When the young mom called the pregnancy center, it was by mistake. She had an abortion scheduled at the abortion facility next door.
That was the first miracle.
The receptionist explained that, if the young mom changed her mind, the pregnancy center would be able to help her. The client ended up checking in for her abortion appointment, but also stayed in touch with the pregnancy center by text, communicating with director Tricia, a trained Sidewalk Advocate. Eventually, the mom decided to leave the abortion facility and check out the pregnancy center.
That was the second miracle.
After that, the miracles came so quickly that they got hard to count — and this young woman desperately needed miracles.
She had left an abusive situation and was living in a domestic violence center with her two young children. Without the support of a family or community, she had thought that abortion was simply her only option.
But she found that support, that community, at the pregnancy center. And one step at a time, she moved toward self-sufficiency.
Now the 24-year-old is the mother of three, ages 7, 3, and 1. She is employed, and she has a goal of opening up her own homeless shelter – a way to help others through a situation she experienced firsthand. And she continues to work with the pregnancy center team as she takes steps toward building an even better life for her family.
All her concerns boiled down to thinking she couldn’t do it, she couldn’t afford it, she couldn’t manage to parent her child, says Sue, her client advocate.
“It’s just a matter of knocking down the roadblocks and paving the way, so they can see beyond that day,” Tricia says, “beyond that moment.”
Submitted by Sidewalk Advocates for Life team in New Jersey