In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, parents Laura and Brandon were seeking to adopt for a second time, but the process was more difficult, and the wait time longer. They began to doubt if God wanted them to adopt again, but what they didn’t know was that God was already working on saving a preborn baby boy from the abortion pill, and that this baby, AJ, would become their son.
“We had an adoption in another state that fell through,” Laura told Live Action News. “We were like — you know what, maybe we’re not supposed to do this. We were going back and forth. About a week before we found out about AJ, I had sat out on our back deck and said some prayers and talked to God.” She explained that she told God, “If we’re not supposed to adopt, I can accept that, but I need You to lead us to what we are going to do.”
A miracle abortion survivor
It was very soon after Laura prayed those words that the adoption agency called and told them about a baby — not in another state, but born at a local hospital whose birth mother had chosen Brandon and Laura to adopt her son. During that phone call, the adoption agency shocked the couple with news that the birth mother knew who Brandon was, and that was why she chose them.
“So we knew at that moment that this was a God thing,” said Laura. “It was an answer to our prayers.”
The adoption agency then gave the couple more shocking news. The baby’s birth mother had taken the abortion pill months earlier, and thought she had aborted the baby; however, the abortion pill, which carries a high risk of incomplete abortion, had failed, and the baby’s life had been spared. She had just given birth to a seven-pound, seven-ounce healthy baby boy, and had chosen them to raise him.
Patria and Baby AJ. Photo ©Laura Brandon. Do not reprint.
From death to life
Patria Lopez De Martin from the pregnancy center Clarity Solutions explained that AJ’s birth mother had come to the organization for help after first learning she was pregnant. Her circumstances were leading her toward abortion.
Clarity works with pregnant women by offering pregnancy classes, parenting classes, and life classes, including budgeting, cooking, and how to interview for a job. The organization also provides maternity clothes, baby gear, car seats, food, and housing for mothers based on their individual needs and the classes they take. All of the services are free. However, AJ’s birth mother decided instead to have an abortion, and traveled out of state to do so.
Though Lopez De Martin had been texting to check in with her, there had been no response. Then one day, months later, AJ’s birth mother called.
“She didn’t realize the abortion pill had failed because she did have some bleeding,” said Lopez De Martin. “She had a fall and went into the hospital to get checked out, and found out she was still pregnant, and so she felt comfortable enough to call us back. And she said, ‘I don’t know what to do. I think I’m still pregnant.'”
The seven-week-old preborn baby Lopez De Martin had first seen on the ultrasound was now at about eight months gestation. He was growing and thriving, but his birth mother was still facing the same challenges that had led her to abortion in the first place. This time, however, she chose adoption for her baby, and Lopez De Martin helped her to begin the process.
Clarity works with three adoption agencies in rotation, and Laura and Brandon’s adoption agency just happened to be the one chosen for AJ’s birth mother. She was given information on just 10 couples, and when she saw Brandon and Laura, she knew she had found the right parents for her son.
At AJs adoption. Photo ©Laura Brandon
Lopez De Martin explained, “The adoption agencies come here, and that way the client doesn’t have to travel even further. They came and met with her, talked with her and she went through the whole process with that. It was completely set up through God from the beginning because the couple she found she had known when she was younger. As soon as she saw the booklet, she knew that’s who was supposed to adopt her baby. It really was set pretty quickly.”
“[W]hen she was going through the photos,” said Brandon, “she recognized my face.” Brandon, however, still couldn’t put a face to AJ’s birth mother’s name.
At the hospital, the couple learned more about what had happened, and how the doctors were closely monitoring baby AJ for any complications from the abortion pill. When they were finally able to meet AJ, “it was magical,” said Laura.
Brandon added, “I still remember the nurses and the doctor — they don’t see these situations every day. The staff there was on tippy toes. Everything just hit them too. The thing was when she found out she was still pregnant at eight months, no doctor would see her. I’m sure they didn’t want the liability risk knowing she took the abortion pills. Once the adoption agency took over, she was 31 weeks.”
Brotherly love. Photo ©Laura Brandon (Do not reprint.)
The happy ending
Thankfully, Lopez De Martin was able to get AJ’s birth mother in with a doctor. She explained that this isn’t the first time an abortion has failed and a mother has returned to Clarity, still pregnant. As more women access the abortion pill for DIY at-home abortions, more children will survive the abortion pill.
Two days after AJ was born, Laura and Brandon met with his birth mother, and Brandon instantly remembered that, more than a decade earlier, he had helped to coach a youth sporting program that AJ’s birth mother participated in. So many years later, that was why she recognized him and chose him to parent her son.
AJ is almost two years old now, and is off the charts on everything, says Laura. Doctors have found that there has been no negative effect from the abortion pill, despite what Planned Parenthood claims about the abortion pill potentially causing harm to the children it doesn’t kill.
AJ is a happy little boy who is meeting milestones and thriving. The couple has an open adoption with AJ’s birth mother, and keeps in contact with her.
Lopez De Martin is also in contact with AJ’s birth mother, and said she is doing well. “I have spoken to her since the adoption and she sounds so much happier and lighter and she’s doing a lot better. She’s in a better place now and she’s so happy she made the adoption plan instead of the abortion.”
Laura and Brandon are extremely grateful that AJ survived that abortion, and that they are able to love him. Laura explained that from the beginning, AJ felt like he was their baby instantly, just like with their first baby. “It feels right,” she said. “Everything feels right in the world and he’s where he’s supposed to be.”
