A Woman's Choice

Thursday night my husband and I got all fancied up for a banquet to raise funds for the local crisis pregnancy center. We had a great time dining with some close friends of ours, Ashley and Chuck Flurry (pictured). The highlight of the night was supposed to be the guest speaker, Richard Dobson, son of Dr. James Dobson. Because the state of Colorado was having an October blizzard, he was unable to make it. So instead of Mr. Dobson, I would say the highlight was hearing from a young girl who was saved from making the only choice she thought she had, abortion. This young woman, we'll call Stacy, found herself in a crisis pregnancy and an abusive relation. Stacy left this abusive relationship and came to A Woman's Choice Resource Center where she received advice from loving counselors who showed her abortion was not the only choice she had, she could also choose not to abort and to keep her baby. I had a hard time holding back the tears as she described the hopelessness she felt. Before she came to the center, Stacy said she felt she had nowhere to go but down and was ultimately considering suicide. The center directed her to their sister facility, Necole's Place. Here, Stacy was able to receive her G.E.D. and pursue other classes in cooking, parenting, fitness, etc. When asked to describe her current hope, she had a hard time getting out the words. From going to feeling hopeless and without a purpose, Stacy now felt smart and as though she could really be someone, including a mother.

Another key speaker was Leigh Ann. Leigh Ann and I both volunteer at A Woman's Choice Resource Center located purposefully across from Kentucky's only aborton clinic. Leigh Ann volunteers at the center in hopes to keep women from making the same choice she made. When Leigh Ann was in college she found herself pregnant after only being with a guy one night. She and her mom went to her minister for advice, Leigh Ann was shocked to hear her minister say he thought she should abort. Leigh Ann described the painful experience of having her minister driving her and her mom to the abortion clinic. She said she felt so confused and the proceedure was so physically painful. In addition, the doctor and nurses were very cold towards her and the receptionist told her to stop crying. While the physical pain was terrible, the emotional pain she felt was almost unbearable. Leigh Ann said she still has to live with the consequences of her decision and the memory of what happened. Now Leigh Ann uses this experience to educate other women about the trauma of having an abortion.

So many women do not know the truth about abortion. It is not a one time decision that will be forgotten later. It is a decision that affects the life of the person who chooses to abort, thereby taking a life. Short-term it may seem the easy answer, but long-term it will be haunting. For more information on A Woman's Choice please visit their website: http://www.awomanschoice.org