Pro-life authors Brittany and Natasha Smith wrote a book called “Unplanned Grace: A Compassionate Conversation on Life and Choice,” which tells the stories of women helped by pregnancy resource centers.
Despite relentless attacks from the abortion industry and pro-abortion groups, pregnancy centers help over 900,000 pregnant women and families each year. Gabi was one of them.
Compassionate Help from a Pregnancy Resource Center
When Gabi became pregnant, she was drinking heavily and living a troubled lifestyle. “I was in and out of bars, getting drunk. I wasn’t ready to have a child,” she said. “I was not even able to take care of myself, let alone another human being.”1
Gabi had no one to support her and nowhere to turn. A friend told her about Matrix LifeCare Center. Seeking help and guidance, Gabi went there. She told her story to Amy Hutchcraft, client care director at Matrix. Hutchcraft said, “[Gabi] didn’t have anyone to talk to. I wanted to be that person for Gabi, cheering her on. I wanted to make sure she knew that she was loved and that she had value and was courageous for sharing what she shared with me.”2
Ultrasounds and Choosing Life
Hutchcraft offered Gabi compassion and a listening ear. She also offered her an ultrasound. The ultrasound changed Gabi’s life. Gabi said:
It was amazing. It’s like a whole new light came into my life when I saw him for the first time. My heart got so warm in my chest, and I felt these tingles. I said out loud, “Oh my God. There he is!” I just knew he was a boy.
Seeing my son completely turned my life around, like a whole 180.3
Immediately, Gabi rejected the option of abortion.
Ultrasounds can have a powerful effect on women considering abortion.
Cheri Martin, executive director of Central Texas Life Care in San Marcos, says up to 95% of women at her center who see an ultrasound choose life. Another pregnancy center director puts that number at 50 to 75%.
This is why abortion facilities such as Planned Parenthood fight so hard against laws requiring women to be shown an ultrasound. These facilities even fight against laws that would simply require an abortionist to offer a woman the chance to view one. Many post-abortive women have described asking to see the ultrasound, only to have the abortion doctor and abortion workers refuse to show it to them.
For example, one woman featured in a documentary said, “As the nurse was performing the ultrasound, I watched her, and she was looking at my baby on the monitor. And I asked her, I said, “Can I see my baby?” And she took the monitor, literally, with her hands, and turned it away from me.”
READ: Woman learns truth after second abortion fails: An ultrasound was ‘where my denial ended’
Love and Support
Gabi chose life. She quit smoking and began getting prenatal care. She also started parenting classes at Matrix. She says:
I was doing my parenting classes every week, and I couldn’t wait to go. Amy would sit with me, and we’d watch a video and do activities. I could ask her questions, and she always had the answer to every question. The classes were amazing, and every week I could pick up something new for the baby from the Nest [the center’s baby boutique].
The Nest is amazing, and they have everything: clothes, diapers, blankets, shoes. I even got supplies for my crib that I didn’t know existed.”4
Gabi was living in a difficult, toxic situation, and she decided to seek new housing when she was eight months pregnant. Counselors at Matrix helped her find safe housing for herself and her baby.
Amy Hutchcraft continued to be there for Gabi. Gabi says, “She was with me every step of the way. I wouldn’t have made it through without her. I probably still couldn’t, to this day, [make it] without her and Matrix.”6
When the baby was born, Hutchcraft gave Gabi a gift basket with a note that said “We’re here for you. We’re a family.” Gabi had her son Braxton in October 2018. She says, “It was the best feeling in the whole world. I fell in love for the first time in my whole life.”7
With the help of Hutchcraft and other volunteers at Matrix, Gabi has turned her life around. She sums up her experience with Matrix by saying:
Two years ago, I was spending all the money I made at the bar, getting drunk and doing stupid stuff. But now I’m a mom. I love being at home with [my son]. He is the best thing I could have in my life – hands down…
Every time I go to [Matrix], it’s very inviting and welcoming. Amy and every staff member know me by now. I’ve been going there for such a long time; they know who I am, and they’re always so happy to see Braxton. I feel like I’m really part of their family now. I love them and they love me.8
But What About Planned Parenthood?
Now contrast Gabi’s experience with those of people who went to that alleged “champion of women,” Planned Parenthood.
All of the following are reviews posted on Google and yelp for Planned Parenthood facilities in the state of Virginia.
First, we see the contrast between the helpful, compassionate volunteers at Matrix and the workers at Planned Parenthood:
Several women described their abortion experiences:
Finally, keep in mind that all the services at Matrix were free. Gabi didn’t pay a penny. In contrast, Planned Parenthood overcharged for substandard “services” and insisted on doing tests over, and charging money for them:
The contrast is clear.
Notes
- Brittany Smith and Natasha Smith Unplanned Grace: A Compassionate Conversation on Life & Choice (Colorado Springs, Colorado: David C Cook, 2021) 27
- Ibid.
- Ibid., 28
- Ibid.
- Ibid., 29
- Ibid.
- Ibid., 29, 30
- Ibid.
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