Would I have chosen abortion if I had been in your situation?
Are you pregnant and wish you weren’t? Have you experienced a crisis pregnancy and felt abandoned – especially among your church friends?
Whenever our safety and security are threatened, we scream for help. But who can those going through an unplanned pregnancy call for support? And who can the preborn call when their life is about to be terminated?
I’ve never had a crisis pregnancy, but it must be a frightening and emotional experience. Wondering how your boyfriend will respond. Facing your parents’ anger and disappointment. Realizing your dreams of going to college or starting that new career may no longer be possible. Feeling alone, scared, and desperate.
Am I describing you and your circumstances? Does abortion seem like your only choice?
If I were to be very, very honest, I wonder if my younger self would have chosen abortion had I been in your situation. Before I knew what I know today – before I had grown in my conviction that abortion kills an innocent baby – I honestly wonder, if my younger, insecure-scared-self would have considered it.
Maybe I would have. And this thought disquiets me.
I hope, instead, that an understanding woman would have reached out to me and offered me a different choice – and resources to assist me during and after my pregnancy. And I hope I would have listened to what she had to say and accepted her help.
Perhaps I would have visited the local crisis pregnancy center and had an ultrasound of my very tiny baby so I could see the miracle that was growing inside of me. If I weren’t able to raise my baby, I’d like to think someone would have helped me research adoption agencies.
Then maybe it wouldn’t have been as hard for me to make the same choice my baby would have wanted me to make, thus practicing Luke 6:31 (NASB):
Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.
Finally, if I had gone through an unplanned pregnancy and felt alone, scared and desperate, I hope my family and church would also have practiced Luke 6:31 concerning me.
Then, perhaps I would have had the courage to choose life. I seriously hope I would have.
And I hope you will too.
What about you?
I’d love to hear your thoughts about this post. (Others might also benefit from your comment.)
Have you experienced a crisis pregnancy and felt abandoned – even among your church friends?
How can we, the church, do a better job being there for you?
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Excellent article Sheryl. We need to let the world know we care about these women and that we care about children of all ages. The world has a lot of misinformation about us.
Thank you so much, Barbara. I pray (I really do pray) that God will use it for His purposes. I hope (I really do hope)it will help those in a “crisis” pregnancy ~ and all who defend life.
(And thank you, Barbara, for sharing my article on your FB page.)
Thank you for this graceful post. A few of your articles have caught my eye in the Perry newspaper and your honesty is always appreciated. I just wanted to encourage you and let you know that your words are traveling and doing work.
When I read your comment, Loren, I thanked God. You have no idea how much it encourages me to hear from my readers. Please pray for me as I continue to write that God will use my writing for His purposes. For His glory.
These are all difficult questions for a young girl who has found herself in this predicament. I’d like to think after hearing a heart beat, I also would have made the same choice, as well. My period was late once, and I escaped reality by sleeping more and truly being depressed, as I was in the last semester of nursing, but God intervened for me, knowing it would have crushed me to be in this situation, and I don’t know how I would have handled it. I finally had a late period at 6 weeks. To this day, I never knew what I would have done. That’s why I have compassion for the young women in this situation. It could have been me!
Exactly! Thank you, Kim, for your transparency. I totally relate to everything you said.