I made an appointment for the next week for a medical abortion, where I would take the medication/pill regimen known as RU-486. The thought of "surgical abortion" made me queasy, and the clinic staff made the pill sound so simple - like taking a Tylenol for a headache. It seemed like the perfect solution had fallen right in my lap. But what I first thought was the answer to my prayers soon came with its own set of worries. I couldn't shake the nagging thoughts in the back of my mind, those unsettled feelings that I was sure would disappear since I had made the appointment to take the RU-486.
My anxiety worsened as the date for the abortion grew closer. I crept slowly through the days, wishing that I could stall the abortion appointment until I felt 100% confident about my choice. It was the biggest decision of my life, and I needed, I craved some conviction that it was the right decision. One day, as I was riding on the bus I saw a sign that read, "Considering Abortion? Pregnancy Care Centers: Caring, Confidential, Trusted." It gave me a sense of comfort I hadn't felt in weeks. I decided to call the number... I figured at that point, what did I have to lose? Maybe I did have one more chance to talk to someone before the abortion.
When I called the Help Line phone number, I was nervous - I didn't want to be judged or pressured. I just wanted to hear something hopeful. The woman on the other end of the line listened, and didn't judge. She gave me information, and set me up with an appointment. I don't know what prompted me to go. But I knew that I couldn't go in and get the abortion without some sense of affirmation that whatever choice I made, it would be a well-informed decision.
The visit to the pregnancy care center changed my life. For the first time, I saw my situation for what it really was - a blessing, a miracle of life. I saw my baby on the ultrasound as a real person. I could see her as a newborn baby... a little girl... and a grown woman who would do amazing things in this world if I would just give her the opportunity. Seeing Ava opened my eyes to everything I couldn't see before. I was able to see past my fears and my worries, and experience the excitement and joy of a new life. I felt a renewed sense of purpose, and an overwhelming responsibility to myself as a woman, and my capabilities of being a mother. The support and love the center showed me gave me the validation I was searching for all along.
". . . [Nikki] Payne said she was 19 and not in a relationship when she became pregnant. She decided that rather than confide in family and friends, she would just get an abortion on her own. “I was worried about the judgment of family and friends because of the goals I had in mind,” Payne told CNSNews.com. “So I tried to make the decision to terminate my pregnancy alone without anyone knowing.”
She described her visit to Planned Parenthood as an “awful experience.”
“It was very impersonal and very robotic, and I didn’t feel right,” Payne said. In contrast, she said that when she visited the pregnancy resource center in the city where she lived in Virginia, a counselor spent several hours talking to her about alternatives to abortion.
“So it’s just a huge turnaround from going somewhere where I was just a number to actually wanting to inform me so I could make an informed decision and know the repercussions or the rewards of the decision I was going to make,” Payne said.
As she held her wiggly son in her arms, she said she could not imagine having made the decision to go through with an abortion.
“It’s not possible to see him not in my life,” Payne said. “They gave me an ultrasound, which made everything so clear – that Zuri is going to be that blessing in my life.”
“And there is no way I could choose whether he lives or dies,” Payne said. “It’s not my place to choose to take a life away.”
You know why is it that these woman suddenly decide that it's time for a "well informed decision"... after the fact. Did they go to as much trouble making an "informed decision" when they decided to engage in sexual behavior? Did they truly not understand that engaging can and often does create a child?
I realize there are many excuses and various other resonings given for taking a life of a child but when are woman going to understand that babies are the result of sexual intercourse which they MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION TO ENGAGE IN long before their is a baby???? What they want is really an excuse to escape the natural result of having sex.....most often a case of the cart before the horse...and unfortunately reality then does what it does so well by presenting a baby.
I wonder if these woman would write so well and gain the attention if they presented the route of their 'informed decision' to have sex in the first place. I doubt it....there's no story in it...no drama... and certainly no shame for stepping outside the protective boundaries which moral decisions are their for our protection.
I just get weary of all these stories of how babies lifes were saved...becuase the focus still remains on the woman and gloifies her for doing what would otherwise be natural for a mother to do...have her baby.
We have not only stolen the life of the unborn thru abortion...but we have stolen the beauty, the presciousness that a child is born...when it's not aborted.... Instead we elevate the mothers, yet again, for deciding to have the child. We have made the birth of a child a statistic now rather than the joy it should bring us all...right from the start. It's never now about the baby, it's about the abortion or not and the mother...still.