Hands Trembling, Sasha Whispered

Gazing at the glossy, freshly-printed ultrasound picture held in her trembling hands Sasha whispered, “It’s a boy.”

Sasha was terrified. She was already fifteen weeks pregnant, but this 17-year-old hadn’t told a soul. She knew, KNEW, in her heart that if her father found out he would drive her straight to an abortion clinic; abortions up to 24 weeks can be readily obtained in Palm Beach County.

Together, Sasha and her First Care advocate dialed Sasha’s mother on speaker. Together, they broke the news that Sasha was pregnant and that she wanted to keep the baby. Together, they made a plan for how they would approach Sasha’s father and then they prayed.

Through First Care, Sasha found medical care and advice about her pregnancy. She found an ear to listen and arms to support. But perhaps the most important thing she found was the simple truth that she was not alone.

Typically giving slows down as we enter the summer months, but the number of women in crisis does not. Will you prayerfully consider a special gift to First Care? This will help women like Sasha choose life for their babies this summer.

"I Saw With My Own Eyes": Sadie's Story

"My mom told me, 'You can clean the mess you made up by having an abortion.'" 17-year-old Sadie

Everyone in Sadie's life wanted her to have an abortion. Her mother kept emphasizing that it was the responsible way to clean up the "mess she had made." Her boyfriend wasn't ready to make a lifelong commitment as a father. Her grandmother even offered to buy her a car if she would have the abortion.

When Sadie came to First Care, she didn't know a single person who wanted her to keep her unborn child. Her skeptical mother and boyfriend were at her side when the silvery image of her unborn baby came into view on the ultrasound monitor.

"I saw him, and I knew he wasn't just a bunch of cells like I had been told." I saw with my own eyes and I knew that wasn't true," recalls Sadie.

That flicker of life changed everything. "I said, no, I want to raise him, I want to take him to his doctor's appointments; I want to be his mom."

Sadie realized that what was growing inside her was not a choice, but a life. Through the loving support and resources of First Care, Sadie chose to parent her son and has never looked back.

Elisa Gave a Face to Sex Trafficking

Sex trafficking is ghastly. All sin is ugly, but human sex trafficking is so repulsive that we find ourselves avoiding its reality. Because it makes us uncomfortable, we ease ourselves into thinking that it exists in other places, not here, not next door. It’s easy to remain insulated until we meet someone like Elisa. Elisa gave a face to sex trafficking and yet her appearance was that of any other woman that ventures into a First Care Clinic. Only this mother of two young children had been kidnapped and held for weeks in Mexico.

Daily, Elisa endured physical and sexual abuse. It was two months before her boyfriend was able to secure her freedom. The cost of Elisa's liberty was $6,000, but the toll the kidnapping and abuse had taken on her was much greater. In the middle of the night, Elisa was set free in Texas. Eventually, she and her boyfriend landed in Florida, but Elisa remained in darkness. Plagued with nightmares, she often awoke with night sweats, screaming and trembling. She knew in her head that she was safe now but often, Elisa couldn't eat. Her captors had drugged her food to keep her drowsy, and unaware of her surroundings. She was still afraid. 

It was by "accident" that Elisa passed through the doors of First Care. She was in a doctor's office when a complete stranger overheard her speaking in Spanish to her boyfriend. The stranger realized the couple was in a desperate situation that would also be compounded by the fact that neither spoke English fluently. Elisa was clueless as to where she could find help. Even if she did find assistance, she would be unable to effectively communicate her situation. The stranger was convinced in her heart that she was supposed to help Elisa.

Audriana had just moved to the area and remembered a time when she herself had needed assistance and found it at a pregnancy resource center. If there was a similar facility nearby, she felt confident that Elisa would find the help she needed there. Inserting herself into the situation, Audriana asked the receptionist if such a place existed in Palm Beach County.

The receptionist directed Audriana to First Care‘s Belle Glade clinic, which happened to be right around the corner from where they were. The two women, strangers just moments before, made their way to the clinic where Audriana translated between Elisa and a First Care client advocate. 

Elisa poured out the whole story through Audriana and into the heart of the First Care client advocate. She told them of the kidnapping, abuse and how she and her boyfriend had reported the events to the police. There was a warrant drawn up for the arrest of those responsible for Elisa's terrible ordeal. It became more and more apparent as the conversation continued that it was no "accident" that Elisa was directed to First Care! 

When she saw that the pregnancy test result was positive, Elisa wept. It was clear that the couple needed extensive counseling and First Care would see that it was received. Understandably, Elisa's hurts were very deep. She was adamant that she would not carry a baby that was conceived through rape. Jake, her boyfriend agreed. The couple was frightened by the uncertainty of the future and Jake was furious with the events of the past. He was extremely angry with those who abused Elisa.

Elisa and Jake left that day undecided on the fate of the unborn baby that rested in Elisa’s womb—a baby that was the result of sin, violence and hate.  

Elisa didn’t return the following week for her follow-up visit. Calls to her cell phone went unanswered and eventually the number was disconnected.  First Care staff and volunteers prayed for Elisa, Jake and her unborn child. While they held out hope that Elisa would keep her baby, the silence made them fear for the worst.

Three months after her initial visit Elisa returned to First Care for a follow-up ultrasound. Her appearance had changed drastically. She was eating again, and the nightmares that had once plagued her sleep were starting to finally subside. She also informed her First Care client advocate that she had decided to keep the baby!

We serve an amazing God, a God who can and does intervene in even the direst circumstances. We praise God that Elisa was able to find peace in the midst of her struggles and that He paved the way for her to get help in a loving and caring place like First Care.  

This is why First Care exists: To help women in crisis make life-affirming choices for their unborn babies. We help them eliminate the crisis, not the child.

"The Hardest Word": A Real Life Story of Abortion

We love to share success stories with you so that together we can celebrate the hundreds of little lives that you save each year. Sadly though, there are still thousands of abortions every year in Palm Beach County alone. One of the often overlooked tragedies of abortion is how much women who have had abortions can suffer from their decision in the years that follow.

When you save babies from abortion, you are also saving women from a lifetime of inner turmoil. The following story was recently emailed to us by one of our supporters who was brave enough to share her own abortion experience.

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I had an abortion 26 years ago. I was a 20-year-old at the time and didn't want my parents to find out. I was very self-centered back then and never considered the option of having the baby. In fact, that never was an option in my mind.

I was told by others at the time that the worst part of the abortion procedure was the sound of the suction machine, so I brought my Sony Walkman all set to go with Elton John's "Live in Australia" album. The song that started playing in my ears during the procedure was "Sorry Seems To Be the Hardest Word." I felt like the baby was saying the lyrics directly to me:

What have I got to do to make you love me? 

What have I got to do to make you care?

What do I do when lightning strikes me,

And to wake to find that you're not there?

What do I do to make you want me?

What have I got to do to be heard?

What do I say when it's all over, 

And sorry seems to be the hardest word?

It's sad, so sad, it's a sad, sad situation

And it's getting more and more absurd

It's sad, so sad, why can't we talk it over?

Oh, it seems to me, that sorry seems to be the hardest word.

These lyrics tore at my heart, but I was afraid to stop the music and fast forward because then I would hear the suction machine.

Many years later, I was married and trying to get pregnant, and all the while thinking that God was saying to me, "I gave you a baby once, and look what you did! Why would I give you another one?" By the grace of God, after five years, I was blessed with a beautiful baby girl and the realization hit me again about the baby I had aborted.

What I had missed out on as a result of my abortion? I thought about how I could have blessed a couple who couldn't have a baby of their own. I've never felt such a deep connection to another human being as I have with my child -- as if my heart was now walking around outside my body.

I have to believe that God can make something positive come from a decision that I have always regretted. I know that God, through Jesus, has forgiven me, but the hardest part has always been forgiving myself.

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It was difficult to read this story with dry eyes, but as painful as it is, please know that God is now using this very same woman to play an active role in helping women in crisis pregnancies to choose life. You can do the same thing by getting involved at First Care!

Haley Was Pregnant Again

Haley was pregnant again.  It was her second crisis pregnancy in three months. The first pregnancy ended in abortion. She knew she didn’t want another child—she already had two little ones she could barely handle.  But, she also knew that her previous abortion gave her nightmares. When she closed her eyes she was haunted by the sound of the surgical vacuum and the loss of what had been taken from her.

At wits end, Haley called the same abortion clinic hoping that someone there would be willing to talk her through her decision.  She was curtly informed on the phone that the abortion facility didn’t have time to give her advice, just “a price and an appointment.”  She made the appointment.

Still conflicted about her decision Haley told a friend about her situation, and her friend suggested First Care.  At the First Care clinic, Haley found what she was looking for:  someone to listen, someone to care.  After receiving options counseling, prayer and an ultrasound Haley called the abortion clinic and cancelled her appointment.  She chose life for her unborn child.

It is truly a blessing that women like Haley have a place to go where the taking of a human life isn’t viewed as a commercial transaction.  Her appointment at First Care was free, but the decision she made was priceless.