Friends Like You Saved My Baby and Changed My Life

You and I have never met, but I am going to tell you a little about myself today as if we’re close friends who go back a long way together. My name is Elizabeth Pearson. My family calls me Lizzie.

I want to tell you about something deeply personal.  The most personal thing I can imagine, quite frankly.

And while I have told this story quite a few times over many years now, to this day, I still find myself tearing up at the thought of what I almost did.

So I hope with all my heart that you will take just a few moments to read my story.

And I hope you’ll consider encouraging someone who is facing a situation like I was not so long ago . . .

But first – let me introduce you to my husband Kandler, our daughter Brooklyn, and our son Asher.  That’s a picture of all us – I love this photo.  So much joy on our faces!  It’s tough to get a picture with the little ones both looking right at the camera.  The photographer did a great job.  But it’s a picture that almost never happened.

A few years ago, late in the summer right before the start of my senior year in high school, I noticed something strange.  I began sipping my favorite drink – peach lemonade – but I couldn’t stand the taste of it.  It turned my stomach.  And I was pretty sure what that meant.

I was pregnant.  All these years later, I remember that deep feeling of dread that swept over me.  I felt as if my life was over!

But even worse than that – I was ashamed of the innocent baby living inside me.  

Kandler and I had only been dating for four months.  We decided that this “mistake” shouldn’t ruin the rest of our lives.  

So we made the decision to “terminate.”  And I made an appointment at the abortion clinic.

But thank God, the next call I made was to my momma.  She wasn’t angry.  She didn’t yell.  But she did have a request for me.  She knew about a pro-life pregnancy center the next town over; a place where girls like me could get real guidance and support, instead of just pressure to get an abortion as quickly as possible.  She wanted me to schedule a visit there.

I told her I’d go.  And I meant it.  But I never canceled that appointment for my abortion. 

Over the next few weeks, I saw for myself the difference between an abortion clinic and a Pro Abundant Life pregnancy center.

The way the nurse at the pregnancy center talked about my baby, it was like she was already a part of the family.  She smiled all the way through my ultrasound. And it was during that ultrasound that I remember – even now, so many years later – how the exam room filled up with the sound of Brooklyn’s little heartbeats.

Everything about the abortion clinic was very different.  It’s difficult to describe, but there was a spiritual darkness to that place.  It felt cold there and lonely even though it was filled with young girls like me.

The abortion clinic attendant made sure the ultrasound screen was turned away from me so I couldn’t see Brooklyn’s little body squirming around.  

They even turned the sound off, not letting me hear the steady beats of Brooklyn’s tiny heart. I wasn’t there to talk about “options.”  That much was obvious.  I was only there to erase a “mistake.”  

That appointment haunts me to this day.  My baby’s life could’ve ended right there.  The picture you have in front of you – with Brooklyn and her million-dollar smile – would be impossible.

But Care Net was the safety net that God provided to rescue my baby from abortion.If you’ve ever heard of Care Net, you may already know they’re not just “pro-life.”  They’re Pro Abundant Life.

That means they didn’t stop at saving Brooklyn’s life.  Care Net is pro-mother, pro-father, pro-marriage – and pro-Gospel.

They partner with pregnancy centers, mobile medical units, and churches, to equip people with pro-life resources to make sure moms and dads – like me and Kandler – can experience the abundant life that can only be found in Jesus Christ.