Pro-Life Victories Archives - Page 4 of 6

Young woman chooses life after sidewalk counselor and crisis pregnancy center intervene

On this Thanksgiving, I would like to tell a story of pro-life victory, a story of life.

A young woman named Diana told the following story on the “Stories from the Sidewalk” series.

“I’ll never forget the day I found out I was pregnant. It was October 7, 2012. I had just returned from a retreat when I took a pregnancy test. I couldn’t believe it. I was active at Texas State’s Catholic Center and was a member of the Catholic sorority. I couldn’t let anyone find out I was pregnant – what would they say?

The baby’s father didn’t want a child and said he would pay for an abortion. Without his support, afraid of what others would say, and since I was expecting to graduate in just a few months, I scheduled an abortion.

I was the only person in the waiting room. I was really scared. The doctor had me sign some papers that he went through quickly. The examining room was dim and cold. There weren’t any pictures or posters like most doctor’s offices. He couldn’t confirm the pregnancy, so he asked me to reschedule. The next few days, I tried to live life as usual, but kept thinking of that little person inside me. Fortunately, one of my sorority sisters told me about [The John Paul II Life Center]. I didn’t want to go, but eventually, I did.

The JPII Life Center was very different from the abortion facility. It was warm… welcoming. Instead of doing the sonogram to determine how much they would charge me, they gave me one for free. I’ll never forget that sonogram. The doctor told me to lay very still. Then, he showed me the most breathtaking sight I had ever seen – a tiny pulse of red and blue. My baby’s heartbeat! I was only about 5 weeks pregnant, but my baby’s heart was already beating. I knew I couldn’t abort my child.

But later, reality hit. My mom made it very clear that she wanted nothing to do with me or my baby. If I didn’t have an abortion, I would lose my cell phone, my car, my tuition, my apartment. Without the help of my parents, there was no way I could finish school or support myself. How could I take care of a baby?

I choked back tears as I made an appointment at another abortion clinic. Thankfully, God placed the right person at exactly the right time in exactly the right place. As I drove up to [the abortion clinic], I saw a familiar face praying outside the clinic. Then, I heard my name.

“Diana, what are you doing here?” It was Judy [a Sidewalk Counselor and also a counselor] from The JPII Life Center. I ran up to her and was greeted with a warm embrace. I told her my situation and she welcomed me into her home. Within a few hours, she, her husband and The JPII Life Center found me a place to stay and help with tuition.

I didn’t know it at the time, but while this was going on, Drew Mariani and the listeners at Relevant Radio were also praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for me and my parents.

When I finally worked up the courage to tell my father, he reacted completely different from what I expected. He said he would stand behind my decision. And, he insisted that my mother do the same.

After that day, I knew everything would be ok. Since then, I have graduated from Texas State and gave birth to Enrique, who is loved by me and his grandparents. Without The JPII Life Center, [Relevant Radio and the Coalition for Life], I would not have my baby’s life – or even my own. You see, if I’d gone through with that abortion, not only would it have ended my son’s life, I would have taken my own life. [They] saved us both…
and I am forever grateful.”

Diana’s story shows how even a religious person can have an abortion when the stress of an unplanned pregnancy becomes overwhelming. Her story is a good reason why priests and pastors should talk about abortion and educate their congregations not just about abortion facts but also about places then can go if they become pregnant. Religious pregnant women often have the added stress of fearing what their congregation will think if they have a baby. This leads many frightened Christians to have abortions. With abortion such an easy option, always available, people panic. Always support mothers, whether or not they are married. They have made a brave choice.

Share on Facebook

College students have their babies and succeed despite proabortion pressure

An article in The American Feminist talked about how difficult it is for pregnant college students to have their babies because they get so much pressure to abort, and because they are often made to feel they must choose between their babies and their education. The article says:

“Student parents on campuses across the country often ﬁnd that practical resources and emotional support are missing.”

The article quotes student parent Amanda Sykes:

“I was told repeatedly that I would never be able to be both a mother and a student; I would have to choose….

Classmates, certain acquaintances, and even some perfect strangers told me that I would regret having my son because he would ruin my life. They were wrong. My son, and now my child due in February, have made me more motivated than ever to be a success in all things.”

Another student, identified only as Levesque, talked about the pressure she got from family to abort her child:

“They said I would end up as trailer trash and on welfare because I couldn’t possibly do it all. I wanted to get an abortion and my family wanted me to [get an abortion] too. I even had an appointment, but my boyfriend spent hours on the phone trying to talk me out of it. If he had encouraged me to get an abortion, too, I would have done it….

My family, immediate and extended, save for only a few individuals, heavily pushed abortion, telling me that I was a disappointment and I had so much potential that I was wasting. I graduated this past May at age 23 with a BA in sociology, magna cum laude, and the highest GPA in the department. I am now the first individual on that pro-abortion side of my family to graduate from college.”

Chaunie Brusie “Good News or Bad News? Pregnancy and Parenting Resources Make a Difference” The American Feminist Winter 2011/2012

These two stories show that, with support, college students can have their children and still graduate. They also highlight the immense pressure that college students can be under to abort their babies.

Share on Facebook

The canary in the mine; we are losing, says abortion provider

“This is the canary in the mine…. I mean, we’re clearly losing. There is no question, we’re losing.”

Diane Derzis is president of the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the only abortion provider in the state of Mississippi. She is discussing the clinic regulations that are threatening to shut down her abortion business.

Fewer abortion clinics mean more babies like the one below surviving instead of being brutally killed.

Clinic regulations also prevent the terrible conditions found in some clinics.

Share on Facebook

Some women do not have abortions due to protesters, says clinic administrator

Journalist Frank Main wrote an article about an abortion clinic and interviewed its administrator, Esther McGuire. He says:

“Women seeking abortions must walk past protesters with the protection of pro-choice clinic escorts. Some of the women become angry, while others burst into tears. Fewer women come back another day, while a handful decide to keep their babies, McGuire said.

“I’m not sure that’s so bad if they were that uncertain anyway,” she said.

Whether or not this abortion clinic administrator really is as accepting of women changing their minds as she seems, or whether she is merely trying to give that impression to an interviewer, this quote shows that women DO change their minds as a result of pro-life activity outside of abortion clinics. Sidewalk counseling DOES save lives.

Main goes on to say:

“McGuire said some women who have obtained abortions at the Delta women’s clinic went on to protest abortions at the clinic, underlying what she described as widespread hypocrisy about the issue.”

8 week old unborn baby – most abortions are done at this time or later. Even saving ONE baby like this one is a tremendous victory.

Or it could mean that these women were emotionally or maybe even physically hurt by their abortions, and that after they experienced the reality of how horrible abortion was, they wanted to spare other women the same trauma that they went through. Many postabortion women are now pro-life and are active in crisis pregnancy center work or sidewalk counseling. Many times, they are the most effective pro-lifers because they have been there. They are not hypocrites; rather, they know firsthand the destructive power that abortion has over women. They know what it’s like to face a crisis pregnancy, and they want to help others.

Even a “handful” of lives saved is a victory.

Frank Main “Clinic Administrator Believes Women Must Have an Option” (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) Morning Advocate July 5, 1992

Share on Facebook

Woman on her way too an abortion clinic sees Choose Life license plate, chooses against abortion

Sometimes something as simple as a “Choose Life” license plate on a car makes a huge difference in someone’s life. One article tells the story of a woman who was on her way to an abortion clinic:

“On her way to the abortion clinic she followed a car with a Choose Life license plate. As she got closer, she could not bring herself to keep her appointment. The message on the plate spoke so loudly to her. She followed through with her pregnancy and now has a nine-month-old son.”

As told by Russ and Jill Amerling in Judy Madsen Johnson Stories from the Frontlines: the Battle against Abortion, (self published, 2014) 97

Share on Facebook

South Carolina abortions dropped by 53% between 1988 and 2004

Abortions in South Carolina peaked at 14,133 in 1988. In 2004, the number of abortions had dropped to 6,565, a 53% reduction that far exceeds the national decline.

LET COMMON SENSE PREVAIL National Right to Life News June 1, 2008

Share on Facebook

Pro-choice activist laments pro-life “public opinion” victory

Lynn Paltrow, executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women [a project of the pro-abortion Women’s Law Center] described how the pro-choice side has been lacking passionate activists for their cause.

“There’s no radical left anymore screaming, `Free abortions on demand!'” The anti-abortion right scored its first public-opinion grab in 1995, with the bold war over so-called “partial-birth abortion.”

Sharon Lerner “A New Kind of Abortion War”, The Village Voice 12/26/2001

Share on Facebook

Sidewalk counselors from Catholics United for Life save lives

An article appeared in The Fresno Bee about Catholics United for life, and pro-life sidewalk counselors, that describes some of the women that were helped.

“Martha, twenty-one, an unmarried mother of four children (ages five, two, one, and three months). She met the sidewalk counselors as they she [sic] entered a clinic, on her way to abort her fourth baby. Unemployed and on welfare, Martha said she didn’t think she could “handle” another child.

But, she explained, “Molly [a sidewalk counselor] came up and she told me if God didn’t think I could handle another, He wouldn’t give it to me.”

Martha decided against an abortion, but she needed help. She and her children were sleeping on the floor of her sister’s house. She said Catholics United for life gave her family a place to live. It paid the first months’ rent, in addition to purchasing furniture and food.”

And another woman:

“Mary, twenty-four, unmarried, living in California with her brother, had a well-to-do family back home in Latin America. Her brother suggested an abortion because an illegitimate child born to another member of the family had caused major problems.

At the abortion clinic, the sidewalk counselors assured Mary that they would help her with medical care and living expenses if she went through with her pregnancy. Mary and her brother, who had accompanied her to the clinic, both agreed for her to continue with the pregnancy.

Mary said she was relieved. “When I left the house, I didn’t really want to do it. I asked God if I’m not supposed to do it, show me – and that’s when I met these guys [the sidewalk counselors.]”

A third woman. These were all at the same clinic

“Deborah, twenty-seven, married, mother of four children (ages six, four, one, and two weeks) Deborah said her husband didn’t always provide money for the family to live on, necessitating her to work in the fields. The news that a fourth baby was on the way posed a major problem. “When you’re pregnant, they won’t give you a job anymore,” she explained.

Foot of an aborted baby at 9 weeks.

At the abortion clinic, Deborah said the counselors from Catholics United for life, showed her pictures of aborted fetuses….“I was of the belief that a baby is unformed until three months, that before that it was a little ball. But they explained that it was formed from the beginning.”

Catholics United for life gave Deborah financial help.

“Pro-Life Counselors, Pound the Pavement to Dissuade Abortion” The Fresno Bee, Sunday, January 23, 1983

Sidewalk counselors save lives every day. These babies are now in their late teens or twenties. Some may even have children of their own. The good pro-lifers do lasts generations.

Share on Facebook

One pro-life activist successfully thwarts abortion clinic

In 1997, a friend, Nick Frankovitch, sent me this email:

“A woman from the Bronx used to come down to the upper West side on Saturdays to demonstrate in front of the abortion clinic near Lincoln Center. She drew a small following over time. They would carry the usual signs (e.g., Abortion Kills Children). They weren’t particularly Gandhi like, but they weren’t particularly vicious either. From all descriptions, the woman from the Bronx seemed to be an unpretentious, working-class Hispanic woman who had strong feelings about unborn children.

The landlord of the building in which the clinic was located began to receive complaints from neighbors – tenants and other merchants (it’s a very toney, high rent neighborhood) so he elected not to renew the clinic’s lease. The clinic sued for discrimination. They lost. Then the clinic went all over the Upper West Side looking for a space. No landlord would rent to them. Representatives of the clinic claimed that at meetings with prospective landlords and community leaders everyone would be sporting their pro-choice buttons and voicing their strong support for the work the clinic was doing. Then they would vote against renting space to the clinic on their block. I believe the clinic then ended up working out of space in a Planned Parenthood clinic further downtown (although as of last fall they began running ads in the Columbia student newspaper, I believe the new address is on the Upper West Side again.)

The significance of this story, as a local weekly newspaper pointed out issue after issue, was that it was happening in a neighborhood where virtually everyone and their dog was pro-choice. The newspaper articles emphasized complaints that these upper West sider’s were hypocritical and weak kneed, caving in to fears of lower property values, etc. I wrote a letter to the editor pointing out that the story also points to the ambivalence beneath all the official pro-choice rhetoric. Most people who think abortion should be legal agree with the woman from the Bronx that it’s a sad thing, and they would rather the abortion clinic be far enough away that they don’t always have to be thinking about what takes place there.

So one person, acting under conviction, was able to close the clinic (at least temporarily) almost single-handedly, just by standing in front of it and speaking plainly about abortion. And just as important, her action had the effect of bringing to light the demonstrations against abortion that even people who call themselves pro-choice carry on silently in the back of their mind.

Never underestimate what one person can do.

Share on Facebook

Woman changes her mind about aborting baby after seeing ultrasound in abortion clinic

unbornbaby10weeksultrasound — Ultrasound of baby at 10 weeks, a little younger than the baby in this quote

A pro-life website received the following testimony:

“I have one child (2 years old). He is my heart and soul. I contemplated having an abortion with him. I went all the way to the clinic and proceeded with the preparations. However, I when I [sic] was given the sonogram, I asked to see my child living and breathing through me. I was 11 weeks pregnant. I saw my son on the screen kicking and moving his arms! I could not believe it. At that point, I asked for my money back (I could only get a portion), and I left that clinic and did not look back.”

While Planned Parenthood has been promoting a study which purports to show that seeing an ultrasound image does not influence women’s decisions of whether or not to abort (conducted based on the records from one abortion clinic by researchers who likely never actually set foot in that clinic to observe what was going on), one has to wonder why, if ultrasound viewing really has no impact on a woman’s decision, pro-choice groups oppose these laws so strenuously and spent tens of thousands of dollars fighting them in court.

Share on Facebook