My last day in NYC

Today it's my last day in this beatiful city. I've learned that New York is the most visited city in the world because it's like all the world in one city. I'm very happy to have had this opportunity to work in this city.

The most important part of this month and a half here is that we've been working to fight against abortion. I'm glad for the work that EMC is doing here and very happy about all I've learned: how to do counseling with pregnant mothers, how to talk with woman who are seeking an abortion or just giving brouchures at Jerome avenue to spread awareness to the people in the street about what an abortion is.

I'm hoping to go back to Spain to continue with this work there and improve our work there with all we've learned, so again, thank you very much and see you soon.

Thank God

This tuesday I went to the Bronx center. I had the opportunity to do counseling with a 45 years old woman who was seeking an abortion. She is now one month pregnant. The reason why she was looking for an abortion is because her doctor told her that her son would probably be born with a malformation.

I started talking with her and showing a video about the procedures of an abortion, she was a little scared because she didn't know in what an abortion consists of, so she asked me, why are you doing abortions if is as horrible as it is showed in the video? After that I started talking with her because she was so confused. She wanted to keep her baby but on the other hand she didn't because of the possibility of being born with some problems. I told her that this is one thing she can't decide, it's only God who decides how you son is going to be. God only wants the best for every person, and a son with a malformation doesn't mean anything bad for you and your son, some people will not understand it because only God knows what is the best for everyone.

As a conclusion I have to say that we cannot decide if we want to kill our son because of a possible malformation, God will choose what is better for us. Finally the woman decided not to have the abortion and decided to save the life of her son.

Talking on the Sidewalk

I had the opportunity to sidewalk counsel at Emily's last Saturday. On Saturdays there's a lot of activity out there. There were a lot of pro-abortion volunteers and a lot of pro-life people praying and counseling.

First of all I prayed the rosary with the Franciscan friars for all the mothers and babies that entered the abortion clinic, the friars really surprised me because of the peace and joy they transmitted to people.

Then I tried to counsel a women who was leaving the clinic, but an escort hindered me from talking with her. I just gave her a brochure with information about how we can help her in all her needs and said that we will pray for her. After that, I asked the pro-abortion volunteer why they don't let us talk with the woman. He told me that they are scared of us because we are harassing them outside Emily's. So I started a conversation with him, first I told him that all we are doing is helping, that we don't want to hurt anybody. You only have to ask a woman what she feels after an abortion and how she feels after having her baby, here the difference is doing the correct thing and giving the world a new life.

The parable of good samaritan

Jesus answered, "A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way a Levite also, when he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he traveled, came where he was. When he saw him, he was moved with compassion, came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, and gave them to the host, and said to him, ‘Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return.’ Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?" He said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

That parable reminds me of the attitude that a prolifer has to have in life. You don't have to be a priest or a religious person in order to fight against abortion. When you see that something is wrong you have to fight in order to stop it.

Jerome Avenue

The past few days I've been working on Jerome Avenue. What we do there consists in showing the development of a baby in the womb of his mother and giving some brochures about the effects and consequences of abortion.

What I have discovered there is that people really don't know what abortion is. We, pro-lifers, should not be afraid to explain to people the importance of abortion and that what is in the womb of the mother is a baby, not a blob of tissue as pro-abortioners say.

In conclusion pro-lifers must fight against abortion because everybody in the first moment of his conception is a human being.

Information is what they need

On Monday, I was in Bronx and after watching a real abortion on TV, I had the opportunity to comment the video with a woman who was seeking an abortion. She was 20 years old and really worried about having the baby because she already had one and had some economic problems.

After watching the video, I was really affected, because I couldn’t understand how can people kill their babies in that manner, its so unnatural and extremely risky because all preacautions are not taken. I explained the my thoughts of the video to her. She was crying and very worried because she didn’t know what an abortion actually was and what serious risks it has. I explained her that despite the reasons for doing an abortion, there's always alternatives, like for example an adoption.

Moreover, it is a problem of ignorance, when you explain the procedures and the complicated risks that accompany, they realize what they are about to do and change their mind recognize that there is always a solution other than the abortive procedure in all their personal problems.

Some lies about our work

Today at Emily´s we were trying to talk to the women who were planning an abortion, volunteers from Emily´s were giving some brochures that acccused us of harassing South Bronx women.

In the brochure there’s a part that explains who we are (who are the protesters?), it says that we want to impose our ultra-conservative religious viewpoints and we are rightwing zealots. They say that we subject patients to scare tactics, intimidation and humiliation in an attempt to bully them into not having an abortion or using contraception.

First of all, I have to say that the few days I’ve been there trying to give some important information to women, we don’t use these scare tactics they are talking about. We only talk to them peacefully and without harassment.

Secondly, prolifers don’t have to be related with rightwing zealots, they only defend life no matter what their ideological position is, for example Gandhi, who wasn’t related with rightwing said once: “It seems to be clear as daylight that abortion would be a crime”.

Fredericksburg

Last week I had the opportunity to learn a lot about American history. There was a thing in the battlefield of Fredericksburg that impressed me a lot and remind me of pro-life, the story of Richard Rowland Kirkland, a Confederate Army sergeant.

Kirkland had a close up view to the suffering and like so many others was appalled at the cries for help of Union wounded. He gathered canteens and in broad daylight, without the benefit of a cease fire or a flag of truce, provided water to numerous Union wounded lying on the field of battle. Union soldiers held their fire as it was obvious what Kirkland's intent was.

This action made me think about our work in EMC, we want to help the unborn babies who can’t speak for their own and fight for their lives. One of the most remembered things about the civil war was this action I’ve explained, that wanted to save the life of defenseless people.

John Lennon and his son

This afternoon after being working in Queens I’ve gone to see John Lennon memorial. John Lennon, the author of Imagine, avoided the abortion of his son Sean Lennon, who was a son not planed. This story teaches us two things.

The first thing is that being prolifer doesn’t have to be related necessarily with conservatives ideas or orthodox Christian ideas.

Secondly, John Lennon is remembered as the singer of love, peace and truth. Which are values that have a lot of relation with pro life cause. Maybe because of that it was so easy for the musician to save the life of his son.

First day in Emilys

Yesterday I went to Doctor Emily's Clinic. I realized that we have to pray a lot because only God knows the needs of every mother. Each woman has special needs. We were there to explain to the women what abortion actually is because most of them wouldn’t do it if they had more knowledge about the problems and risks it presents to that person. We also offer them pregnancy tests and sonograms. Most of them think that an abortion is the best way to solve their problems, but it only aggravates their problems, they don’t know the physical and serious psychological problems abortion can cause.

Some women don’t want to talk with us because they don’t want to face reality, so we have to pray a lot in order to say the right words to each woman so we can assist them and save the future generation.

Another Spanish intern

Hello everybody, I am new here. I’m Oriol from Girona a pretty nice city in Spain. I study economics at the UPF college of Barcelona. I have a big family - I’m the second of five brothers. I can see from all of them happiness and love. I learned that life is a gift of God and we have to defend it.

I am very excited to have this opportunity to join EMC and fight against abortion because as a pro-lifer I think that we can do a lot to help pregnant mothers. I expect that we can all do a great job here in New York and also then when we come back to Spain with all we are going to learn.