Why I Am Pro-Life. Why I work for LIFE

Why I Am Pro-Life
Why I Am Pro-Life

Why I am Pro-Life

Why I am Pro-Life.
Why I work for LIFE.
I work to preserve life because life is precious, all life is precious.

I never want another woman to find herself in a room surrounded by people pressuring her to end her baby’s life. I had been married for a few years and we were expecting my first baby. The OB ran the usual tests and one of them came back . . . suspect. He sent me to specialists at Eastern Virginia Medical School. My husband and I went for the appointment. They confirmed my baby had Down Syndrome, Trisomy 21.

The “specialists” at EVMS painted a grim picture of what her life would look like. What our life with her would be like. How she would need extra care. She would not learn at the same pace as the other children and would need special education. How she might never learn to care for herself. They told us that her life span would probably be 50 to 60 years and that she would most likely outlive my husband and me and would need someone to care for her. She would have been our first child – so we would have to consider how we could provide for her beyond the end of our lives. Someone suggested we would need to have other children to ensure there would be someone to care for her beyond our life.

These experts kept telling us the extreme difficulties we would face if we kept her. Not once did they say that there was help out there for families of Down Syndrome babies. Not once did they offer to connect us with resources to help us. Terminating the pregnancy was the only route they suggested.

Emotionally I was spiraling out of control. I needed someone to tell me I could do it – that I could care for her. That everything was going to be alright. That there were people and organizations out there that would provide support. I needed to slow down and process.

My husband was convinced that we needed to terminate our daughter’s life and every one of the “experts” was pushing for the “logical choice” to terminate my baby’s life. I felt alone and pressured to end her life. And I had no time to make the “decision,” it was imperative that the decision be made immediately.

I am ashamed, and I live every day regretting the decision I made.

More than anything, I want women who are afraid to have the help and hope they need to choose life for their baby.

I think if there had been a safe place to process and strong Christian counselors to help me slow down and process, to remember the goodness of God, to find the support I would need to care for my daughter, I would have made a different decision.

I want other women who are afraid and are only hearing how they should end their baby’s life to hear that they are able, that God can strengthen them and provide for them and their baby. I want them to know that God created the baby they are carrying, and He has a plan. I want them to hear the truth, and I want the truth to drown out ALL the lies and speculations the world and the “experts” are telling them.

I pray daily that God would open a way to provide counseling for women like me. Women who are sent into the “specialist’s” office, where the only thing they will hear is that they should terminate their baby’s life.

I am pro-life.
I work to save LIFE.
I work to preserve life because life is precious, ALL life is precious.

May 10, 2022

The Care Net Peninsula Family is built up of so many amazing individuals. You encourage us with the ways you fight abortion in our community and work to provide help and hope to local women so they choose life for their babies. You each have a unique story of how God brought you to this moment to take up this charge and we would love to hear it. 

If you would like to share your story with the Care Net Family send an email to amanda@cnpeninsula.org

 

Joy from Pain

Joy from Pain

When I was a little girl, age 5, my mother had an abortion. There were medical reasons, but the effects of that decision were life-long for her and for my father as well as for myself and likely my other siblings. That moment stopped time for me, and what my parents thought would be the best answer for their situation ended up being a destructive decision that immediately brought remorse for the loss of a child who would’ve been my little brother.

Many struggles came from that painful decision. Most importantly, God used this terrible decision to help my mother make sure I understood that she was carrying a BABY that was taken from the world too soon and that that would never be an option again.

Fast forward 15 years, and my boyfriend and I discovered we were pregnant. We both loved the Lord but were in a promiscuous relationship together and those choices resulted in a pregnancy. There was no doubt that we were keeping our child even though some people pressured us to seek an abortion. We prayed that God would use our daughter to love others well and give us opportunities to share the Gospel with our story.

We have never regretted our decision, and 28 years later we have four children who love Jesus. We know and believe that God worked despite our sin through our repentance for our good and His glory. He is faithful in every situation. The daughter we chose to keep has made us grandparents twice over now, and we are so blessed.

January 14, 2022

The Care Net Peninsula Family is built up of so many amazing individuals. You encourage us with the ways you fight abortion in our community and work to provide help and hope to local women so they choose life for their babies. You each have a unique story of how God brought you to this moment to take up this charge and we would love to hear it. 

If you would like to share your story with the Care Net Family send an email to amanda@cnpeninsula.org

Rena’s Story

Rena's Story

I remember well the night I decided to tell my mom my big secret. We had an hour car ride ahead of us and I was determined to finally spill the hurt that had been tearing my heart apart for five years. I spent the whole hour re-positioning (and sweating profusely) trying to form the words on my mouth.

I HAD AN ABORTION

I got pregnant. It was not planned. I was afraid and I believed the lie that abortion was a quick fix and would be the answer to all my problems. I would be able to go on living my life, but I was deceived. My life quickly began to spiral. I was depressed and self-destructive and filled with shame. I continued to believe the lies: “You don’t have a right to be sad. You chose this. You are alone. People would reject you if they knew what you did. You are unworthy of God’s forgiveness.”

I waited until we were in the driveway and I still couldn’t form the words. In God’s mercy, my mom just knew and she comforted me and told me that she loved me. A few days later, she referred me to a Bible study that she knew for women who had experienced the trauma of abortion. I felt like I had been drowning for so long and this was my precious gulp of fresh air.

Surrendering the Secret shattered the lies that had imprisoned my heart for so long. I was not alone. I found a group of women who understood what I was going through, who had no place of judgment or condemnation. I found a place where I could share my story. I was granted the space to be sad, where I could grieve my tremendous loss. Most importantly, I met with God through His Word and like a tender parent, He comforted me and told me that He loved me, unabashedly loved me.

Since then, I married a godly man and have since had beautiful babies. I have shared my story with women in my church about complete freedom in Christ. I have had the opportunity to lead this incredible study at Care Net with the gift of meeting other women whose lives are transformed by this study. I have shared my story with strangers who are hurting…the same story that couldn’t even form on my lips now flows shamelessly because of this recovery group.

For my fellow sisters who have experienced abortion, I know your heartache. I urge you: be a part of this Bible study. Let God’s light flood into those dark hidden places. “His light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” Believe the truth: You are loved. You are forgiven. You are not alone.

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