A woman who chose life two years ago needed help again. Love Life was willing and able to help her and appoint a new mentor to walk alongside her for her current struggles. As I spoke with her today, she told me the story of why she chose life. It was a story I had not heard when I initially counseled her, and it was a good one!

She went in the abortion center but apparently had gone to the wrong one. (There are three in Charlotte.) The nurse in the center told her she needed an ultrasound to proceed with the abortion. She told the woman to go out to US…the people on the sidewalk. They had an ultrasound machine in an RV and would get her the needed ultrasound. That mobile ultrasound is provided by HELP Monroe Pregnancy Center, a partnering ministry with Love Life.

First of all, this is INSANE. NO NURSE in the abortion center would tell the abortion-determined moms to come to us. In fact, they tell them to avoid us at all costs, that we lie, and that we trap them to choose life. Secondly, the ultrasounds we do will NOT be accepted by the abortion clinic. We never give the mom dates, times, or measurements on the photos for that very reason. We do not want them to be used to aid in getting an abortion! And thirdly, they do ultrasounds in the abortion center. Why on earth would the nurse send her out to us for an ultrasound????

So the mom came out, and that is where she met me. I brought her on the RV with the mobile ultrasound unit. Up to this point, the mom was still convinced we were with the abortion clinic, though we always make clear we love God and we love the unborn child. The mom then told me that eventually, she figured out we were pro-life. At that point, she thought: OH NO!!!! Get me out of here!!!

“I wanted to leave. Right away. But something held me there. I just didn’t get up and leave, even though I wanted to. I just knew you…cared. I don’t know what it was. It was what you were telling me about God, about my baby and about abortion, and about all the help. But it was something else too…I do not know why I didn’t leave.”

Then, during the ultrasound, the baby WAVED. The mom thought she was seeing things, or that maybe we were showing a fake video. 

“Was that real?” She asked me today, “Did the baby really wave?”

“It was the real ultrasound,” I told her. “Honestly, I don’t remember your ultrasound specifically…but if you saw the baby wave, that is not unusual. I often see them hold their hands as though they are waving, suck their thumbs, or even mimic the mom’s arm, putting their hand behind their neck! I sometimes think God prompts them to do that!”

“That is what I thought too,” she laughed. “That was one of the reasons I chose life. When she waved, I just knew I could not abort her.”

I shared the Gospel with this mom again today, stating some very hard truths. I was a little worried she would hang up on me. But instead, she thanked me. She told me that the fact that our ministry cared so much for her soul and for her baby filled her with gratitude. She knew that in her weakness, God had sent her His strength, and He used us to uphold her.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9