Abigail* loved God and loved her church. If someone had asked her if she was pro-life, she would have said yes. She believed that abortion was wrong and children were a gift from God.
Then Abigail discovered that she was pregnant.
She had no doubt who the father was. Abigail had been in a bad relationship with a man who wasn’t a Christian. She knew she had to break it off, and she had. She thought she could put him behind her and move on with her life “¦ until she saw that little blue line on her pregnancy test. A baby meant being linked to the baby’s father. How could she be connected to him for the rest of her life?
Making matters worse, she’d just accepted an offer for her “dream job.” The one that she’d been praying for and working towards for years. Now, with a baby on the way, how could she continue with the job? What would her boss say?
Abigail knew that abortion was wrong, but that didn’t change the problems surrounding being “tied down” to the baby’s father or to losing her dream job. She didn’t want to talk about her decision with anyone at her church, she wasn’t sure how they’d react. So in desperation, she went online looking for information about abortion. Thanks to your generosity, she saw an ad for Pregnancy Decision Line, Care Net’s national hotline, and prayed as she dialed that someone there could help her.
Thanks to you, Abigail’s coach was there to listen as she poured out her heart. It was clear that Abigail loved God and wanted to do the right thing, she just afraid of what might happen if she chose life for her baby. Her coach helped Abigail remember the ways God had cared for her and remind her of God’s faithfulness, even when everything feels like it is falling apart.
Abigail didn’t need a reminder that her unborn child was a human life. She already knew that. What she needed was a reminder of the hope of Gospel that she had long believed in. She needed to remember that God loved her and her baby and wanted to give both of them life abundantly.
Care Net’s research into abortion found that two out of five women who had abortions were attending church at least once a month at the time of their abortion. Good theology is not enough to prevent abortion from seeming like the only way out of a difficult situation. What women like Abigail need is someone to come alongside them embodying the compassion, hope, and help of Jesus. What they need is a message that is not just pro-life but Pro Abundant Life.
Thank you for ensuring that Abigail, and many other women and men, can experience that abundance when they call our Pregnancy Decision Line, visit one of our affiliated pregnancy centers, or speak with a trained Life Disciple at one of our church partners.