An Unexpected Chapter in Life
Imagine it’s the end of summer and the cooler days of fall are in front of you. You can almost hear the crowds cheering at the football game and smell the bonfires. This will be your first year of college. You’ve left your home and traveled to a new community where you’re planning to spend the next four years. You arrive with everything you need to make your dorm room “home” for the school year. You daydream about all that this new-found independence means for you—no parents, no curfew, choices about what and when to eat, who to see and when to see them . . .
And before you can even start this new chapter of life, the whole world seems to crash down around you. After experiencing the “college scene” for only a few weeks, that pesky home pregnancy test turns up positive. Unable to believe your eyes, you just want this whole problem to go away.
This is exactly the way the scene played out for Ann. What was meant to be a new chapter in her life definitely became a new chapter—just not the one she imagined. Who daydreams about getting a positive pregnancy test in the first few weeks of college and then planning an abortion? No one. Yet Ann found herself in a situation where she was unexpectedly pregnant and planning to abort her child.
Desperate to be done with her pregnancy, Ann frantically went to the internet and began to “google” anything “abortion.” The PRC clinic appeared, and Ann immediately dialed the number. Before the phone was barely answered, she heard her own voice ask, “Do you guys do abortion?”
The scheduler on the other end asked, “Have you had a positive pregnancy test?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, tell me a little bit about your situation.” What followed was a conversation that led to Ann scheduling an appointment for a lab-quality pregnancy test and an ultrasound. Fully aware that she would not receive an abortion or receive referrals for an abortion, Ann arrived at the clinic a couple of hours after her initial contact with the scheduler.
Being a college freshman in an unfamiliar city, Ann was more than a little nervous, but a kind smile from the clinic staff and volunteers, and the comfortable surroundings, helped Ann settle down a bit. After receiving a fair amount of information, an ultrasound, and education on important health considerations, Ann left still convinced that abortion was her path forward. Or was she really convinced?
When Ann failed to keep her follow-up appointment the following week, the clinic staff and volunteers assumed the worst. Encouraged by the truth that God is always at work behind the scenes, the PRC clinic workers kept praying for the best. After all, we walk by faith, not by sight; right? One thing is for sure: a pregnancy resource worker won’t survive in the work of crisis pregnancy very long unless they possess patience, perseverance, and the resolve to release control of situations to God.
So what happened to Ann? We don’t know the full story, but what we do know is that even though we never saw Ann again, we were able to remain in touch with her through texting and phone calls. Ann walked away from her freshman year of college, moved home, and delivered a precious little boy in the spring of 2020. What changed her mind? She never said. Was it the ultrasound? Hearing the heartbeat? Saying the word “abortion” out loud? In addition to the information she received that fall afternoon, a person could confidently conclude that Ann’s parents stood with her and probably encouraged her to continue with the pregnancy and give birth to their grandson.