Molly* – a beautiful girl with a sweet smile and an easy laugh – grew up in a Christian home. Taught to save sex for marriage, she changed her mind after she’d been dating Darren*. He said he loved her, and in her words, she “gave in.”
Molly shares about the day she knew she was pregnant:
One day I just knew I was pregnant and I told Darren I needed a test. We went to Target, and I went into the bathroom there and saw the positive test sign. Thoughts started swarming in my head and my heart. What would I do? What would people think? I didn’t even have to tell Darren; he knew. We walked out to the car and I lost it – bawling and crying and screaming.
That night we went home after much talking with a friend. Darren ordered us parenting books that night, and it seemed things would be ok. But thoughts of doubt filled us both. Darren suggested an abortion. Never in my life would I think of that. As a child who was adopted and given a second chance I couldn’t do it.
But despite her resolve, Molly started to think about abortion. Darren kept talking about it, suggesting that it could be the answer to their unplanned pregnancy. Molly felt as though her mind was being overrun with thoughts and feelings that she never, not in a million years, wanted to consider.
Molly says:
To this day I feel sick that the thought [of abortion being the answer] even for a moment crept in me.
And yet, because abortion is pushed in our society as a quick, easy answer, many young women in Molly’s circumstances consider it. Many of them are convinced that it is the only solution — despite the long-term effects on women and despite the children whose lives are taken in cruel ways.
Molly shares what happened next:
Darren made an appointment at Planned Parenthood for an abortion and took me in. I knew I wasn’t going to do it. They did an ultrasound, and I saw my baby. Tiny as he was, I was only three and a half weeks pregnant.
I burst into tears as the doctor told me I just simply had to take a pill that night and the next morning. How could murder be so easy? So easy to hide? So easy to be persuaded?
I looked at Darren and told him he needed to look at the ultrasound for two days and let me know his choice. He told me no, later that night.
As Molly explains, ultrasounds are incredibly powerful – even at early stages of pregnancy. Almost more than anything else, they demonstrate the humanity of unborn children. At the time Molly saw her baby’s ultrasound, his heart had already been beating for days.
This video, narrated by a former abortionist, describes the kind of abortion Planned Parenthood tried to convince Molly to have:
Even after being strong enough to walk out of Planned Parenthood and refuse the abortion, Molly’s struggles for her baby weren’t over yet.
As we started to plan for our baby and telling my parents and friends, Satan just pounded my heart saying, “Look how easily you could hide this. People will never know; it’s much easier to be rid of this baby then face the world’s judgment for having a baby before being married.”
I stood strong knowing God had a plan, though, and that things would work out.
A few weeks later, I was in horrible pain and sick. Darren rushed me to the ER where I was told I was having a baby boy. I was also told something was wrong. Upon doing their ultrasound, they said they found my baby had hydrocephalus.
And to start considering termination of pregnancy. My heart sank….
The next week I prayed 24/7. I started wondering if this was happening because I considered an abortion. I knew I wouldn’t abort even if my baby was sick. We went and saw a specialist; they said he could be brain dead. He might not live. He would have a deformed body.
But I started to praise God for the life I had inside me and said it will be ok.
Many parents in Molly’s situation give in to the pressure to abort their babies. They’re told it’s the right choice; they’re told they’re young and can have a “perfect” baby later. And yet, only two weeks after Molly was given the news of her baby’s supposed deformities and problems, she was told that he was actually fine. A number of babies have their supposed deformities naturally correct themselves in the womb. Unfortunately, high percentages of parents abort before they ever give their baby a chance or recognize their baby’s inherent value, defect or not.
A test still showed that Molly’s baby might have Down syndrome — yet another reason why parents quickly choose abortion or are pressured into it. Over 90% of babies diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted, despite the good life that many people with Down syndrome go on to have.
About the test, Molly says:
I never let that affect my pregnancy. There was no choice in my mind at that point. I was having my baby. I’ll never forget when they told me Grayson* had problems and to terminate my pregnancy, and today, he’s 100% fine. Today, he’s the brightest, healthiest, smartest little boy ever. I can’t believe the doctor even thought it was the right thing to abort.
In Molly’s case, the doctors couldn’t have been more wrong. But even if Grayson had been born with a defect or deformity, Molly is confident that she still would have been thrilled and blessed with her choice to give life to her son, no matter what.
With all her heart, Molly believes that every baby — defect, deformity, or not — is worth saving. She knows that our value is not wrapped up in our physical traits or abilities. Our value is much more basic than that: each of us is specially created by a God who loves us and who wants us to live.
*Names are changed by request of “Molly.”
