This One's for Respectlife: A Day at the Abortion Clinic

This is not a political post. This is about an experience I had when I was around 11 or 12. I was in a Christian private school and I went to the abortion clinic one day with my church. Some were protesting. I was just mostly observing. I remember having a nervous feeling in my stomach the whole time. Imaging babies being sucked out and chopped up right behind the wall I stood in front of really bothered me.

There were other churches there. I remember a particularly obnoxious man who was a pastor of some other church who was wearing a grim reaper costume with pictures of aborted fetuses dangling from his sickle. When someone drove by and threw a burrito at him I giggled to myself. I really felt that his approach was disgusting.

I was mostly just watching the women going in an out. Most of them dodged us like they were running through a war zone, not making eye contact, eyes on the door, rushing forward, their arm outstretched for the door handle when they were still 20 feet away.

I just felt very sad. I was in a spirit of mourning. Our church was not about grabbing people and stopping people. We were there just to pray and to offer ourselves if anyone wanted to approach us. We were told not to approach anyone.

I noticed a woman walking very slowly from the back of the building. She caught my eye because she seemed scared, and she was alone. I kept watching her until I recognized her. She was my best friend mother. I forgot the rule and approached her. I just said her name, my face obviously is shock, and very sad. She started crying right there. I asked her if I could have someone from my church come and talk to her. I didn't feel qualified. She agreed. I asked my choir teacher to talk with her. She did, and my friend's mother left.

My choir teacher said that she admitted to being drunk because she couldn't stand what she was about to do. I didn't see much of her after that, and always wondered if she might have gone back.

A few years later I was visiting the neighborhood, and I went to my friends house. Her mother answered the door, and there was a toddler running around the house making all kinds of noise. I smiled as big as I could, and asked what her baby's name was. She hugged me so hard, and started crying. She said, "Thank you so much. You saved my little girl." I will never forget that.