A pro-life presence outside of Planned Parenthoods during this uncertain time tends to be even more discouraged than it is during normal times, however, there have been multiple instances in the past few months that have encouraged pro-lifers to keep going, and keep praying for and trying to talk to those women going inside the clinic for an abortion.
This past week, it came out that a woman and her baby had been saved from going through with an abortion in Aurora, Illinois. The husband of the woman considering abortion came to some pro-lifers who were praying on the street and told them that he and his wife were watching from across the street a few days prior; they were contemplating whether or not to get an abortion.
In a video posted online the husband tells the pro-lifers at the clinic,“I feel like if you guys weren’t out there that day, we probably would have [gone through with the abortion.]”
The husband goes on to explain that they have two other children who are still young, so they were afraid that having another child would be too much. He also explains that they didn’t necessarily go up to the abortion clinic blindly. They had done their own research, and he was sickened at what he saw, saying, “They told us that you actually see the baby when you take the pill… and we can’t see, come on, we can’t see that! That would traumatize me… and my wife, she can’t go through that.”
This is a very interesting point he made: when they had actually done their research, they saw how grotesque it was, but were still on the fence on whether or not to get an abortion. This is why we need to present the facts to those who oppose pro-life values, but we also need to pray for them. We need to be there when the women need us most! This couple knew that abortion was wrong. They knew that they didn’t want to go through with it, but they still thought that it was their only option. The fact that there were people outside the clinic that cared, the husband said, was the tipping point; it was this that gave them hope.
The husband explained further, “It’s scary, it really is scary, but now that John prays for me… he cares, and he doesn’t even know me, God cares much more; he’s God!” He explains how he felt comforted when he made the decision to keep the child. “He’s [God] gonna make this work.”
The work that pro-lifers do is often minimized, or made fun of. It’s often seen as excessive that we go to clinics as often as possible and spend a whole morning, or even a whole day, waiting outside for a woman to change her mind, praying that people use their hearts to decide to keep their children, and even being there when a woman has made that horrible, painful choice to kill her child. We don’t abandon her then; we make sure that, if she is willing, she gets the counseling she needs to heal. Stories like this one just reiterate to the world and especially the pro-life community how important it is to be there for people when they are on the brink of making a terrible, horrible decision that will haunt them for the rest of their life, and to tell them that there is hope, and life and love is beautiful.