Having Pro-Life Discussions...You Never Know...

Unexpectedly, I got a knock on my door last night and opened it to find a friend of a friend of mine. I hadn’t seen ‘Lauren’ in almost a year, and when I saw her mascara running down her face, I said, ‘what’s wrong, are you alright?’ She blurted,
‘I’m pregnant. I know you’re anti-abortion, and I really need to talk to you.’
‘Lauren’ is resolute that she will avoid abortion, even though the pressure has been mounting over the past months. Her ex-boyfriend has been very casual, ‘Look babe, we’re in Britain and I already have two kids. That’s the most anyone in this country should have. This baby will be baby number three, and it’s not on!’ Lauren’s employer asked her why she was not having an abortion.
Unbeknownst to me, friends that I and Lauren have in common have been repeating to Lauren the pro-life things that I said, even ‘discussions’ where we may not have seen eye to eye. Through our mutual friends, Lauren got to know me as someone who wouldn’t push her into an abortion. Lauren is a practising Catholic, and has asked a convent of nuns to pray for her, but she mustered the courage to visit me because she wanted to talk in detail about the unborn baby, and didn’t want to take the risk of talking to yet another person who would do a hard-sell on abortion.
Lauren is determined to go through the pregnancy, and we discussed baby names and baby clothes. She’s also going to avoid all those pro-abortion voices (including her ex-boyfriend’s) that are seeking to bully her. In an ideal world, she would talk to the baby’s father about her visits to the GP and her birth plan, but the father has stopped all contact with her.
Lauren also commented that many girls get manipulated into having abortions. And she’s right – bamboozling pregnant women into ‘getting rid’ is an acceptable form of coercion. In contrast to this, Lauren looks forward to getting further emotional support from The Good Counsel Network.

Mary O' Regan