot of people think that they are just of a bundle of cells, but what are we adults in not a bigger bundle??













Size cannot define who we are, and much less WHAT we are, specially when that could determine the line between life and death. 1 week, 12 weeks, 24 weeks, or 22 years, why should that make the difference between beeing worthy of living or not?? I'll tell you: IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.


Mothers feel that specially when they hear their baby's heart beat, it doesn't matter if they cannot see it, or if its to early for him or her ho have regular human form. They know it's him, their child, and they wouldn't throw him over a bridge just because of their size or form. It doesn't matter whether their baby is 4 weeks or eight months, LOVE has no eyes or measuring tape.

Miracle babies

When I counsel women I think about their hopes, their dreams, but mostly about all the fears they tell me about. All of that is very important, but we cannot leave aside their reality, they are pregnant, and that's something they cannot undo.

Once we talk I to them I realize a lot of women think that they just can put their pregnancies on hold and get back at them whenever they feel "ready". They think their babies will be stored and waiting for them to want them, but sadly that's not the case. Their babies are as unique as they are, and ending their pregnancies is ending their son or daughter FOREVER.


 We cannot forget we are all miracles, and when I see girls coming back with their babies to the office, it's heartbreakingly beautiful. They are miracle babies, precious and loved in a unique way, because their mothers realized it, and fought for them.

                                                          
After we coulsel girls, it is such as important to do the follow ups, as well as very frightening for the counselor. What if she was presured, if she felt cornered and didn't believe you coud really help her? But all that doubts disapear when you talk to them, when they tell you how loved they feel, and specially how they realized they love their child.

 (Me with miracle baby)

My first follow up was a marvelous woman, she had struggled all her life, but once she saw her baby through the sonogram machine, she fell completely and unconditionally in love with her, and when I called her to see how she was doing, she told me she already had been set up with prenatal and was taking care of herself and her baby.

We will continue to help her, but the most important part has already been done. We loved and cared for her so she would be able to do the same for her child.

Fighting Never Stops

Last week we went to Washington D.C. for a demonstration aginst the mandate that includes abortion in the basic coverage of all health insurances, even the ones provided by pro-life employers and the Catholic Church.

After it we had the chance to learn about the history of the city, as well as the country, which are very intertwined. For me, as a foreniger, what surprised me the most was how all the major fights and events in this country had been about liberty and equality. Fighting for it, preserving it, and celebrating it.

But now, the fight has changed, even though we are fighting for the same, now we don't fight each other on battlefields, or in war boats. We we fight for the equality of the unborn, but the real fight is for the truth. Once back, people were teached that african americans weren't real people, that they were inferior, and as hard as that may be to believe, beople accepted it as the truth.


Until a man rose up and fought for the truth, and many more folowed. But our endevor these days may be even greater, because the unborn, unlike african americans, cannot speak up, fight for themselves.

They can only hope we will protect them, fight for them with everything that we've got, because after all, somebody fought for us before we came. We were protected in the womb and in society.

As the great figures of history such as the Founding Fathers and Reverend Martin Luther King fought for our liberty and equality, now is our turn to fight against the injustice of abortion, even when it seems hard. Because all great things have been achieved with even GREATER EFFORT.

I Love You Bro

Myself, as I believe a lot of people do, don't usually think at first about the other sibbilings, when  thinking of an abortion. In that ecuation the only factor is the mother, and if you dare to go over the top you would only think of the dad.


But what about the sibilings? I would definately have something to say if  someone were to do something to my brothers or sister.


Aren't kids great that way? You cannot cheat your way arround their thoughts, or manipulate the reality for them. They just don't get how can they can be stripped off their brother or sister over the excuse of a choice.

The other day I was counseling a girl and we got talking about her children, and when I asked her about their thoughts, she didn't even hesitate. She told me her children would be super excited, and that if they knew what she was about to do she wouldn't be able to do it. 


She wouldn't be able to explain how she was pregnant with their brother or sister and was going to stop beeing. Where would she tell them that child went? It couldn't have just disapeared, it must have died, and mommy had let it happen.


Kids have a lot to say when it comes to abortion, sibilings are bound to protect each other from every harm, EVEN ABORTION.

When You Are Gone

We all know death is a given in life, we will all come to it at some point, and will leave grief for the ones who loved us. The other day I was lisening to the radio and an Eminem song came up, and a phrase of the lyrics caught my attention: "Have you ever love someone so much, when you know they were your heart, And you know you were their armor"

That's what everything is really about when you really think about abortion, the loss, the pain, what a lot of mothers don't realize is that her babies are their hearts, and they are their armor.

One girl came to the Queens office the other day very abortion minded, she didn't want the baby because she already had a miscarriage and her doctor told her she was on a very high risk of having another one.

She didn't want to go through all that hurt again, all that loss, she knew the risks an abortion had for her health, and was willing to go through all of that, just to avoid the pain. But as soon as she heard her baby's heart through the sonogram machine, her life completely changed. She started crying, she already loved her child, she just hadn't realized it jet.

All that pain, that grief when you lose a child, she wasn't going to avoid it, she just was going to make sure it happened without knowing it. But even worse, as the song I quoted before said: "What happens when you become the main source of a pain?"

She was going to go through a heart breaking hurt, and she was going to be the source of it. Deceived by a culture that manipulates women into going against their strongest instinct: PROTECTING THEIR CHILDREN.

Each Girl Counts

"Don't worry about the numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest to you."- Mother Theresa of Calcuta.

A lot of times we can lose sight of the importance of every inividual and get lost in the numbers, but every girl who is saved from the horrors of abortion is precious and worth all the troubles.

I usually work at the Queens office which is a really busy one, but the days when we see 15 girls are just as important as the ones where we see 3. All their stories are important, and just helping one single woman make the right decission, is worth all the work. When a baby is born that wouldn't have been born otherwise, is all that we can ask for. Just one girl, just one baby is more than enough.

Daddy Loves You Too

When we think about pregnancy and abortion we usually think about the mother. Her child, her decission, her choice. But what about the fathers? Don't they count at all? It takes two to make a baby, it should take two to make any decission about him/her.

The other day in the Queens center a very young woman came in alone looking for an abortion. As we got talking, she started to tell me about her life, how she didn't feel prepared to have another baby. When I asked her about her boyfriend I was suprised to hear he wanted to have the baby, he had told her he would take care of it if she didn't want it.

He felt already connected to his child, and although his opinion wasn't officially relevant, he did have an innate right to his son or daughter, to care for him/her, to protect him/her.

At the end the woman decided to have her baby and give it to her boyfriend, so the dad was the hero for the baby, the one that made the difference. We should never underestimte the importance of fathers, real man that speak up for their children not listening to a society that leaves them off the hook, dads who care and protect their babies

Gifts

When a woman changes her mind about abortion is when the real help starts. Realizing they love their baby even though they haven't met him is the easy part, the natural part. A mother needs a lot of help to raise her child, specially when the baby daddy is not arround, so there is when we come in.

Today I've been doing deliveries of baby stuff to expectant mothers, and seeing the joy and appreciation in their faces warmed my heart. A little help goes a long way with this women that have already made the decission to give their babies a chance, and are struggling with how to care for them.

The furniture we would dismiss for being a tad old, or not very fashonable, they are ectstatic to accept and enthusiastic about whatever they can give their child. They are willing to sacrifice themselves for their unborn child, and we have to do uor best to help them with whatever we can because every life is a gift and worth the effort. All lives count.

The Truth Will Set You Free

Unless we know the truth we cannot choose freely. That seems very ovious, but at the same time there are lots of women out there willing to make a life changing decision such as abortion without really knowing what is that they are really doing.

This is where the truth makes an appearance, and with abortion this is even more true, because you are not just messing with your body but there is also an independent life involved.

The other day, as I was counseling a young woman strongly abortion minded I asked her, do you really know what abortion is? She tought about it for a minute and then told me, she didn't. She was about to get a surgical procedure without really knowing what it was.

 

When I showed her that abortion was not a curative procedure and that pain and suffering were atached for her as well as her unborn child who would feel the whole thing, she realized she wasn't freely choosing it, she would never do something like that.  She chose parenting without even thinking about it twice, because when it comes to the truth there wasn't a choice for her.

Baby Bottles

Sometimes we don't realize small gestures can make big changes, so we dismiss the chance to do our part, as little as it may be.

For a week, I've been doing the pick ups  for the baby bottle campaign, wich raises money via filling up baby bottles distributed by parishes with whatever people can afford. Sometimes they are filled with bills, but other times they are just full of pennies.

Those pennies are just as precious as the big bills because those can also make a change, and added all together are a big help to the struggling mothers that are looking for help. My penny with your penny and everybody else's means big hope, so we can never dismiss the power of little efforts, because as I've witness this week, that put together, do great things.

Hope for YOU

When problems appear on your way sometimes your vision can be clouded with concern, and not see clearly all the possiblilities you could encounter.

The other day, a young woman came to the Queens office desperate for a way out of her unplanned pregnancy. We talked to her, and for the frst time she realized there was hope for her. We could help her, she was worth all the troubles and she and her child deserved a real chance.

Life had not been gentle to her,  but getting rid of her baby, she realized wasn't gonna solve any of her problems, it was just going to add to them. Now she had a chance, an opportunity to do things right, with some help, there was HOPE.

Options

The first day working at Queens was very exciting as well as frightening. I saw amazing counselors giving advice and offering help to girls that were lost and afraid.

But at the end of the day all that girls really want is someone to really care for them, somebody to tell them that they are good enough and capable of raising their baby.  They just need a little bit of help.

Women, specially in this city are fighters and when you give them options, the real option wich is continue to be the mothers they already are, they will make the right choices, the choice that doesn't hurt them, the choice which they already been awarded with: LIFE.

The new spaniard on the block

Hello everyone!! My name is Marta Martinez, I’m 22 years old and a law and bussiness student in Madrid which is located in the center of Spain. I’m very passionate about the protection of all life, so I’m very happy to join EMC for the summer, I’m also very excitined to be living in a crazy and amazing city like New York.

I feel very blessed to be here and work helping women in difficult situations who feel traped and wiew abortion as their only option. I hope to help them  realize the beautiful gift of the life they are carrying, and give them the tools and help they need so they feel capable to be the mothers the already are.