This just posted by our friends at Operation Rescue
Albuquerque, NM – A teen mother, who was saved from a coerced abortion last October after a sidewalk counselor texted her while she was inside the clinic, has given birth to a beautiful, healthy boy named Manuel.
The little boy was born on May 10 weighing 7 pounds. The following week, his mother proudly graduated from high school.
Tara Shaver, a former intern for Operation Rescue, was sidewalk counseling outside Planned Parenthood in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when she received a call from a woman who told her that her grandson’s girlfriend was being forced to get an abortion that she did not want. The woman told Tara that her grandson, the baby’s father, also wanted to keep the baby. They were desperate, because the girl was only 17 and her mother was insisting on the abortion against the girl’s will. The grandmother gave Tara the teen’s cell phone number.
Tara began a text-message conversation with the teen, who we will call “Jane,” while she was inside the abortion clinic. Jane was six weeks pregnant and was interested in seeing an ultrasound of her baby, but still did not want to go through with the abortion. She told Tara that her mom would not allow her to leave the clinic.
Tara continued to encourage her and even texted Jane a photo of a pre-born baby at six weeks, the same age as her baby. Texting keep their conversation private where a phone call would have alerted the mother or the abortion clinic staff to Tara’s efforts to help Jane.
Finally, Jane came out of Planned Parenthood and spoke with Tara, and before long, Jane’s father came to the clinic to pick her up and take her safely home.
Tara’s last text to the Jane that day was loving word of encouragement.
“We are so proud of u! You are my hero, your baby is so proud too!”
Tara continued to follow up with her new friend, and shared in her joy at the birth of her baby and her accomplishment of graduating with her class.
“Coerced abortions are a very real and understated problem in our country. Jane is a hero for having the courage to stand up for her baby even though the deck was stacked against her. We congratulate her on the birth of her precious son, Manuel, and on her graduation,” said Newman.
“But Jane could not have done it without Tara’s love and support. She is also a hero too, for thinking ‘outside the box’ and using texting to save Manuel’s life and protect Jane from the emotional trauma of a coerced abortion. Tara took time to follow up with Jane, and make sure she had the help and support she needed. We are very proud of Tara and all she and her husband, Bud, are accomplishing on the pro-life mission field of Albuquerque.”
Lerryn Kidd – Pro-life missionary blog #1
I’ve always been pro-life, the kind of pro-life that just talks about life, but doesn’t do anything about it. I grew up in an awesome family with two parents who love each other and us so well, and two sisters, one with high-functioning autism and another adopted from China. Becoming active in the pro-life movement hit my radar my freshman year of high school. I went to a Lutheran school where they had a great little Teens for Life club going. I went to the first meeting to check it out, the same day they were holding elections, and God led me to put my name on the ballot to be on the executive council responsible for making club decisions. I was voted in, and started organizing events and going with the group down to Planned Parenthood to pray regularly. From then on, I was involved, but I wouldn’t say overly passionate.
The transformation from involved to passionate happened my junior year of high school. I was seventeen, involved with a long time boyfriend, and I thought I was pregnant. I sat down with my mom, at 17 years old, and told her. She supported me and we talked about options, like adoption or keeping my baby. While it turned out that I wasn’t pregnant, those feelings I had changed my heart forever. I recognized that many of the young people involved in this movement didn’t have the firsthand experience with those feelings of despair and uncertainty. I did. I realized how important it was for me to share my story with other girls and give them hope.
I have the unique ability to sit down with girls facing unplanned pregnancies and say, “I’ve been where you are. I’ve had all those same feelings, but you know what? You have a miracle growing inside of you! Your circumstances do not change the fact that you have a beautiful living child growing in you right now. And you know what else? Regardless of where you’ve been or what you’ve done, you have a Father who loves you NO MATTER WHAT. And if you go to him, he will forgive you, and he will walk through this with you.” There’s so much hope in that.
While I have a passion for standing up for the unborn, because of my story and where I’m coming from, I have an equally big passion for the women and men involved in unplanned pregnancies. There are deeper issues to be dealt with than unprotected sex, and I want to be there for those women and men to help deal with those issues. For me, I wanted the love and acceptance I didn’t feel I was getting from other places, specifically at home (although I was very wrong about that). I’ve dedicated my life to caring about these women and children and standing up for them.
Now that you’ve learned a little more about me, I’d like to share about another life issue.
Being pro-life does not just mean opposing abortion. Being pro-life means standing up for life from the embryo until natural death, however tragic it may be. Most of you know about the tornadoes that hit Joplin, MO on May 22. The Joplin tornado was the deadliest single twister since the weather service began keeping official records in 1950 and the eighth-deadliest in U.S. history. Scientists said it appeared to be a rare “multivortex” tornado, with two or more small and intense centers of rotation orbiting the larger funnel. The devastation is more awful than any of us can imagine. Homes are demolished, 91 schools are closed for the year, and 125 people have already been reported dead.
We mourn for the loss of every one of these lives and pray for their families. There is still a list of over 200 missing people, and we pray for them too.
So what can we do?
Fundraise. Churches, schools, offices, and neighborhoods are gathering their people together to raise money for Joplin. The need for relief is huge. Talk to your church about giving the offering on Sunday to World Vision for relief supplies and medical care. Get a group together and have a car wash or bake sale and donate all the proceeds to an organization.
Donate blood. The medical relief centers are asking for blood donations from everywhere, especially type O.
Use media to effectively spread this message.
Pray. Give the people of Joplin a hope to hold on to in this difficult time.
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