Audition for Adoption

A client came in this week and she was already 11 weeks pregnant. She was scared and nervous and came to the center with the father of the baby. She was in her early twenty's and worked as a cashier in a fast food restaurant. She said that the father of the baby was very mad at her for being pregnant. She wasn't exactly sure what she was going to do but she did say she didn't want to have another abortion. She had an abortion a few years earlier where she experienced excessive bleeding and ended up being hospitalized. She said it was very scary. She said she could never go through that again.

Though she seemed set on not pursuing an abortion, the angry father of the baby did present a potential problem to pressure his girlfriend to end the baby's life. She agreed to an ultrasound, but said she didn't want the father of the baby in the room. We were sensitive to her request but did suggest that if her boyfriend did see his baby on the ultrasound screen, he might have a change of heart. She still did not want him in the room.

As the client saw her baby, she seemed to become less scared and nervous. She began to ask some questions about adoption. As I performed the scan, I realized that this baby was given the chance to audition for the possibility of being placed for adoption.

Adoption is one of three options available to the woman with an uplanned pregnancy. While adoption is a very positive life-giving option and a great solution to a tough situation it is not so for women in crisis. For her, adoption is usually seen as the worst possible option. In fact, one study showed that adoption was seen as the most "evil" of the three options - parenting, abortion or adoption. After the scan was over and as we wrapped up our time with her, she took the adoption agency referral from us. While we like to set up meetings with the client considering adoption with the agency before she leaves our center, she preferred to make the call herself. As she left the center, we knew this client was going to need much prayer and follow up. You just never know what may be decided after clients leave the Pregancy Resource Center. One thing we do know after performing an ultrasound - this client saw her baby moving about in her womb with a heartbeat that was undeniably present. And she left the center not only with those memories, but with a couple of printed out pictures of her 11 week baby and a video tape of her baby auditioning for his life! This baby's chance at life was now increased. My hope is that she will show the baby's father these things and that those images of his own child would be used in a powerful way to soften his heart towards life!