I drove to my parent's house and Amanda was still sleeping. My parents were upset, so we talked for a long while. Soon after Amanda woke, the boy came over to take her to the abortion clinic. My mom got very emotional and pleaded with her to reconsider and not kill the baby. She began to cry and Amanda started yelling and things got quite emotional. My step-father recently suffered heart failure so he just went in the backyard to avoid it all. His heart has been through more than enough the past few days and this kind of stress could literally kill him.
My sister called and started crying over the phone. My mom got too emotional and handed the phone to me. Through my sister's sobs I heard her say that the baby is due September 6 -- one year to the day when my father died. She sees that as some sort of sign and it just served to make her more upset.
Amanda and the boy went to her room, with my mom standing outside her door almost begging her not to kill her baby. I went in the room, closed the door, and tried to calm Amanda down. I asked her to relax a minute and to listen. Amazed at my calm, I offered to take her to the Crisis Pregnancy Center for another opinion. She refused. I told her that she would regret an abortion for the rest of her life. I told her how her aunt (my wife) is still haunted by the abortion she had 15-16 years ago. Amanda's response was that she would regret having a baby, too. When I brought up the option of adoption, she dismissed it, saying she would rather have an abortion than give her baby away. She wanted to have and keep the baby, but since that option had been ruled out by the boy's parents, she would rather have the abortion. I said everything I could say. I told her many of the things offered on your posts,. But, her mind was made up. Keeping the boy was more important than allowing her baby to live.
My mom pulled up a picture of an 8 week old fetus and forced them both to look at it, but they were unmoved. She grew almost hysterical, begging her not to kill the baby; telling her that abortion is murder, and that those who commit abortions are murderers.
When it was time to go, they walked out the door, got in his car and left.
As they were leaving, I prayed that something would go wrong-- a flat tire, power failure, a change of heart, the Apocolypse -- anything. I stayed at my parent's house for about another hour and came home.
I fervently hope she did not go through with it.