A grateful dad’s story is potent testament to the power of pregnancy help, the beauty of life in the face of challenge, and the vital role that fathers have.
Back in June 2023 Ben’s fiancé Elizabeth took the abortion pill. They were not getting along at the time, Ben said, and had a lot of people that were not in their corner, reacting negatively about their having a child together.
With them fighting consistently Ben didn't think it was a good idea to bring a baby into the world. He has two children from a previous marriage, and being divorced, the difficulty of that was at the forefront.
“I love my kids to death,” Ben said. “I would do anything for my kids, but it was hard going through a divorce.”
At the same time, he was conflicted about Elizabeth having the abortion.
Ben was with his other children when Elizabeth was at the abortion facility to begin a chemical abortion. He recalled looking in the faces of his children, a daughter, 10, and son, almost 16.
“I felt like it would break my heart if I had done the same with either one of them,” Ben told Pregnancy Help News.
Seeing his older children helped him see past the difficulties in his relationship with Elizabeth and confirm that despite their not getting along, he loved her, and he wanted to step up, put their fighting aside, and make it work.
“I just had this feeling in my gut that this wasn't the right thing to do,” Ben said of the impending abortion. “So, I sent her a text message saying, ‘You know what? Get out of there. We can do this.’”
Elizabeth responded that he was too late, she’d taken the first abortion pill. Ben called her and told her to meet him back at her house and they would figure something out.
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“We both regretted what path we chose,” said Ben. “When Elizabeth went into Planned Parenthood and took that first abortion pill, we both regretted it.”
He arrived at Elizabeth’s house to find her sobbing.
“She was trying to throw up that first pill, and she wasn't able to,” Ben said.
They were both very emotional and Ben felt like this was his doing, like he’d pushed her to take the abortion pill instead of being there for her and “having her back.”
“And we cried together, and I held her,” Ben said. “I tried to comfort her as much as possible.”
“And then we started looking for ways to undo what we just did,” he said. “I knew that there had to have been something, something to help us out. We were hoping for it.”
They searched the internet for remedies to reverse the abortion pill. And they came across the 800 number for the Abortion Pill Rescue Network.
Chemical abortion consists of two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol. Mifepristone blocks progesterone, the natural hormone in a woman’s body necessary to sustain pregnancy. Misoprostol, taken a day or so after the mifepristone, causes the mother to go into labor and deliver her deceased child.
If a mom acts quickly enough after taking the first abortion pill it may be possible to save her unborn child with the Abortion Pill Reversal protocol, which is an updated application of a treatment used since the 1950s to combat miscarriage. Reversal entails administering progesterone to counteract the mifepristone. Statistics show that to date there have been more than 5,000 lives saved through the Abortion Pill Rescue Network.
After Elizabeth called the Abortion Pill Rescue Network she heard back from a doctor within 15 minutes. The doctor set her up with a prescription for progesterone and arranged for her and Ben to be seen at Care Net Pregnancy Center of Paradise in a neighboring town.
It was two days later when the couple drove to the pregnancy help medical clinic, not knowing what to expect and whether their baby was still with them.
Ben was nervous at the thought of living with the regret he and Elizabeth were feeling for the rest of their lives.
“I was really worried and excited and kind of nervous about how this Abortion Pill Reversal process works and if it would save our baby,” he said. “And so, I was nervous going up there. The whole drive up, it was a pretty quiet car.”
When they arrived at the pregnancy help center the doctor and center staff met them, excited they were there. They took Elizabeth back for a sonogram and Ben sat down in the lobby. It was only a few minutes before another staff member came and sat with him.
“She came out and sat next to me in the lobby and she just started talking to me like we were old friends, and it was really comforting,” recalled Ben. “She could tell that I was nervous and didn't really know what I was doing.”
She asked him about himself, what he was thinking, what he was fearing, what was going on inside of him emotionally.
“And I really appreciated that,” Ben said. “It really calmed my nerves down and I really felt like she was there comforting me because she cared.”
Some time later the staff member took him back to see how Elizabeth was doing.
Her sonogram was still in progress.
“We saw and heard the heartbeat, and it was amazing,” Ben said. “That was the first time I saw little Evelyn.”
Ben said it was emotional for everybody present, but especially for him and Elizabeth.
“She just started crying, and I held her hand, and I was rubbing her shoulders with the other hand, and it was magical,” Ben said. “I just had a feeling that we were in the right spot.”
“We were in the right place at the perfect time to get that progesterone and these people could help us,” he said. “And it was very emotional in that room. A lot of smiles, a lot of tears from both me and Elizabeth, and we just had hope.”
Tweet This: "We just had hope” - grateful dad upon seeing his daughter on a sonogram following the start of Abortion Pill Reversal
Elizabeth was eight weeks along when she took the abortion pill. Baby Evelyn was born January 18, 2024.
Ben was with Elizabeth at home and in the delivery room for a long and intense labor and delivery, catching Baby Evelyn and cutting the umbilical cord.
“And I tried to be there as much as I could, holding her hand, rubbing her back, rubbing her where she said it hurts,” he said.
Ben said the delivery was “intense but magical at the same time,” something he will never forget.
“I am so proud of her,” he said of Elizabeth. “She did the entire 10 hours of hard labor without any medication, without any drugs. I idolize her. She is just the most impressive woman that I've ever met.”
The entire experience was amazing, Ben said, and he and Elizabeth are very grateful for the Abortion Pill Rescue Network and Care Net of Paradise for being there when they needed them most.
The support they received from the pregnancy help center did not stop once Evelyn was saved.
Ben and Elizabeth returned to Care Net of Paradise for peer counseling even after they didn’t have to, because it was so beneficial.
Ben, who, like many, initially thought that pregnancy centers were just for women, dove into the parenting classes available and has logged more than 100 classes.
“Being so nervous that yes, I do have two other children, but I haven't had a newborn in the household for 10 years, and so I was starting new again,” he said.
He’s been taking the classes on his phone, often while he works out or just before bed, everything from pregnancy to labor and delivery, through all the stages of childhood.
“Last week I did a handful of classes to help me better parent my teenager,” said Ben.
“There's just a wealth of knowledge that I was able to gain, and it gave me more of a hands-on part in the pregnancy,” he said.
This was especially beneficial with Elizabeth being a first-time mom.
“It was just amazing how I was able to help Elizabeth during all these different stages of her pregnancy,” he said.
Ben and Elizabeth were part of the recent Babies Go to Congress team accompanied by Heartbeat International to Washington D.C. to tell their story of pregnancy help, and in their case, Abortion Pill Reversal, in the offices of Members of the U.S. Congress.
He said it was a little stressful at first not knowing who they’d be talking to and how receptive they would be. But once they got started the nerves melted away. Ben and Elizabeth told their story in the offices of federal lawmakers who were both pro-life and not. In one instance of the latter, they answered numerous questions in detail about Reversal.
“I feel like we did a really good job describing what we were there for and kind of telling our stories,” Ben said. “And it's hard to deny the proof when the proof is right there in our hands of this beautiful baby girl who's four-and-a-half months old, and she wouldn't be there if we hadn't called the 800 number and got on progesterone.”
It was fascinating to see the looks on the Congressional staffers’ faces, even in pro-life lawmakers’ offices, who did not know that Abortion Pill Reversal was possible, Ben said. They were surprised, curious, and there was no shortage among them of people happy to hold Evelyn during the visit.
And, it was one year to the day from when Elizabeth took the abortion pill to when they told their story on Capitol Hill.
Ben was happy to share as well that pregnancy centers are not just for women, and why.
“With the classes and the counseling through Care Net of Paradise, it helped me be a better spouse and a better father to my children,” Ben said. “And It really brought us back together as a couple.”
Asked about the experience of telling their story on Capitol Hill, Ben said, “We would do it again in a heartbeat.”
Ben is excited for the next stage of Evelyn’s growth. He and Elizabeth sing and talk to her, reading her books.
“Yeah, we're just soaking it up every single day,” he said. “We just stare at her and are just thankful that the Lord blessed us with such a wonderful baby.”
The couple has plans to marry this fall.
“We haven't set a date yet, but we really look forward to tying the knot and making our vows before God,” said Ben.
Knowing the reality of pregnancy help from first-hand experience, Ben sees the importance in conveying this reality.
“Pregnancy centers are there to help,” he said. “And it doesn't matter if you're female, the mom, or male, the dad, they don't want anything from you.”
“They're there to support you through whatever journey you're going through in your life, and they help wherever they can,” Ben said, offering the example of Care Net of Paradise helping Elizabeth to get tires for her car.
“It's nice to have people in your corner who are there selflessly,” he added. “They're just there to help you out.”
Tweet This: “It's nice to have people in your corner who are there selflessly. They're just there to help you out” - dad grateful for pregnancy help
Ben is also incredibly grateful that he and Elizabeth took the steps that they did to call the Abortion Pill Rescue Network and connect with pregnancy help center, because things would be very different all around if they had not.
“So, I am so happy to have our little baby girl and Elizabeth by my side,” he said.
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN) and Pregnancy Help News. Heartbeat is currently the subject of lawsuits initiated by the state attorneys general of California and New York concerning advertising Abortion Pill Reversal.
