“Mary Lou Hendry, sanctity of human life director for the Florida Baptist Children’s Home, said every woman who has agreed to an ultrasound exam in its mobile unit and has viewed an image of her child has chosen life. Cheri Martin said the success rate of ultrasound at the San Marcos, Texas, center is 95 percent.”
A reporter wrote about a woman who came to New Life Pregnancy Center intending to have an abortion. The article quotes Debbie Gillmore, director of the center:
“The woman declined the center’s gift of a baby hat, saying, “No. I’m not so sure I want to go through with this,” Gillmore recalled.”
The pregnant woman later came back for an appointment to see her baby on the ultrasound. The article says:
“The ultrasound technician displayed on the monitor her unborn child, arms and legs moving. When the beating heart appeared on the monitor, the woman blurted out, “There it is,” Gillmore reported in a written account. The technician gave the pregnant woman a model of an unborn baby about the developmental age of hers that she had just observed. Holding the fetal model, the woman looked at the face and paused before telling the technician, “Well, I guess I’d better start thinking about a name.”
Debbie Gillmore, New Life Pregnancy Center in Tempe, Ariz, says that a woman wanting an abortion went to her center.
The woman declined the center’s gift of a baby hat, saying, “No. I’m not so sure I want to go through with this,” Gillmore recalled.
Later, the woman saw her baby on an ultrasound:
“The ultrasound technician displayed on the monitor her unborn child, arms and legs moving. When the beating heart appeared on the monitor, the woman blurted out, “There it is,” Gillmore reported in a written account.
The technician gave the pregnant woman a model of an unborn baby about the developmental age of hers that she had just observed. Holding the fetal model, the woman looked at the face and paused before telling the technician, “Well, I guess I’d better start thinking about a name.”
An obstetrical nurse who recorded videos of preborn babies in the womb on ultrasound, speaks about the babies she recorded:
“These kids will be able to watch themselves in the womb! It could have a huge impact on abortions. Even at five or six weeks, a week or two after the first missed period, we can see a beating heart. I think it will make a difference.”
Harriet Hamilton, an obstetrical nurse with 42 years’ experience who works at Dr. Wolfson’s office in Colorado Springs
Karla Dial “Bringing Good Things to Life “ Citizen June 2003
Crisis pregnancy center worker Barbara Chishko says the following of women who come to her center:
“They have a developing baby within them. They have been told it is just a blob of tissue, but when they see the ultrasound, they are able to see arms and legs. Women understand what is really happening after an ultrasound.”
Dr. Bernard Nathanson, who did thousands of abortions but is now pro-life:
“Ultrasound technology has been really the apparatus which has put the window in the womb. This was the first time we really could see the baby. Up till that time we never could. I mean, x-rays were static. You couldn’t really use x-rays to prove or disprove much of anything about the fetus. But ultrasound gives us these very clear, precise pictures, allows us to stimulate the child, see how it breathes, see how it moves, see how it swallows, see how it urinates, see how everything happens.
Now, there’s been a new advance in this ultrasound technology which is known as transvaginal sonography. It’s very exciting. [Before] pictures were great, but they don’t compare to these pictures – it’s valuable for very early pregnancies.
We can see the gestational sac – the little sac of the pregnancy at two weeks following fertilization now with transvaginal sonography. [We] can see the heart beginning to beat at around 3 to 3 1/2 weeks now. So this has pushed back or updated a great many of our data about the unborn baby.
And I don’t doubt that there are new technologies coming even now; for example, color ultrasound which is going to give us even clearer, more vivid pictures and increase our knowledge about the unborn patient here.”
Initial transcript, The Ankerberg Theological Research Institute, Is Abortion Justifiable? Televised program, January 1990, 7
Pro-Abortion reporter Allison Stevens described an ultrasound she had when early in her pregnancy:
“The doctor spread some clear gel on my belly and rubbed the “camera” over my skin as my husband and I fixed our eyes on the monitor and eventually saw the embryo that would grow into a fetus and (we hope) our first child.
When I first laid eyes on that tiny white egg, I had the kind of reaction that opponents of abortion say often accompanies ultrasounds: a deeper connection to the growing life within me. Taking a look into the “window of the womb” certainly intensified my excitement and fears about becoming a first-time parent…
As a pregnant woman, I understand why abortion opponents are pushing state laws to give women the opportunity to view their fetuses in ultrasound images; at least for me, seeing the embryo on the screen helped the reality of the pregnancy sink in.”
I suspect that Stevens is being euphemistic in her description of a “tiny white egg.” A preborn baby’s heartbeat starts at 21 days after conception (and based one one study as early as 16 days). She would have seen her child’s heart beating.
A 17 year old whose boyfriend broke up with her when she got pregnant decided on abortion. She explains what happened the first time she went to an abortion clinic:
“The abortion clinic employee informed me that I would go to a consultation appointment first. Then, 24 hours later, the actual abortion would be performed… They called me back, and the doctor gave me an exam and ultrasound. The screen was turned away from my eyes, so I didn’t have a chance to see my baby. I saw him listen to my baby with the fetal Doppler, but he wore headphones, so I didn’t get a chance to hear the heartbeat, either. But even without hearing or seeing the baby, my heart still ached…
After the exam, I went to the front desk to schedule the actual procedure, but because they were so booked, I would have to wait another week… Every day I could feel this thing inside me was actually growing, but I stood firm in my abortion plans.
On the day before my procedure… I received a phone call from the abortion clinic. They would not be able to perform my abortion. A law had just passed in the House of Representatives, and it shut down all but four abortion clinics in Texas.…
I was still determined to end the life of my baby. I made an appointment at one of the four abortion clinics left in Texas, two hours away. ….
I woke up the morning of my appointment with butterflies in my stomach. But these butterflies weren’t from nervousness. No. They were the flutter of little feet kicking against my tummy. I knew in my heart that this was not a mass of cells… However, I got dressed and made my way to the appointment… They gave me another exam and limited the view of the ultrasound just like before.…
They informed me that I had a urinary tract infection and I would have to wait another week while I took antibiotics…So yet again, I scheduled my appointment for another week later…
That evening, I received a call from my mom. She asked if I would be willing to go get another ultrasound at a local pregnancy center. I was strongly against this, as I knew going someplace like that would make the decision much harder. John [her boyfriend, who wanted the abortion] told me not to go. However, I felt that in order to make my mother happy, I must at least just check this place out, because I already knew I was 100% set on having the abortion… I wasn’t all too excited to sit and be judged by a room full of people telling me how wrong it was to get this abortion.
When I walked in, all I saw was smiling faces. I signed in, and they took me into a back room and began to talk with me. My counselor was smiling and understanding, and she was listening to the words I was saying… They offered to give me an ultrasound, and not thinking that I would be able to identify or see anything – just like at the abortion clinic – I agreed…
3d ultrasound, 2nd trimester
That’s when I saw it. I saw a head with a brain. I saw little arms followed by 10 little fingers. I saw tiny legs with two tiny feet moving and kicking around. But most of all, I saw and heard a beating heart. I lay there watching my daughter’s steady beating heart, and I knew that baby was my baby. Tears flooded my eyes. I loved that fluttering heartbeat inside me. I loved this baby, and I knew she deserved life. At that moment, I chose life for my daughter, and I believe by doing so, I chose life for myself.”
Mike G Williams Thank You for Saving My Life (2016) 120 – 125
A woman who was considering abortion came to a crisis pregnancy center. She chose life when she saw and listened to her baby’s heartbeat.
“When we came to the pregnancy clinic for our ultrasound, this tiny baby appeared on the screen, and the nurse pointed out her tiny, flickering heart. All of a sudden, the room filled with the sound of my baby’s heartbeat. Have you ever heard the incredible beat of a tiny life–seeking human heart? In that moment, I had this overwhelming feeling of love. I knew she was my baby and was meant to be mine. It was in that little ultrasound room that my mind changed, my heart changed, and my future changed…
3d ultrasound in first trimester
Kaylee Ann was born in early summer: healthy, happy, and beautiful. The help from the pregnancy clinic didn’t just stop with my sonogram. They stayed with us all the way through the pregnancy… I can’t imagine not having Katy Lee in my life. I certainly can’t imagine the alternative we were considering. If it wasn’t for the pregnancy clinic and those who sponsor it, my daughter would not be here today. They provided me with the opportunity to meet the love of my life, and I am so grateful.”
Mike G Williams “Thank You for Saving My Life” (2016) 38 – 40
