'Crack was my friend,' ex-addict says (Ultrasound of her Baby made her seek treatment)

CNN ^ | 04.17.09 | David S. Martin

[Coleus]

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Crack-addicted Felicia Anderson was pregnant with her third child when an ultrasound changed the direction of her life. "You could hear that baby's heartbeat strong and steady. Really, that's her personality today, a strong, vibrant little girl. And at that time, laying there, tears starting rolling down my face," Anderson, 44, recalled. In that moment, Anderson vowed to stay off drugs, something she'd been unable to do in more than a decade addicted to crack cocaine, even when she was pregnant with her first two children. Anderson didn't think she could do it alone, so, like almost 2 million Americans a year, she entered a treatment program.

Anderson spent three weeks in residential treatment -- all she could afford -- but didn't think that was enough, so she enrolled in Mothers Making a Change, a year-long outpatient drug and alcohol program in Atlanta, Georgia. Three times as many Americans choose outpatient treatment as residential treatment, or rehab. It costs less, is more likely to be covered by insurance and does not require participants to leave work or their families for a month or more. The outpatient program Anderson chose, Mothers Making a Change, is designed especially for pregnant women and women with young children.

Anderson was both. At the time, her oldest daughter, Sierra, was 5; her middle child, Anicia, was almost 2. In addition to therapy and education, Mothers Making a Change provided transportation and offered free child care while Anderson was there. When she completed the program, Mothers Making a Change helped her find a job. "I can say with everything in me, with every bit of my breath, that program helped me turn my life around," said Anderson, who now runs a program to help the developmentally disabled in DeKalb County, Georgia.

[Coleus]

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[krb]

Ultrasound has to be amongst the most awesome technology we’ve come up with in the last 50 years.

[skr]

Hallelujah!

[EyeGuy]

“Ultrasound has to be amongst the most awesome technology we’ve come up with in the last 50 years.”

###

It is certainly a formidable weapon, providing irrefutable visible evidence in destroying the long-entrenched lies inherent in the support of abortion.

[Salvation]

Pray for an end to abortion and the conversion of America to a culture of life.

[GloriaJane]

Ultrasound is a wonderful thing! This is an ultrasound picture of my new little great niece or nephew at about seven weeks back on 3/26/09. My niece has diabetes and lost her first baby at 5 months. We're praying this precious little one makes it the whole 9 months.

If all pregnant women could see their babies and hear their little hearts beat there would be no more abortions

[BobbyT]

Blasphemy. It’s her civil right to do as much crack as she wants, and to have it paid for as well.

Anyone who says she should quit is a racist who doesn’t believe in change!

[OldCorps]

I’m happy for her and her baby.

[no more apples]

There is a high school senior in my town that, for her senior project, is having a spaghetti dinner to raise money for a portable ultrasound machine for our local Mother of Life center. One local business donated almost all of the food and paper goods. One local businessman donated $5000.

She is a courageous girl who is getting a LOT of flack from many of her public school peers and teachers.

And it bears mentioning, the Knights of Columbus has a program for matching money raised for these portable ultrasound machines.