In the darkened banquet room, a young mother on the big screen told the story of her crisis pregnancy. How her baby's daddy had been addicted to drugs and had left her to deal with the pregnancy alone. How she didn't know if she could handle a pregnancy, let alone the burden of raising a child on her own. As she was telling her story, the voice of a precious little baby began babbling at the table next to me. He had heard his mama's voice over the speakers and was excited and animated. His mama, clutching him in her lap, was sobbing as she heard her own story replayed. As she described how her own father was helping to raise her baby boy, her father, a man probably in his late 50's who was seated next to her, removed his glasses and wiped away his tears. Several other older gentlemen at the table blew their noses and wiped away tears as the story continued.
When the house lights came up, the young woman and her baby took the stage and she told the audience how much Pregnancy Solutions and Services had done for her. How the staff had helped her walk through her crisis pregnancy, had loved her unconditionally, had taught her to be a mother. And that precious baby boy babbled the entire time.
Another young mom and baby along with the grandmother took the stage to share a similar story. The grandmother was so grateful for the Christ-centered message of PSS and shared that her daughter was a wonderful mother because of the parenting classes she attended there.
Ann Marie Kirk, an ultrasonographer who travels with PSS's mobile ultrasound units, shared some of the center's success stories and also some of the dark, depressing circumstances the girls come from and must return to. She said that the counselors can't go home with the girls, so their goal is to send Christ home with them. Ultimately, baby clothes and parenting classes will only take them so far. Only the life-giving, saving grace of Christ can truly and permanently change the hearts and lives of these girls and their families.
We were reminded at this fundraising banquet for Pregnancy Solutions and Services that 6000 little voices are snuffed out in Summit County every year by the evil of abortion. PSS has saved 104 babies from the clutches of the abortionists this year and has saved 848 in the last six years. It doesn't' sound like very many compared to the huge massacre year after year after year, but each one is precious and each one could grow up to be a world-changer some day.
The guest speaker for the evening was Dr. Robert Peterson, who had a horrific childhood punctuated by neglect and abuse. He eventually ended up in the foster care system, where he suffered more neglect and abuse until he was adopted by a loving family at age twelve. He has worn many hats, including pastor and professor and he credits and thanks three women - his (abusive) mother who gave birth to him, the woman who talked his mother out of aborting him, and the woman who adopted him. It's a great reminder of how God brings beauty from ashes.
The pro-abortion types like to say that those of us who are pro-life only care about babies in the womb. That we don't care about women and babies once the woman decides to keep her baby. Of course, that's completely untrue. Besides their mobile units that performed 755 ultrasounds this year, PSS provided counseling and pregnancy tests, pregnancy care and infant care classes, childbirth classes, relationship classes, baby clothes and equipment, formula and baby food, mentoring and Bible studies. All of this is provided free of charge to the clients and without government funding. Call Planned Parenthood sometime and see if you can get some baby clothes or parenting classes.
Pregnancy Solutions and Services and other local pregnancy centers are the heart and soul of the pro-life movement. They often run on a shoe-string budget with staffs that are mostly volunteers and paid staff that are paid far less than they are worth. If you've got a few extra bucks (or a few thousand!!) perhaps you can help them out with a donation. And pray for them workers at PSS and pregnancy centers everywhere. Every day they are in the trenches with young women who will decide if their babies will live or die. It's not for the faint of heart.
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