Of all the distortions, and flat-out lies coming from abortion advocates, one takes the cake: "You guys only care about babies until they're born!"
Right.
Let me give just a few examples from recent weeks that will dispel that absurd myth.
Tyler is a little boy whose mother has been assisted by the pregnancy center where I help from the time that she was pregnant.
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After an abortion, she landed in the emergency room in excruciating pain and bleeding.
She had not wanted the abortion, but with a sick mother and a handicapped younger brother to assist, a boyfriend who took off as soon as she announced she was pregnant, she felt trapped.
Having zero support was compounded by Planned Parenthood refusing to show her the baby's ultrasound.
She succumbed to the pressure and had that abortion.
At the ER, the reason for her pain and bleeding was discovered. The abortionist left the baby's tiny foot inside the mom's womb. Doctors told her she probably would not be able to have another child.
That horrible experience left this mom angry, sad, and detesting everything having to do with the abortion industry.
She was determined to set herself on a better path and started going back to church.
She thought she had met a nice guy and soon found herself pregnant again.
This mom came to our pregnancy center saying she heard we could help her with a free ultrasound and some maternity clothes. She said she would never consider an abortion again. Unfortunately, this dad did not turn out to be much different than the first, so she was happy to learn that we could help after her child was born too.
Over the past year and a half, her son Tyler has received diapers, clothes, a crib, a car seat, and a stroller.
Every three months, moms in need can come for the next size clothes and diapers and whatever else they need.
The last two times his mom brought him to our center, she asked for a ride-on toy for him or a tricycle, and both times we did not have anything like that.
A simple text went out to about a dozen friends and supporters asking if anyone had a tricycle they weren't using.
Within a half-hour, we had three offers.; one sitting unused in someone's garage, and two offers to order new ones and have sent them to the mom's apartment.
"And does she need anything else?" everyone wanted to know.
How great is that?
We have a guy who helps in our office here and there, fixing this or that, carrying things to a mom’s car, organizing our donation room of strollers, car seats, pack and plays and cribs.
He comes in every Tuesday for a few hours and offers his time wherever it is needed.
One couple calls us once a month or so and asks what size diapers we are running low on. They order a few cases and have them delivered to our office.
Someone else is on call if anyone needs a ride to a doctor's or ultrasound appointment, or even to church.
A few men we call our "pick up guys" go around to collect donated items in a van or truck when someone has too much or too many large items to fit in a car.
We have groups of women from various churches and ministries who hand knit baby blankets and hats for new moms. One group calls themselves the "Knitwits" and attaches a tiny note with a prayer to each set.
Each young woman who has a positive pregnancy test at our center is given a handmade baby blanket as a show of love and commitment that we will continue to support that family.
We have a mom and her two teenage daughters who come in every Saturday to sort through bags of donated baby clothes and sort them by size in bins.
We regularly have parish respect life ministries hold a baby shower where people buy things for a new baby and leave them the church. A parishioner packs everything up in his car and brings it all to our center, to be distributed to moms in need.
We have donors who send us $100 a month; $5000 a year; $20 now and then.
We have supporters who hold garage sales for us, with the money going to pay our rent, electricity, phones, literature, pregnancy tests, diapers, wipes, and more.
Then we recently heard the beautiful life-saving offer coming from University of Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh, father of seven.
Any player faced with an unplanned pregnancy, he announced, could come to him with that child, who would be gladly welcomed into his family home for him and his wife to raise.
That commitment is magnified by the thousands of couples waiting every day to adopt a child, any child.
At our pregnancy center we regularly receive letters from couples looking to adopt.
They send photos of cousins, grandparents, the family dog, where they go on vacation, and letters pleading with any parents in unplanned pregnancy to please consider choosing them to raise the baby. Some send copies of their letter or business cards with a website, asking us to hand them out to any pregnant mom who is considering abortion.
They offer to pay all expenses and have any involvement from the birth parents down the road that they want (open adoption).
Parents looking to adopt know that pregnancy centers are exactly where pregnant women who want a live for their child that they just are not able to provide at this point can be found, and where these moms can consider the lifesaving alternative of adoption.
Truly, anyone paying attention and with eyes to see can tell that pro-life individuals are quite concerned with helping both moms and their babies, before and after the child’s birth.
