In mid-October, a mother with an abortion appointment chose life here in the Red River Valley, and the abortion escorts’ tactics played a role in the reversal.
The details came to us, unexpectantly, within hours of the “save.”
It was during the 40 Days for Life prayer vigil, and an advocate on morning duty reported that a woman had entered the facility and ultimately left, twice.
“We just had a confirmed save!” the text read. “Praise God and pray for her. She is very nervous about her decision.”
With joy, I shared about the save with a public pro-life Facebook group. That evening, I received a message from a stranger who wanted to share information about the young mother and her circumstances.
Apparently, she was the friend of a local gal who’d been fostered and mentored 18 years earlier by the woman reaching out. The foster mom explained that the mom had traveled to Fargo from Oregon to visit her friend while contemplating abortion, which her Oregon physician recommended. An ultrasound had shown the baby to have gastroschisis—a condition in which the intestines extend outside of the body through a hole next to the belly button—and the mom didn’t feel confident about mothering this child.
The night before the abortion appointment, the Fargo friend convinced the mom to talk with her foster mom, whom she trusted would offer wise counsel. It turns out the foster mom knew someone who was born with this same diagnosis, so she called her and invited her over to share her experience. The visiting woman explained how, with surgery, the condition has a 95 percent survival rate. She was living proof!
Despite this, the young mom kept her appointment the next day. She later told the foster mother that, despite her continued ambivalence, she was pressured to go through with the abortion. The local facility staff maintained it would be cruel to carry this child to term.
“Did they offer to do an ultrasound?” I asked the foster mom. No, since she’d already had one in Oregon. We know, of course, that seeing the baby could have changed the mother’s mind.
She ended up leaving, but the local abortion facility didn’t take “no” for an answer. They called the mom to tell her they would hold her spot, and that the abortion doctor, who was from out of town, was waiting. Feeling responsible, she decided to return.
This time, she was more aware of what was happening on the sidewalk and in the parking lot of the facility. A pro-life advocate offered her some information while the escorts made a loud racket, scraping shovels against the pavement to drown out the voices of the pro-life people. She took the information, said a prayer, and walked back in.
Noting her continued uncertainty, the staff rushed her again, saying, “We have to get this over with!” When she told them she wasn’t feeling well, they assured her they’d give her some meds to stay calm and she’d be just fine once it was over. But the mom couldn’t get the scene of what she’d just walked through out of her mind.
She told the staff, “I just can’t make a rational decision right now,” and this time, left for good. Later, she would tell her friend’s foster mom, “In that moment, I thought, ‘My son is not going to be born and die today with a bunch of wackos in rainbow vests and shovels screaming over the people praying, who look so normal and peaceful!”
The mother has returned home now, where her 11-year-old daughter was happy to learn about her baby brother, due on Easter Sunday. The foster mother told me, “I told her so many people will be praying for her. She was so thankful and felt so badly for even considering an abortion. I reassured her she will be okay, and we will stay in touch.”
Eighteen years ago, a woman fostered a child, and 18 years later, that now-adult came to her for advice regarding a life and death matter. A foster mother erred on the side of life nearly two decades ago, and in October, she helped save the life of a baby whose mother lives hundreds of miles away.
She just happened to know someone who could help, and we just happened to be there that day to remind the woman that life is worth it all. And somehow, I just happened to be the blessed recipient of this story, so that I could share it with you, and ask you to join in praying for this young mother, her daughter and her pre-born son, due on Easter Sunday.