From time to time, LIFE LINE receives calls from individuals who are not pregnant. I received one such call on the afternoon of December 23rd, the Sunday before Christmas from a man with a slight Spanish accent about 35 years old who said he was about to slit his wrists. (Most of the hot lines are not open on weekends - LIFE LINE is there seven days a week, 24 hours a day.)

     All through our conversation, the man would stop to tell me he was trying to cut his wrists but the knife didn’t seem to be sharp enough. The reason for this man’s despair was his wife and children walking out on him. He said, "I CAN’T FACE CHRISTMAS ALONE." Feeling inadequate to help this man, I asked him if he had called his relatives (he said they would hang up on him), a priest or minister, etc. He said he couldn’t find anyone to listen to him. I began to feel my way during his frequent remarks about cutting his wrists telling him that "it wasn’t the end of the world for him," that "his wife may come back tomorrow," and even if he had to spend Christmas alone, "TO TREAT CHRISTMAS JUST LIKE ANY OTHER DAY OF THE WEEK."

     When he told me he was about to hang up, in desperation I began to pray aloud asking the Lord Jesus to give this man peace, a good night’s sleep, etc. I was amazed at his reaction! When I was through praying, he started crying, telling me that he had thrown the knife away. "I’M NOT GOING TO DO IT! I’M NOT GOING TO DO IT!" he exclaimed.

     A few days after Christmas he called me back to thank me: "I KNOW YOU CARED ABOUT ME. YOU SAVED MY LIFE! I DID JUST WHAT YOU SAID - I TREATED CHRISTMAS JUST LIKE ANY OTHER DAY!"

     We had been distributing literature in the Sacramento area in September. One of the schools was AMERICAN LEGION HIGH located in the heart of Sacramento. We noticed a mixture of students at this continuation school - different ages, different races-a great many of them of Asian ancestry. A few of the girls were obviously pregnant. They all accepted our literature.

     Later that evening as I was getting ready for bed, the LIFE LINE phone rang: "IS THIS PREGNANT AND WORRIED? - WILL YOU ACCEPT A COLLECT CALL FROM JANET?" "YES, WE’LL ACCEPT THE CALL," not bothering to tell the Operator and Janet that PREGNANT AND WORRIED was just a slogan written across our LIFE LINE card. Immediately Janet told me in a slight Chinese accent that she was shocked at the picture of the baby in a hospital bucket. She later told me she was considering an abortion and the picture changed her mind.

     Janet is 21 years old with a past history of running away from home once or twice in her teen years. She had been managing to hide her 4 ½ months’ pregnancy from her non-English-speaking mother by wearing loose-fitting clothes. (Her younger sister had started to tease her about being fat and then didn’t believe Janet when she told her she was pregnant).

     Janet is a Catholic who says she has been praying every day about her situation. Her boyfriend is happy about the pregnancy and wants to marry her, but Janet is very much afraid of what her family will think of her, particularly her mother. As she put it, "EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY IS PERFECT EXCEPT FOR ME." I assured Janet that everyone else is not perfect, and everyone makes mistakes including her mother. Janet apparently loves her mother very much and wants desperately to please her because she has caused her so much trouble in the past. I told Janet to take it one step at a time. When she tells her mother, she would probably be angry at first but would cool down and help her, and the baby would give them a closer relationship. "PRAY TO JESUS," I told her. "PUT EVERYTHING IN HIS HANDS. IT IS AMAZING HOW THE LORD WORKS OUT OUR PROBLEMS FOR US. REMEMBER WHAT HE SAID, ‘COME UNTO ME, ALL YE THAT LABOUR AND ARE HEAVY LADEN, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST. TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU AND LEARN OF ME; FOR I AM MEEK AND LOWLY IN HEART: AND YE SHALL FIND REST UNTO YOUR SOULS.’ JANET, I CAN TALK TO YOU ALL NIGHT, BUT IT IS JESUS WHO WILL STRAIGHTEN OUT THIS MATTER AND HELP YOU MAKE THE RIGHT DECISIONS."

     Our phone call was interrupted by Janet’s mother entering the room. Janet whispered, "SHE THINKS I’M TALKING TO A BOY. . .CAN I CALL YOU BACK?" she asked. "THANKS VERY MUCH FOR TALKING TO ME. CAN I CALL YOU BACK?" she asked again. "YES, JANET, YOU CAN CALL ME ANYTIME, DAY OR NIGHT" I said, as we hung up.

     She called on Monday morning following our distribution of literature at ROOSEVELT JR HIGH in Modesto. "I want to discuss something with you," she said in a calm, matter-of-fact tone. "I know what you are doing is legal, but I don’t think it is right. Those pictures are disgusting. My daughter brought home the literature you passed out on the sidewalk - she didn’t seem to be bothered by it - but I was" she said, her voice becoming a little angry. "What about my parental rights?"

     "Are you aware of the fact that a teacher can legally take your daughter to an abortion clinic without your knowledge or consent to have an abortion?" I asked. "No," she answered. "Also, have you checked lately on what kind of material your daughter is seeing in her sex ed class?" Her response was negative. "Well, a great deal of this material is pornographic. When I had children in school," I told her, "I tried to keep up on what they were doing in the sex ed classes."

     She began to get upset, as she felt I was driving her into a corner by my counterattack. "Listen, " I told her, "I’m not telling you this to criticize you, but you have got to realize You have your head in the sand. The only avenue that is left for us to reach these kids and stop them from making the biggest mistake in their lives is the public sidewalk. Go up to Sacramento and try to protect your rights as parents, and you will see what I mean."

     She tried a new approach by talking about how our country is overpopulated. "Do you realize what is going on all over the world and in the United States?" I asked. "ARE YOU STILL BEING TAKEN IN BY THIS OVERPOPULATION HOAX?" I told her to look around her and see how many people are having children. I asked her if she wanted to know the real facts: "The whole world’s population is going downhill. We are below replacement level here in the U.S., it is worse in Canada, and countries in Europe like West Germany have more people dying than being born."

     "If this is true about the population," she said in a now subdued tone of voice, "can you send me some material? I have an Anthropology class at STANISLAUS UNIVERSITY, and I want to give them this information.

He called on a Thursday morning in November. I could tell by the sound of his voice that he was very troubled. He soon gave me his story. His fiancée had had an abortion and he had paid for it. "She told me she had a tubal pregnancy," he said with anger in his voice, "and I just found out she didn’t. She killed my baby. What can I do?"

     "Legally, she had the right to have the abortion," I told him. "The fact that she lied to you probably wouldn’t carry any weight in court. Have you told her yet that you know what she did?" "I’m about to do that," he said, again with anger rising up in his voice. I asked him whether he went to church or prayed. He said that he prayed. "I know you’re angry, and hurt too, but don’t seek revenge. Remember what the Lord has said, ’VENGEANCE IS MINE.’ Tell her that you know the truth about what she did and then walk away from it. I know this might sound strange to you, but the best thing you can do for yourself is to pray for her. (He said she belonged in a mental institution. They were now split up because she was cheating on him with his best friend.)

     "You know what she did is between her and God. God has a way of punishing us when we break His laws - we break ourselves upon them. There’s a 30% chance of her having a miscarriage on the next pregnancy, a 10% chance that she will be sterile, and a high risk of a REAL TUBAL PREGNANCY developing the next time around - and the tremendous guilt feelings which last sometimes years and years. . . She needs your prayers. What’s your first name?" I asked. "Bill." "Bill, I’ll be praying that the Lord will heal your heart," I said as our conversation ended.

Michelle saw our yellow pages ad in the Stanislaus County phone book under ABORTION ALTERNATIVES and called LIFE LINE. Michelle, a sixteen-year-old Catholic girl from Turlock, was distraught. She said she just found out she is pregnant and is afraid to tell her mother. When I asked her about the father of the baby, she said in a matter-of-fact tone, "I don’t see him anymore."

     "Abortion is wrong, Michelle," I told her. I began to witness to her about Jesus, telling her that she could get the love and strength she needed to have this baby from Him. I related the story of a fifteen-year-old girl who had come to my house with her parents for counseling - how her parents were upset at first - the 38-year-old mother said she didn’t want to be a grandmother. But after we had talked for a while and I began emphasizing the positive, they all left with smiles on their faces. A year later when I was speaking at Ohlone College in Fremont, the girl came up to me and told me that everything was going well - in fact, her mother was babysitting while she was attending classes.

     I urged Michelle to tell her mother. I said she would be angry at first, but it wouldn’t take long for her to start buying things for the baby.

     When I called Michelle back later, I could tell immediately by the tone in her voice that she was happy. "You were right," she said. "My mother was upset at first, but now she’s buying new curtains, painting my room and buying things for the baby." "Michelle, did the literature I sent to you have an effect on your decision?" "Yes, it did, Marian," she said emphatically.

     Before we hung up we talked again about her spiritual life. I suggested she start reading the Bible - "Begin with the New Testament" - and told her how a relationship with Jesus Christ could strengthen her and bring peace and joy into her life!

"I want to register a complaint!" she said with an acid tone to her voice. "What right do you have to send me all these religious materials!!" she shouted. "I didn't ask for them. You've got no right to do this!!" She was close to being in a rage.
     "The material we send out goes to everyone who calls," I said in a calm voice. "God must be brought into the issue of abortion," I said, "because God creates life. He gives it and takes it away. Abortion is a religious issue," I stated.
     She again started screaming at me, and I again replied in a quiet voice: "Just what is it that is bothering you about our literature?" I asked. She didn't answer the question. "Well," I said, "you should ask yourself this question - 'Why am I getting so angry over this when all I have to do is toss this material in the waste basket. What is it that bothers me so much?'" Again she didn't answer. I asked her whether she believed in God and she said she did. I told her that when we send out literature in the mail, it is done out of love and concern for the women that call. "We don't want them to make the biggest mistake of their lives." I told her that when we receive a call from a woman considering abortion, it is like watching someone about to jump over a cliff. We want to stop you from jumping. Do you realize that your conscience is trying to tell you something. "Do you know that the Lord Jesus will forgive you if you mean business with Him?" I said. "And you can't just say you are sorry and keep doing what you are doing. Jesus said if you don't do the things that I say, I will not know you." I told her about the wonderful peace of mind she can have if she turns over her life to Jesus and starts obeying His rules. While I was talking to her she had suddenly become very quiet. I started asking her questions about her life. (I could hear a little child in the background.) I asked her how many children she had. She answered in a very calm voice that she had two children - one ten months old and the other seven. "I'll bet your seven-year-old really enjoys the baby" I said. "I can remember how thrilled I was when my sister was born when I was five years old."
     This woman had completely turned around by the end of our conversation. She never did tell me what was bothering her, and I guessed it was the sexual relationship she was having with boyfriend. I said that what I was about to say would probably make her mad at me, but that I owed it to her to tell her to stop doing this. "Pray about this," I said. "The Lord will help you to stop." She didn't get angry in the least and seemed to appreciate what I was telling her. I asked her what her name was. She said "Lakisha."
     Seldom do I see such a transformation in someone from one extreme to the other in such a short time. Our conversation lasted about twenty mintues. "It is the strength of God working in the power of the Name of Jesus," I said to myself as I thought about it afterwards. I realized what was bothering her so much was a leaflet I had sent entitled The Soul Of A Child telling about the Evil Influence parents have over their children when they are sinning in front of them. The last paragraph reads: "Children who are guarded by Christian parents have a better opportunity for character building than those who must live down an Unchristian, immoral environment. It is possible, with God's help, for them to rise above evil influences; but hard. Why handicap them for this life and hereafter?"

Fifteen-year-old Star called me at 8:00 in the evening on Christmas Day. She talked about an abortion. I had a houseful of company and was a little ill at ease because of my noisy house in spite of the fact I was talking in an adjacent room.
     Star said she was living with her grandmother and told me she had to have an abortion because "my grandmother would kill me if she found out." (She apparently had been doing a good job of disguising her pregnancy because she was already six months along.)
     I immediately told her all the reasons she shouldn't have an abortion, talking to her for at least ten minutes. I said abortion is very, very wrong and that she needed to pray. I asked her for her name and address and phone number which she willingly gave me, and I mailed the literature to her the following day.
     Afterwards I thought about the poignancy of this call, given the fact that Star was the same age as Mary, the mother of Jesus, and that she was calling on Christmas.
     Later I called back and was told Star wasn't home. Her aunt answered the phone. She surprised me by asking whether I was calling about the baby in a very friendly tone of voice. I said "yes." I then asked whether she knew I sent Star some literature and she replied: "Oh, yes, she was blessed by it!!" Then she told me the whole family got together and said they were going to support Star. They could afford "one more little mouth to feed."

Christina called concerning a possible abortion. She says her husband wants an abortion and she doesn't. She had difficulty sleeping last night. Christina was 17 years old when she had her first baby - not married then - and just got married in January. Her little girl is now about 7 months. She said she was wearing an IUD and became pregnant immediately. Christina says she doesn't know whether she can handle a new baby: "It's so close - this was an unintended pregnancy." I told her God doesn't make mistakes, not to worry about her husband - he would come around. (He did say he would be willing to go along with her decision.) I told her that guilt over an abortion is a terrible thing. I mentioned a woman who called me after she had had an abortion who couldn't sleep afterwards for several days. I told her about an eighty-year-old woman who was still talking about an abortion she had in her twenties. I said when the baby comes, they will be wondering why they ever considered having an abortion: "This baby will bring you much happiness." I told her to be happy and put everything in the hands of Jesus. I said that the literature I would mail her would be very good for her husband to see. I would mail it today. I asked whether I could call her back and she said "yes."
     Christina called me to say she wasn't going to have an abortion! She showed her husband the literature I mailed to her. He took one look at it and changed his mind. Her husband told her to put it away!!! I talked to Christina about vasectomy and tubal ligation which she was considering. I told her that both had physical repercussions and that they were not morally right. I mentioned Natural Family Planning and sent her additional literature on the evils of sterilization, and Natural Family Planning.

     Amy called from Albany on a Monday morning about 7:30. She wanted to know what type of abortion she could have besides the suction abortion which she considered "violent." I told her all abortion was violent. Then she asked about RU-486. I said that this was terrible - that you had to have the abortion by yourself at home and that it involved going back and forth to the doctor. "Why do you want an abortion?" I asked.
     "Well, she said, I aleady have a little girl and I'm tired." She told me she is 24 years old and she and her boyfriend both go to school. I told her that school would be there for the next 100 years, but her baby couldn't wait. I spoke to her about all the joy she could expect with this new baby - another grandchild for her parents, a playmate for her little girl. I said that abortion is wrong in the eyes of God. When I asked whether I could mail her literature, she said she had already seen literature.
     "Where did you get this literature?" I asked.
     "Well, I got it from you over two years ago when I talked to you."
     "Did you call about an abortion?"
     "Yes."
     "Did you have an abortion?"
     "No. I have this two-year-old girl now," she explained.
     "Well," I said, "that really makes my day."
     As we hung up, I felt that this young woman would again change her mind about the abortion. (She didn't give me her phone number.)