"Please Keep Going"

One of the Pro-Life vigil volunteers gave the following  testimony, at the recent 40 Days for Life launch event in Brixton. Please read it, share it and then decide if you should come to the vigil as well.

First of all, I want to say thank you. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for standing faithfully, often quietly, and sometimes in very difficult circumstances. Many of you will never fully see the impact of what you do—but I am here today as living proof that your presence matters more than you may ever know.

 

Who I Am & Where I Came From

I grew up in a practising Catholic home. At 21, I immigrated alone to Spain. At 22, I married in the Church.

I was young, far from my family, in a new country, trying to build a life and a marriage with faith and hope.

 

Pregnancy & Sudden Crisis

When I found out I was pregnant, I was about eight weeks along. Despite everything else that was going on, I was filled with joy. There was joy in my heart because I loved my baby. At the same time, my marriage had become unsafe. The man I had married—someone I loved—had bipolar disorder, he stopped taking his medication, and our home became unbearable and frightening. What should have been a time of protection and care became a time of fear. I felt shocked, confused, alone—and deeply ashamed to reach out to my family.

 

Turning to the System for Help 

Eventually, I reached out to social services and a local women’s organisation. I remember feeling relieved. I truly believed these people would help me and my baby. Around the same time, I went alone to my first routine pregnancy check-up. I was filled with fear and uncertainty.

As I sat there, I noticed pamphlets everywhere—about gestational diabetes, pregnancy complications, and abortion. I remember thinking, “Oh no… I am alone in this. How would I ever get through this?” And yet—even in all that fear—abortion never crossed my mind.

 

Abortion as the Default Response

During the appointment, I shared my situation with the doctor. She handed me pamphlets I had already seen. Among them was one for social services, and I thought, “Good. They will help me with my baby.”

What happened next shocked me. When I went to social services and explained the domestic violence I was experiencing, every professional involved in my case was quick to offer abortion. I kept hearing the same sentence, again and again: “You know you have a choice. You are only 8… 10… 12 weeks.” Not one person asked me what I wanted. Not one person asked if I wanted to keep my baby. Not one explored what support might make that possible.

Erosion of Confidence & Hope

After hearing this repeatedly, I began to doubt myself. My confidence disappeared. The little hope I had left began to fade. For the first time, the thought of abortion—something completely against my values—started to feel like a possibility. Not because I wanted it, but because of the fear I was being fed. Abortion no longer felt like an option. It felt like the only way forward.

I felt ashamed. I lost my sense of who I was. I felt like a puppet—being referred from one place to another, always with the same offer: abortion first, and support later.

 

Second Medical Visit & ‘Easy Pills’

To clarify, in Spain women are often referred to specialised abortion clinics later in the first trimester. So my second check-up was still at a regular GP, this is often where the abortion pills are offered. I was told, “It’s simple. Just pills.” I didn’t accept. I said I needed time to decide. Inside, I felt shattered. Conflicted. Weak. Helpless.

 

Encounter with Pro‑Life Presence: The Turning Point

As I walked out of the GP, I saw a small group of men and women outside. One was praying the rosary. They were handing out leaflets quietly. As I passed them, one handed me a leaflet. It showed a mother and her baby and said, “We are here to help.” At first, I thought it was another abortion leaflet. But on the bus, I read it carefully.
It said: ADEVIDA – “We are here to listen. We can help. No to abortion.” My heart skipped a beat. It was a light in the darkest days of my life.

 

Support, Restoration & Community

I got off the bus, crossed the road, and caught the bus back—hoping they would still be there. They were. I spoke to them. The next morning, I went to their centre. ADEVIDA is an organisation like the Good Counsel Network. They offered practical support, counselling, and a community of other mothers. For the first time, I felt listened to. Seen. Supported as both a woman and a mother.

Their presence outside that abortion centre was the voice I had been longing to hear. The voice that restored my strength. The voice that restored my hope.

 

Why Your Work Matters

This is why what you do matters. You offer presence where there is pressure. Support where there is silence. Hope where fear has taken over. Please know that your quiet faithfulness reaches further than you will ever see.

 

Encouragement & Commissioning

Thank you for believing that women are strong.
Thank you for believing that babies matter.
Thank you for being the voice that says, “You can do this—and you don’t have to do it alone.”

Please keep going.

The 40 Days for Life vigil in Brixton will run for 12 hours a day, 8am until 8pm, seven days a week from Ash Wednesday until Palm Sunday 29^th March. If you could spare an hour or more to come and pray with us, it would be of great help. The vigil takes place at the corner of Brixton Hill and Brixton Water Lane, London, SW2 5BJ. For more details or to book please call Gabriella on 07745711064 or 02077231740

Celebrating Mums Choosing Life Day 3 Maria

 

A mum we assisted 13 years ago came to speak at the Ealing 40 Days for Life Opening Event recently "Maria" brought her son with her to give thanks for all the help and support she received from The Good Counsel Network when she had thought that abortion would be her only option. 

Maria and her son (right) with Lorraine from Good Counsel

She said "It was a tremendous relief to be welcomed with kindness, invited over and offered assistance. It gave me hope, and made me joyful, grateful and pleased. 

I received clothing, bedding,vouchers, groceries, Christmas presents, financial support, immigration support, support with legal costs. I was offered accommodation.

The assistance changed my story, my son and I.

The Good Counsel Network also developed a place for mothers and children to socialise and all of this assistance gave me the confidence to be proud of my son." 

Let us pray for Maria today and for all mums considering abortion, may theu find the life-giving alternatives they need.

Please attend the 40 Days for Life Vigil near you. We are running one in Brixton, please contact Gabriella for details on 07745711064. Or find your nearest 40 Days for Life campaign here

Donate to help The Good Counsel Network support Mothers in need of assistance here. 

Mother Leaps Out of Abortion Centre Window to Choose Life!

Earlier this week one of our Counsellors was standing outside a London abortion centre and spoke to a woman who said she was being forced to abort by those accompanying her to the "clinic". Concerned but unsure what to do, the Counsellor began to pray and asked others to pray for the woman.

Experience has shown that sometimes, though people say they are being forced to abort, they do not always welcome any intervention by us.

She then came out and spoke to the Counsellor again, stressing once more that she was being forced to end her pregnancy. The people with her came out and started threatening the Counsellor and also insisting that the woman must abort. She returned into the abortion centre and then began ringing our Centre frantically. At this point we called the Police. The Police arrived and went inside to speak to the woman and those accompanying her. By now we had begun to spread the word to our prayer supporters and asked for prayers for the woman. While the Police were inside the abortion centre, the woman leapt out of the ground floor window and cleared 3 fences to escape! She later contacted our Centre where she received some support and help.

It turned out that 'Ana' had taken the first abortion pill and then had gone back for the second one, under huge pressure from well-meaning family members, who thought the abortion was for the best.
But her doubts were enough to make her very unwilling to go through with it and instead she stood with them outside the abortuary saying "I want to keep my baby." with them insisting she abort. Eventually she was bullied back into the abortuary. When our Counsellor called the Police, her companions were distracted by having to answer their questions and it gave Ana a chance to escape.

Since then we have helped her to obtain appropriate medical care from a Consultant and she has chosen to let her baby live.

Please pray for this young woman and her child. Due to her circumstances, she may still be at risk of losing the baby. But for now we are also rejoicing that Mother AND baby are both alive and well!

UPDATE** Because of the uniqueness of this whole situation, we have received many offers of prayer for this woman and it has had a huge, huge impact on her. Not only have those who were trying to force her to abort changed their minds but they are now positively supporting and helping her and doing what they can to help improve the baby's chances of survival. Ana believes that this change of heart is solely due to prayer and so do we, so please keep up the prayers and spread the word, as it is still very early days for this baby!

On a side note, we are completely broke at the moment and for the most of the "40 Days for Life" campaign, our staff have had to put up with wages coming weeks late, which is more than tough when you are on a low wage and are doing very frontline work!!

Please help us to raise money to reach out to and support Mothers with Counselling, Advice, Financial help, Practical Support, Mother and Baby Goods, Housing and Friendship.
During the 40 Days for Life Campaign, the pro-abortion group 40 Days of Choice has launched a "Pi** off a Picket" Campaign (sorry!) which has raised £508 for the pro-abortion group "Education" for "Choice". We are also running a fundraising campaign, Our Lady's Pocket Fund to raise £5,000. Please support this campaign and show that Pro-Lifers Give Double during 40 Days for Life. (For other ways to donate)

When Pro-Choice Means No Choice

During the 40 Days for Life Campaigns, those who describe themselves as pro-choice frequently complain that we attend the abortuaries to harass and distress women. Because they believe in the abortion "system" they believe that marie stopes and BPAS are "unbiased" and exist to help women making difficult choices. They believe that if women are seeking alternatives to abortion that they will help them find one.
One of the reasons we stand outside the abortuaries is because we do not believe that. Over the last 16 years we have housed, financially supported and befirended hundreds of women that the abortuaries could not help. Over the next few weeks we will be telling their stories in the When Pro-Choice Means No Choice blogs. Here is the first:

Aneta, a Romanian turnaround. Working in the UK as an aupair. When she found herself pregnant despite contraception and abandoned by her boyfriend, her employer refused to help her prove she had worked here long enough to claim benefits. He also threw her out. Without documentary proof of her employment, Aneta went for an abortion to marie stopes and told them that if there was no help for her she would have to have an abortion.
We met her at marie stopes.
Marie stopes offered : abortion
'Pro-choicers' offered : to defend her right to abortion
Pro-life offered: free accomodation, financial support, free legal advice, got her a job, supported her until she qualified for other help, was working and got into stable housing.
Outcome: Aneta was very happy to have her baby and is now helping other mums to find housing and work. She now considers herself pro-life.
Clare McCullough
Donate to support this Pro-Life work here

Why I am Pro-Life - An Intern's View

Thine eyes have seen my
unformed substance;
And in thine book they were
all written,
The days that were ordained
for me,
When as yet there was not one
of them.
(Psalm 139: 13-16)

This beautiful passage illustrates God’s intimate relationship with every being He creates and the unique purpose we have each been created for. Bible passages such as Psalm 139 inspire me to seek to protect the unborn and tell others of the sanctity of human life.

Abortion should never feel like a woman’s only choice which is why I believe prayer, spreading a pro-life message and extending a hand of love and support to women faced with a pregnancy they
feel unable to cope with is so important. Human life is precious, both the mother's and the unborn baby’s, therefore it is vital that the physical and mental wellbeing of women is protected as well as the life of the voiceless unborn. I feel that women have the right to know about the horrors of abortion and need to be given back the freedom that the abortion industry cruelly
snatches away from them. They need to know that there are other options, and that with the right help and support, the can choose life for their baby. The promotion of a culture of life is crucial so as to overshadow the culture of death destroying society today. This is why I am pro-life.

Having been adopted when I was 15 months old I am forever grateful that my birth mother chose life for me. She was only sixteen when she discovered she was pregnant with me and the
circumstances were difficult. I could have been a victim of abortion and yet she chose the loving and selfless option of adoption. Having met many adoptive parents and adopted children I know what an amazing gift a child can be to a family who choose to adopt. My personal experiences and my faith contribute to my strong pro-life convictions and desire to work in the pro-life movement.

Stephanie Barnes

BBC Live from an abortuary & the women they don't want to speak to

One that got away - A Baby Whose Mum Chose Life after Visiting an Abortuary
You will probably have heard by now about this programme at 10am today on BBC Radio 5 Live;

"Victoria [Derbyshire] speaks to doctors, nurses and patients live from an abortion clinic [sic].

It is hard to believe that this will be anything other than a bit of pro-death propaganda. No doubt some of the tragedy of abortion may come through, but it will be presented as a necessary evil, and a better option than raising a child in difficult circumstances - ultimately a good thing for society, but hard. That's our bet anyway. If you are listening-in, please don't hesitate to give some feedback to provide balance. The details are:

Call 0500 909693 [free from most landlines; other networks may vary]. Text:
85058 [standard message rate]. Email: Victoria@bbc.co.uk. Twitter: @vicderbyshire.

If you would like to hear the other side of the story, the real help that women need, and what it is like for a woman who changes her mind at the abortuary doorstep, or what it is like for those who go through the abortion because they have no other choice, or if you want to hear from someone who spends her life providing real help to women in crisis pregnancies, read on. Robert Colquhoun of 40 Days for Life, has interviewed 4 such women at the Good Counsel Centre.

Here are interviews with two women who turned around on the doorsteps of the abortuary, because Catholics were there to offer them help, when both felt had that they had no choice. http://www.divshare.com/download/17571772-a3d (10 minutes) & http://www.divshare.com/download/17571864-4dc (20 minutes)

This third women has had an abortion and needs her vioce to be heard. Please send this link to everyone you know; http://www.divshare.com/download/17571931-cd3 (20 minutes)
Finally here is Ronni a volunteer with Good Counsel; http://www.divshare.com/download/17571913-6ce (11 minutes)

To give Mums-to-be a real chioce involves a lot of time, money and prayer, - we don't have enough of any of these to help all the turnarounds currently needing our help - if we all do our bit to help, even more lives will be saved. Please spread the word.

Clare and Stuart McCullough

Our Lady's Maternity Ward - A Birth At the Good Counsel's Mother and Baby Home

OUR LADY OF THE GOOD COUNSEL IS REALLY THE MEDIATRIX OF ALL GRACES!

Paraphrasing the sayings of St. Paul in one his letters to the Romans that for all those who love and trust in God, all things work for their good (see Rom.8:28), I begin this narrative about the miraculous birth of baby Moses inside the living room of Our Lady of Good Counsel Home for Mothers; another great sign of the powerfulness of the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary-Our Lady of Good Counsel.

Baby Moses' Mother went into labour about 3am on Sunday 19th and was sent to the hospital by ambulance by 6.30am. When the Nuns rang to know how she was progressing, they were told that this mother had been sent back home as the Labour was not very far along. By about 2.30pm, she was back at the house still in birth travail. She, with help of the Nuns and other mothers in the house went on strolling to help quicken the labour. Immediately after the supper, the labour seemed to advance as her waters broke about 7.40pm and hospital attention was called. The medic who answered the phone gave a conditional response saying that the woman could be sent in but would still be sent back if not found advanced in labour. And they said that the baby may not come in the next 24 hours. As the poor mother kept on screaming uncontrollably, we rang 999 for ambulance services. About twenty minutes after that came the ambulance with some paramedics. After examining Moses' Mother, they decided that she would not make it to the hospital and as they didn’t want him to be delivered inside the ambulance, they decided to deliver him in the Mother's House living room. What a miracle!
At about 11.50pm, there was a little bit of panicking as Moses' mother who is naturally a strong girl has started getting her strength exhausted. While the Pentecostal girls in the house continued praying in their Pentecostal manner outside the living room, the Nuns went before the Blessed Sacrament prostrating before the Lord, one of the Nuns said this prayer:
‘Beloved Mother Mary, God may not hear me instantly now as I want because of my sinfulness; but you our dearest Mother is sinless and therefore could be heard by God without delay. Please plead with your Son as you did in the wedding at Cana to loose whatever that is holding this baby, to let him come out so that we may hear this baby’s cry now.’
The Nun just had time to say Amen, and the next thing heard was "Waa! Waa! Waa!" Thus baby Moses’ cry that weighed 3.64kg at birth was heard at exactly 12.15am on a Monday in February. Moses became the first recorded baby born inside Our Lady of Good Counsel Home for Mothers. To God be the greatest Glory and Honour.
People may question why the Hospital exposed baby Moses Mother and her carers to such a big risk. It is only God who would give an appropriate response to the why. As for we the children of the Blessed Virgin Mary-the Mother of the Good Counsel and the Holy Family, the reason for all this is for all those who doubt the powerfulness of the intercession of the Mother of God to know that they are missing a lot by their failure to recourse to her.
Oh Mary conceived without original sin continue to pray for those who have recourse to Thee. Amen.

Donate to support this Catholic Pro-Life Home.

Mary Joseph J Ogbuokiri, HFSN.

“I was nearly aborted, but I escaped, I must give my baby the freedom to live.”

The night before her abortion, ‘Jackie’ stayed up all night, and kept asking herself if she could go through the abortion. "My boyfriend has lived with someone else for three years, and has been seeing me on the side. I can’t have a baby whose father lives with another woman." In the early morning, she looked at the dawn and thought "I must go through the abortion, it would be very inconvenient for my boyfriend if I have this baby. His girlfriend will hate me for having his baby..."

For the millionth time ‘Jackie’ studied the abortion forms that her doctor had given her. She asked herself: "What if my mother had got these forms and aborted me?"

Going to the clinic, she saw some people standing outside, and thought that the clinic was busy; lots of women were coming out... As she got closer, she saw that they were praying, and thought: "This is my sign. People are praying that I won’t have the abortion. They are praying for my baby..."

Jackie came to our centre for detailed counselling and to make plans for the help she would need to keep the baby. At the start of our time together, she said, ‘I might still have the abortion. It doesn’t feel right having five kids on my own, with no father around.’ We talked about her own family background, and how her father had been a very mercurial figure, coming home for times but living with other women when he felt like it. Jackie’s mother had still had ten children by him – “twice as many as I’ll have if I keep this one” – said Jackie. Jackie had been her mother’s tenth pregnancy, conceived before her father left them for good.

“My mother was really desperate when she was having me, she had nine small boys at home, and my father had beaten her. She was bringing us up on her own with so little money. She nearly aborted me when she was heavily pregnant with me, but she trusted in God and asked God that I would be the child that would look after her. When she was dying, I was the only one with her.” This was very painful for Jackie to talk about, but she conceded, “I can go to the clinic, and get someone else to get rid of the baby, but if I don’t walk in there, the baby will live. You can pretend it’s not you that’s doing the abortion because the doctor signs the forms and the nurse knocks you out, because you’re still the mother who is handing over your baby. I was nearly aborted, but I escaped, I must give my baby the freedom to live.”

May we ask your continued prayers for ‘Jackie’.

Mary O'Regan

I'm Keeping My Baby Because I Am Getting the Help I Need

‘Annabelle’ had phoned marie stopes' abortuary on Whitfield Street, and made an appointment for an abortion. 'It’s a week from Christmas…everyone else is getting their mince pies and getting their Christmas tree ready and here I am preparing for an abortion', thought Annabelle.
Walking along the roads that led to the abortuary, Annabelle felt a profound, dark foreboding, she had that strong gut feeling that said, Don’t do this. An old friend walked alongside her, her friend had said nothing when Annabelle asked her to come with her to the abortuary. But now she turned to Annabelle and asked, ‘what’s wrong? You’re meant to be going to the clinic.’
Annabelle felt herself go leaden and heavy and almost crying, she said to her friend, ‘but I wish that I didn’t have to do it. If I just got some help instead of an abortion, I wouldn’t think of the abortion again.’
Her friend looked confused. ‘I know, but the place that we are going to only does abortions. It’s not like you can go in there and ask them to give you help with rent instead of an abortion. But I suppose we don’t have to go there…’ Annabelle imagined lying down on the cold operating table while outside people were bustling down the street with bags of Christmas presents for their children at home.
Annabelle turned the corner and as she approached the building, someone tried to speak to her and handed her a blue help leaflet. Annabelle didn’t really hear what they were saying; she was lost in her own thoughts. Her friend, who was now perplexed at bringing Annabelle to the abortuary, spoke to someone who was praying outside the clinic and said sadly, ‘If she got the help she needs, she wouldn’t have the abortion.’ Annabelle read the blue help leaflet given to her by the pray-er, and walked out of the ‘clinic’ with relief washing over her.
Annabelle has come to speak to us about her needs, and she says that her friend felt wrong that she wasn’t able to give her practical advice or financial help when raising the baby on her own. In many ways this is all too typical of the friend or family member who accompanies a girl to an abortion, the friend or family member may never have been taught the evil of abortion, and may feel powerless to help the pregnant mother. Monsignor Reilly corroborates this after spending years outside many abortion clinics all over the world, from Russia to New York to Ealing. The friend or family member is still doing something entirely immoral, but like Monsignor Reilly advises, they often know not what they do, and we must meet them with the same compassion that we meet the pregnant mother.
Like so many of the women who come after getting the blue help leaflet, Annabelle keeps the leaflet safely in her handbag and when she is describing how she left the clinic, she holds up the blue help leaflet and says, ‘I got this and I left marie stopes.’

Mary O' Regan

When Everyone Thinks Its Their Right To Tell You To Abort

‘My grandmother asked me when I had my third child, if I had used contraception and said that, to her, I seemed kind of slow for getting pregnant a third time. It’s not as if I was a single mother – my husband earned good money and here I was – being lectured on why I didn’t prevent my baby girl coming into my belly in the first place!’ exhaled ‘Michaela’.

In recent years, Michaela and her husband have separated. Michaela cites a key reason being that she is from a Christian background while he was brought up in a Muslim home. ‘Sahid’ has not practised as a Muslim since leaving Iraq, and Michaela has never really practised her Christian faith – she said that they just used to write the word on forms. Michaela is from a post-communist country. She and her husband had a civil wedding when she was heavily pregnant with their first child.

Michaela was very upfront that her husband had put her under strenuous pressure to abort her first child. ‘If you were a Muslim wife, you would do what I say and abort it. How can I stay in a marriage with you if you won’t even act like a Muslim wife?!’ was the line that her husband used with her.

Michaela suspects that her husband ‘Sahid’ saw his own father put his mother under pressure to have abortions when Sahid was a child. But Sahid gets cross and defensive if she asks him whether this really happened and says something like, ‘Why should I tell anyone whether my mother had an abortion?’ This is rather contradictory in that Sahid put his wife under pressure for months to have an abortion, but is very hush-hush as to whether or not his mother had an abortion.

Michaela found life very lonely and friendless when her husband moved out and went to another part of London. She knew it wasn’t advisable to get involved with anyone else but she became friendly with a man nearby and the relationship became sporadically sexual. ‘But we weren’t together a lot, so I thought that I wouldn’t get pregnant. And each time I was with him, I said that it wouldn’t happen again.’

We met Michaela when she was very set on aborting the child that she had conceived with this "friend". Her appointments for abortions have come and gone, and she has not made any new appointments for an abortion. When I met her she felt very compelled to tell Sahid, who she calls ‘my ex-husband’, about the baby, but has now decided that for the time being, she won’t tell him that she’s pregnant with a fourth child; ‘He would still think it his right to tell me to abort this baby, and there’s no way that I can spend whole months being told to abort. Maybe I will wait till I’m 24 weeks before telling him.’

I’ve known Michaela for nearly three months now, and while she knows very little Christian doctrine, she still sometimes thinks and speaks as someone of Christian heritage. She wasn’t going to dabble in Islam; ‘I can’t just pretend to be a Muslim wife, and have an abortion because his faith might want that of me.’ And lately her conversation has been peppered with Christian symbols, ‘Every newborn is like a piece of heaven. There’s a time when you feel the angels surround you and mind the baby.’

Mary O'Regan

Prayer to Our Lady of Guadelupe Softens the Hardened Heart

One Saturday recently, I went to our Centre to speak with a woman who had come to us looking for abortion. She had come back to us a second time still asking us to help her get an abortion and it was my job to speak to us on her 3rd visit. A fairly unpleasant job I thought.

This lady, let's call her Monica, knew she could go elsewhere and get an abortion, but she had a certain trust in us. We had talked through all the risks of abortion with her. The dangers, possible side effects, the reality of what would happen to her baby in an abortion. We discussed why we thought it was wrong. All these things let her know we really cared about her health and wellbeing.

But they didn't "move" her in her resolve to abort one tiny bit.

If we got an abortion for her, she felt, it would be at least as safe as it could be. So she came to see us for the third time in the hope that, maybe, she could persuade us to arrange her abortion.

Monica had a toddler already and her husband has serious psychological problems. They have not been together for many months. She has separated from him for her child's welfare as much as her own. He has used physical violence against them before. His family think she is crazy for ever being with him. Her own family think so too. They say to her "It's lucky you only have the one child with him!"

On her previous visits she had told us "I never wanted children - I don't want his child - I don't want this child. Get it out of me!"

This is the language women often use about their baby when they are victims of abuse, rape, violence, or other issues where they are left to feel - as Monica did - stupid, guilty, shamed, hurt and used.

The problem is with the father, not with the baby. But the problem of the father gets reflected onto the baby by the poor woman who carries the child of man who has wounded her.

Can I in the short time we have together diffuse all that hurt and anger and suffering? - I asked myself this as she sat before me. She was very hardened into her choice to abort. Had the doctor been standing in the room ready to abort the child she would have said "yes". I whispered a quick prayer and set about trying to crack the hardened heart. I hadn't spoken for long when suddenly something happened. I hadn't said anything striking but I felt the weight of a huge burden lift in the room. Suddenly she began to say "I think I should keep the baby, What do you think?" She watched a video showing the abortion process at her stage and she said "You know, I have seen this before but it made no impact. I have heard about what abortion does when I came here before, but while I heard the words it didn't affect me. But now, something has changed. All of it has just now become clear to me. It is all affecting me now."

We sat together for 2 hours talking about the help she would need making a plan together. It was light and joyful and suddenly - though she still knew raising this second child - alone - would be hard, she embraced the child as hers - a sibling of her beloved toddler and - she could admit it now - the second child she had always wanted!

After she left, I went to the chapel and afterwards I asked the other staff and volunteers "Who was praying here about half an hour after I went in to see Monica?" no-one they thought. I was mystified. I really felt the power of prayer at work.

I pottered round to Westminster Cathedral that afternoon to see the relic replica image of Our Lady of Guadelupe. It struck me when I arrived that the service of prayer before this image had been led by Archbishop Nichols exactly half an hour after my meeting with Monica started and I couldn't help but feel that it was very much connected. Thank you our Blessed Lady. Monica is now awaiting the birth of her child in April.

Clare McCullough

Divine Interference: Phone Problems Lead to A Heaven Sent Christmas Present

We must give thanks for the baby saved from abortion who is to be born this Christmas. One mother will get a beautiful Christmas gift this year – she will give birth either on Christmas day or the days after.
But some months ago, ‘Maria’ had been adamant that abortion was her ‘only option’ and that she had to abort ‘as soon as possible.’ She had been with a man much younger than her, and when she told him she was pregnant he vamoosed, saying that she had to give him proof that he was the father. ‘Maria’ was having difficulty getting an appointment at an abortuary, because sometimes her phone wouldn’t connect her and she didn’t understand the "clinic’s"abortion-bookers when she rang. Maybe it was the angels intervening. She had no trouble getting through to us, and said that she wanted to talk it over, but was going to get the abortion anyway.
Maria said that she didn’t feel at all ‘ready’ to be a mother, and that the pregnancy put her ‘under pressure’. We discussed the abortion complications, and Maria was seemingly okay with everything: ‘I knew already that there was a risk of infertility, my sister couldn’t have a child after her late-term abortion, but it’s a chance that I’m willing to take.’
One thing was really playing on her mind – according to her own calculations the baby would be born on Christmas day.
‘I’m not ready to be a mother, but here...in here...there...is creating a new one...that will come on Christmas day.’ I told her that this was accurate based on the conception date that she gave us. Hearing this, she burst into tears, and while coughing back sobs she managed to utter,
‘every Christmas, I will remember the baby, the baby that I aborted. I don’t think that I can face Christmas anymore.’
‘Well, you’ve done nothing, you haven’t aborted the baby and you needn’t abort the baby. You don’t have to. We’re here to support you. We’ll help you have the baby at Christmas time. You don't have to spend every Christmas of your life regretting the death of your baby’ I said. Maria didn’t change her mind that day, but she accepted a Miraculous Medal and said, ‘Oh Jesus’ mother, this [motioning to her womb] would come at the same time as Jesus.’
A month later, Maria decided to forget all about having the abortion. From this year on, and every Christmas for the rest of her life, Maria will celebrate the baby’s birth and Our Lord’s birth at the same time.

Mary O'Regan

£80 to be Prodded and Ignored at Marie Stopes

‘The Marie Stopes staff made me feel like such a guinea pig’ said ‘Irene’ who came to us after a young man gave her a blue leaflet with Good Counsel's phone number on it during 40 Days for Life.

‘I paid at least 80 pounds for a consultation, and all they did was scribble some notes on a sheet, and tell me to lie down for a scan. Two people stood over me – a man and a woman – I don’t know who they were or what their jobs really were. The woman was new and didn’t know what to do. She kept prodding me with the ultrasound stick thing. Going back and forth with the stick and not picking up anything. The man would try to instruct her, and she would move the stick or the rod thing over me again. She never asked me if I minded that she pressed me with the scanning rod....The man and the woman talked to each other as if I wasn’t there...The man said to the woman that I was gone past a certain number of weeks. I felt so nervous at this stage that I felt that I couldn’t speak. The woman gave me a stare and said, ‘So it will be...surgical...for you.' The second that I heard the word ‘surgical’ my head swam with anxiety. I tried to point at the rod and ask if, please, they would show me the scan. I was completely ignored. I got down from the table, and they said a few things to me that didn’t really register. I just said that I was going home...Later I read the blue leaflet over and over again. Then I plucked up the courage to come here for an appointment.’

Irene stayed for many hours talking about why she has been considering abortion. She is living with her boyfriend and as he’s from a strict Muslim family, he keeps it a secret that he lives with her. When she told him that she is pregnant he turned to her and said, ‘you shouldn’t even be living with me. You led me into sin by sleeping with me. Now you’re in sin because you’re pregnant. I can’t help you now.’ Her boyfriend has told her flatly that he won’t promise any money. And now she has even less money after giving Marie Stopes a whopping 80 quid for them to prod her.

Irene has been assured of the help that we offer, and has said that now she wants to keep the baby. We ask for your continued prayers for her.

Mary O' Regan

Babies Saved From Abortion In The Midst Of Chaos

My typical day at the Good Counsel Network is anything but typical or predictable. I usually work one day a week and spend the rest of the week at home with my Mother and my son aged 3. I think being a stay at home Mum 6 days a week helps to keep me sane in the face of what happens in the Good Counsel Centre or perhaps it's the work at Good Counsel that keeps me sane when I am at home...I'm not sure!


My day in the Centre this week looked like this: Arrive to hear that an abortion-minded couple who turned away from abortion hoping that we could help them to return to their home country are panicking because they need to move out of their accomodation within 3 days. I start trying to book their tickets.


As various staff and volunteers start their day's work I am asked to respond to calls from several Mothers/Expectant Mothers about their needs. Some are still considering abortion. Others, continuing their pregnancies are arriving to be assessed or helped by our "Ongoing Assistance Co-ordinator" Ronni. Four girls need deliveries of baby goods, some things need to be ordered new for them, but we also have a lot of good quality second hand baby goods and baby clothes to pass on to them. I parcel these up for Conor our Fundraising Assistant to arrange with Patrick, our delivery man to deliver. Patrick often takes the smaller goods out in bundles and delivers them by tube.


In the background Gabrielle is setting up the Chapel for midday Mass and is trying to arrange Benediction. James is buying and posting vouchers to several expectant and new Mothers. These are women with no other means of support, who receive a small amount from us each week in food vouchers - just enough to keep body and soul going.


Lorraine is answering the Helpline and Mary is preparing for a client who is coming to see her.


I manage to round up 4 or 5 staff and volunteers for a bit of pavement counselling training, in honour of 40 Days for Life.


40 Days for Life has brought many pregnant women to our door. One of them rings to thank us for getting a scan done for her. She is keeping her baby now. Another girl rings to say that she is thinking about abortion again. She is put on our prayer list in the Chapel.


A volunteer, Gaelle, pops in to do a couple of hours of leaflet folding and of course gets dragged into everything from designing promotional materials for the forthcoming Credit Crunch Ball to serving tea and coffee to pregnant women some of whom are absolutely destitute.

Fr Timothy arrives and says Mass.

Afternoon brings a desperate call for Ronni from a Mother of 4 whose benefits have been stopped and will not be re-instated for 12 weeks. A call comes in from an organisation trying to house two ladies who are not entitled to any state help, one of whom is pregnant. We have nowhere available, but we advise them to come back to us if nowhere is found. We are very glad to have a record of never leaving a genuinely homeless person on the street and will always do our best to keep to it.

It has amazed me to find that the ONLY organisations that will generally house people without any access to public funds are Catholic groups, and only a very few Catholic groups at that - 3 to my knowledge - of which we are one. This is because most Charities, even many pro-life and Catholic charities rely heavily on state funding, which they won't get for people without access to public funds. One charity which helps refugees sent us an 8 month pregnant lady recently. She is very unwell and has to be monitored daily till the end of her pregnancy. The charity had no money to house her and so bought her a bus pass so she could sleep on the bus...

I have a brief meeting with Ronni about the girls needing help. It is interrupted about 23 times by phone calls and enquiries from various staff/volunteers under pressure. Various business and administration matters needing urgent attention are brought to me too. We have to terminate the meeting abruptly when 3 of our "clients" arrive.



The Divine Mercy Chaplet is said in the Chapel for all our clients and supporters.



A call comes in from one of the Charity Trustees to say that some accommodation we have been waiting for has become available.


4 girls who came to us considering abortion and still undecided need a call.


I get to sort through a few bags of baby clothes. I can't actually get into to my office today because of the baby goods in there that need sorting!


I manage to get over to 40 Days for life for a brief period and a short prayer. I get four calls from the travel agent about the ticket I booked this morning, but eventually it gets sorted out. On my return to the Centre, a girl is waiting with her 2 year old son. They are very stressed and harrassed looking. They don't fall within our remit for housing, not being pregnant, but I know of a sofabed they can stay on for a night or two and am able to put them on the bus to find it. We also find a warm winter coat and hat that fits her son perfectly. She puts him straight into it. We leave together at 8.30pm.


I have time for a quick word with Sr Mary Joseph of the Holy Family Sisters of the Needy who look after the Mothers that we accomodate. It's her birthday today so I wish her happy birthday.

There are plenty women continuing to come to us in crisis pregnancies and our Centre is a whirl of activity because of it, but it remains a blessing to me to work there.

Clare McCullough

Counselling ‘Audrey’ in the Presence of An Abortionist

Continued from Yesterday

‘Audrey’ clapped her hands and gave me a huge hug.
‘I have never been so moved in all my life! Remember the way the baby’s beating heart appeared on the screen! Let’s celebrate with nice food.’
I let her tell me her new worries while eating bowls of berries in a trendy cafe. Behind Audrey a middle-aged woman came out of the Ladies and sat down with a gent. Was it...it couldn’t be...but it was her. I knew the middle-aged woman to be an abortionist who some time ago had tried to convince me that ‘Abortion helps lower the rates of certain undesirables in society. By encouraging so many unwanted children you are making my society worse!’

As Audrey merrily ate her berries and chatted brightly about how ‘My baby’s heart is a miracle’, I could see the abortionist sip tea. The abortionist and her friend were decorated in their religious symbolism.
Audrey stopped eating and a frown came over her face and she sighed,

‘But you know I’ve been reading on the internet that baby’s can die in the womb during pregnancy and I think it would be better if I had an abortion before the baby dies.’
‘There are always a lot of ifs and buts in life, and anyone of us could be taken by God any second. But we know for a fact that your baby is alive today, at this very moment.’
I pulled out a baby model from my bag and Audrey got her scan pictures and started holding them up to the light. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the abortionist's eyes examine us, and her mouth formed a silent scream.
Audrey was oblivious to the doctor’s stare and put the scan results next to the baby model. Like a lot of pregnant mothers Audrey found the baby model very calming, and put it next to her cheek. Audrey said to me that she would love to see the bigger ultrasound picture of a ten week old foetus. I handed it to her, and she turned around and held it up to the light in the dim cafe where she could see it better. The abortionist got a full view of it, she was only two and a half metres away from us, and I could barely hear her friend asking her what had suddenly caused her fright. Quite rudely, she pointed in our direction and kept pointing. The friend looked over in our directions, and gave us a look that would have melted Everest. Audrey was too fascinated by the baby model to notice the abortionist, or hear her and her friend talking about how much they hated ‘anti-abortionists’. The doctor’s friend smoothed his religious garment.
I said arrow prayers of ‘Jesus and Mary I love You save souls!’ Amazingly for me, I didn’t start to shake. Normally, I am a very nervous person and counselling a panick-prone Audrey is one thing, but to have an abortionist mocking us... I consider it an answer to a prayer said some time ago. A while ago, the abortionist had told me ‘You prefer foetuses to women!’ I remember praying at Our Lady’s altar that this abortion doctor would see that foetuses are human and as many are girls, they will grow up to be women. That prayer was being answered then and there as she saw Audrey lift up different pictures of little unborn babes. I made myself forget that the doctor was there.
Audrey and I discussed her baby’s future in detail, till Audrey said, ‘Oh I can’t wait to hold my baby in my arms and take his pulse!’
That evening Audrey said ‘That clinic would have just stopped my baby’s heart beating for their own financial gain’, and cancelled her abortion.

Mary O' Regan

“Look at his beautiful little heart"

‘I’m absolutely terrified’ shrieked ‘Audrey’ as we sped through central London on the way to her doctor’s appointment.
‘What if the baby is not growing in the womb? What if there’s something wrong with my hormones and my hormones are harming the baby? What if the baby’s implanted outside my womb? And what if the baby doesn’t have a heart? Most of all, I’m convinced that the baby’s dead!’ ‘Audrey’ felt very alone in her pregnancy and is very far from home. Audrey’s fears about the baby were crowding her mind and because she thought her hormones were negatively affecting the baby, she had booked an abortion for the coming days.
Audrey had asked me to attend her doctor’s appointment and scan with her. The doctor is a rugged Celtic type, and while occasionally a bit gruff, he patiently explained to her that her hormones were not damaging her baby. Audrey was still very agitated when she lay down for her scan, her fists were clenched and her face taut with stress. A shadow appeared on the scan, and then the beating silhouette came into focus, the doctor announced,

‘Look at that beating heart! You’re a bit further in the pregnancy than you had thought.’
‘Aw! Amazing! Look at his beautiful little heart! Beautiful heart!’ said Audrey and tears of joy sprang from her eyes. Audrey was mesmerised by the gently pounding heart, and asked if the baby was definitely in the right place.
‘The baby’s in the womb all right and at this stage looks like he’s doing very well. Your risk of miscarriage is getting lower all the time.’
Audrey was ecstatic leaving the doctor’s office but still wanted to discuss if she should cancel her abortion. To be continued tomorrow...

Mary O' Regan

Teenage Pregnancy

Most people would think that teenagers are stroppier to talk to about their unborn babies.
Surprisingly, it is sometimes teenagers who are more pleasant and interested. Recently, ‘Beth’ a young teenager came looking for advice. She had got pregnant at the start of the summer, and was scared about going back to school pregnant. No one knew but her teenage boyfriend. She had told him she was pregnant, and he had instantly disappeared. She lives near him, and this makes things very uncomfortable.
She was quite heartbroken about this. “He sees me in the street and runs away. When I called his home, he got his mother to say that he didn’t know me.”
Beth had been told by teachers at school that if she ever got a positive test that she could have an abortion. “But I’ve no clue what that means. I’m really confused. For starters they tell me that I should have an abortion because I shouldn’t have a baby. But if I didn’t have a baby, why would I need an abortion?”
She saw pictures of unborn babies in the womb, and was amazed: “yeah, I knew that’s what the baby had to look like! He’s eight weeks, and see his lovely rib cage!” Beth was very open to seeing the pictures of the unborn baby and held the baby model close to her face. In my experience a ‘mature’ adult may react more harshly to seeing the unborn baby pictures. The worst reaction that I ever got was when a twenty five year old threw the baby model and the pictures at me.
During my time with Beth, we discussed what help we could give her, and what practical arrangements could be made for her to have the baby and stay on at school. She still felt threatened by her boyfriend's avoidance of her and by the mere idea of telling her parents. But she said, “I know that I’ll have to face World War Three, but I’m going to fight for my child.”

Mary O' Regan

Prayer Can Move Mountains

In a previous job I had, a work colleague came into the room where I was working. Quite out of the blue, she asked me what I thought about abortion. Surprised by the direct question. I replied by saying "It's totally out of the question. It's wrong". Not knowing why she had asked the question, I was careful with my response to her. Not long afterwards, she explained to me that she was pregnant, and that her boyfriend was wanting her to have an abortion. She was worried that when she told her parents, they would pressure her to have an abortion also. She wanted to keep her baby, but was feeling very alone. The pressure of her boyfriend's cold response and the assumption in her mind that her parents would equally be dismissive of her desire for motherhood, was clearly confusing and distressing her greatly.

I spoke with her at some length, feeling rather out of my depth to say the least.
Fortunately, I had met people working for the Good Counsel Network at a Youth 2000 retreat, so I asked them to send me pro-life literature for her, and asked them to pray. I gave her their number, and then asked as many people as possible to pray for her. Quite a few of us prayed a novena of Memorares for her. Mother Theresa was a great advocate of praying for things through Our Lady's intercession by praying a novena of Memorares.

When I came into work the next week, she turned to me in the company of work colleagues and told me she no longer needed the phone number I gave her. Later on, she explained to me that her boyfriend had apologised to her and told her he had been scared. He was now very happy she was pregnant and that they would be parents. She told her parents, who were very happy.

A lot of women we counsel here at the Good Counsel Network, want to keep their babies, but are being pressured by boyfriends, family and financial situations into having an abortion. The slogan " a woman's right to choose" is so incorrect as the majority of women are being pressured into making the "choice of abortion". The right to life of the unborn child is not considered in the equation of pro-abortion activists.

Prayer and fasting are essential if we are to destroy the "Goliath of abortion". Even though David had only a pebble, his faith enabled him to slay the Philistine. Let's take our pebbles of prayer and fasting, and with deep humility and trust in God; through Our Lady's maternal intercession, God will end abortion.

James Coulborn

July, A Month of Grace outside London Abortuaries

July was a very special month at the prayer vigil outside the abortion mill where a few of us pray and do some pavement counselling on Saturdays. Thanks be to God for His intercession and Graces, there were three Christian couples who turned around because they believed there was a sign from God when they saw the prayer vigil. They then spoke to some of the pavement counsellors who advised them properly that abortion was wrong and to put their trust in God instead. One Christian couple had come a long distance and they noticed the picture of the 12 week old baby developing in the womb and stood talking about the baby and God to my colleague Mary for a good half hour.

They booked an appointment with our Centre the next day but then phoned to say they did not need to come for help and that they had definitely decided to keep their baby and that they had realised that it was a sin to abort their baby.

When I was on holiday one following Saturday my friend Gabi texted me to say that another Christian couple had changed their minds. She had spoken to them outside the abortuary. They sent an e-mail to one of our friends afterwards, who had given them his e-mail address, to say that they had set off that day very unsure about what they were doing but decided to go along to the abortuary with abortion in mind, while trusting that when they got there, if it (the abortion)was the wrong thing to do, that there would be a sign from God. They realised that the prayer vigil outside was that sign from God not to go ahead with the abortion.

The third couple whom Mary spoke to had come all the way from Malta and had Catholic parents but were not married and were in difficult circumstances. They were very upset at the thought of abortion and really wanted to stay and talk about it for over an hour. The young lady took a prayer card from me which I offered her from Padre Pio because she was very fond of him and I told her to pray ‘The Sacred Heart Novena’ which was on the prayer card for help and told them that if they put their trust in God that He would help them through their difficulities. Somebody at the vigil also gave this lady a Rosary Prayer Card which she was happy to take. They told us they could not go ahead with the abortion and they went inside the abortuary to tell the staff who queried them why they had changed their minds. The evening before this Saturday we had had all night Adoration at our Centre and somebody told me there was a lot of Adoration going on in different areas around the UK at that time.

All praise and thanks to God for His intercession.

Lorraine Coyne

My Heart Says No

‘I don’t want this abortion. My heart says no. I promised myself that my last abortion was the last one. I never wanted to be in this situation again’ said Amy, who was in her first trimester. Her cheeks sagged in misery, and her eyes bulged with sadness. I knew by the way she looked intently at the close-up picture of the unborn baby’s eyes that this was not her ‘choice’.
‘Did anyone urge you to have the last abortion?’
‘Well my Christian friends told me an abortion would be all wrong for me, and that Jesus will bless me if I continued the pregnancy. So during the last pregnancy, for a long time I decided to have the baby. But I ended up having the abortion because my boyfriend told me it was a sin to be pregnant.’
‘Really? What religion is your boyfriend?’ I asked.
‘Aalee is a Muslim, and he is very concerned that I become a Muslim too. He wants me to become a Muslim before we get married.’
‘And is that what you want?’
‘No. I’m a committed Gospel Christian, and Our Lord saved me. Our Lord wants me to have this baby’ Amy said and looked me right in the eye.
‘And yet, you’re planning an abortion...’ I said in a surprised voice.
‘I’m really confused, my friends in church tell me to keep the baby and that it’s a sin to abort. But my boyfriend tells me that the pregnancy is a sin, and that I won’t be in sin anymore if I abort...If I become a Muslim then the abortion won’t be a sin.’

We invited her boyfriend to accompany Amy for counselling.
Aalee became very concerned about the risks multiple abortions pose to Amy’s fertility, and has stopped pressurising her with the ‘pregnancy is a sin’ ruse.

I encouraged Amy to seek much support from her Christian friends who frequently quote the Ten Commandments when urging women not to have abortions. Amy is now beginning her second trimester, and we would be grateful for your sustained prayers for her pregnancy.

Mary O'Regan