Mom credits advocates for abortion cancellation

I was so tired that day and was tempted to abandon my afternoon commitment to stand vigil on the sidewalk of our local abortion facility. “Dear Lord,” I prayed on the way, “I am going to need you to carry me through this today.” 

When my prayer buddy Ann and I showed up, we noticed a flurry of activity. A handful of youth had come with a chaperone from Grand Forks. Three young gals from the group were finishing up sidewalk chalk drawings of flowers, hearts and a website offering help, while their two male counterparts stood to the west by the highway with signs: “Honk for Life!” and “Love Both: Child, not Choice.”  

“They’re boisterous today,” my pastor friend said, referencing the escorts, updating me on the “temperature” of the afternoon. He pointed to a large, darkened area on the sidewalk where the escorts had already sprayed away the girls’ earlier attempts to draw encouraging messages to clients.  

As the youth group departed, I walked across the street to say goodbye to Pastor Tom and over to where Ann was staking a sign in the ground offering help. Just then, a car moving slowly began driving past us. The driver, a young woman, was looking at her phone, as if searching her GPS, with her window rolled down.  

“Hello!” I said, just feet from her, bending down to address her. “If you’re here for an abortion…” I’ve learned to be direct in such moments. “Oh, no, I’m not here for that. I’m just looking for my friend’s house,” she said. “Okay,” I responded. “Well, they’re doing abortions over there, and we’re just here to offer help, if you know of anyone...” 

She kept driving, so we crossed the street to our spot on the sidewalk. With the youth now gone, a male escort walked to where they’d been with a long hose to erase their beautiful work. Within minutes, the rest of the earlier crew had also left. “I guess we’re it now,” I said to Ann. The nice weather had brought out more escorts than usual, and we were well outnumbered.  

As we readied to start praying the Divine Mercy chaplet, the woman we’d just seen driving past pulled up on the curb behind us, and came out, approaching us. “I lied to you,” she said to me. “I was going to have an abortion, but I just can’t do it.”  

And now, another flurry unfolded: tears, hugs, offers of help, and affirmations of her very good decision. We learned that there are two other children, and a father who had not supported her decision to abort. And now, she had come around, too.  

“I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t here!” she said through glad tears. “It’s not for me to take a life that God created.” More hugs. More encouragement for her bravery. After one last embrace, she promised to call Women’s Care Center after getting some food. I gave her my phone number. “Call if you ever just want to talk.” 

Ann and I were left jubilantly stunned by what had just happened. The escorts could have ranted and railed for the rest of our time there. We would not have cared. Nothing mattered now. God won! We’d seen it with our own eyes, heard it with our ears, and experienced the joy of victory of a life saved. His grace was enough, and the grateful tears in this young mom’s eyes would carry us forward.  

These are moments we wait for, for months, even years. Not only was this a glorious save at the most unexpected time, but the mom had left no doubt, beginning with her confession. “I lied to you.” With that truth laid out plainly, God moved in to claim the victory.  

There are so many lessons to take from this most excellent moment: our human need to have a clear conscience, the truth that the escorts have become something of a clown show and are scaring some clients away (the mom indicated being offput by them), and the reality that deep down, these women just need to know they’re not alone.  

To make this story all the more beautiful, guess what the mom’s name was? LOVE. “I just couldn’t do it; I couldn’t,” Love told us, to which I responded, “Someday, when you are old, that baby is going to take care of you. You will never regret this day.” 

I can’t help but think of the song, Oh Happy Day. “Oh happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away. He taught me how to watch, fight and pray. Oh happy day!”