Dorita called in January - a 19-year-old woman with two children. She asked for an abortion. (I didn’t get around to asking her whether she was married.) I began to talk to her, as she quietly listened, telling her about all the bad physical and mental effects of an abortion. I spoke to her about her spiritual life, asking whether she believed in Jesus Christ. She said she did believe. I told her that abortion is a serious sin against God’s law.

     After about fifteen minutes, when I asked her whether I could mail her our packet of literature, she said, "YOU’VE GIVEN ME ALL THE RIGHT ANSWERS. I WON’T NEED YOUR LITERATURE, BECAUSE I’VE CHANGED MY MIND ABOUT THE ABORTION." "PLEASE LET ME SEND IT TO YOU ANYWAY," I answered. She then gave me her name and address. In a way, it seemed like such a little thing - just talking to someone on the telephone for fifteen minutes. But what a difference fifteen minutes meant to her life!! What if she had called PLANNED PARENTHOOD instead of LIFE LINE?

She called on our LIFE LINE number, a school principal in the San Lorenzo area. She said they were having a general debate on abortion, and she wanted a copy of THE DIARY OF AN UNBORN CHILD, to be read aloud by one of the students. "WHEN IS THE DEBATE?" I asked. "IN A COUPLE OF HOURS," she answered/ "WELL, THE DIARY. . . IS NOT THAT LONG," I said. "WHY DON’T I READ IT TO YOU OVER THE PHONE AND YOU CAN TAKE IT DOWN IN LONGHAND."

     It took me a while - reading it sentence by sentence. The slow reading of this piece made me see it in a fresh light. It brought a persistent lump to my throat as I talked about "Kathy’s" expectation of stroking her mother’s hair and embracing her father. This is such a simple composition, I thought, but it has doubtless saved many, many babies - considering we have distributed thousands and thousands of them. If my emotions are stirred over something I’ve seen and read many times, it must have a special appealing quality - especially for the person reading it for the first time. (I recalled a woman receiving it from a junior high school student and canceling an appointment she had made for an abortion - just an example of many similar experiences I had with THE DIARY OF AN UNBORN CHILD.)

     As I ended my conversation with the school principal - who, by the way, was obviously "impressed" with the DIARY - I suggested that she have someone read it very, very slowly to get its full impact.

The following is an account of two women calling LIFE LINE on a Sunday morning in May. The coincidence was really astounding! In the first place, Sunday calls are usually few and far between, but these calls were ten minutes apart.. Both women lived in Fremont and were Moslem, both had two children and were married, both called for abortions, and, to top it off, one was from Pakistan and the other Afghanistan - neighbors on the map.

     M__ called LIFE LINE on a Sunday morning in May. She said she wanted to talk to someone about having an abortion. Right away she told me that she had two children, 2 ½ and 1 ½, as if this were her reason for considering an abortion even though she was married. I told M__ that abortion was wrong. It caused physical and mental problems and wasn’t worth it. More than that, it was against God’s law - THOU SHALT NOT KILL. I ASKED M__ if she was a Christian. "NO," she answered. "I’M A MOSLEM BUT I BELIEVE IN JESUS." (I didn’t pursue that remark?) M__ told me that she had been visiting her mother who had had three abortions and that her mother advised her to have an abortion. Then she told me that everyone was telling her to have an abortion with the exception of a friend, a nurse, who had eleven children.

     "M__, YOUR MOTHER IS WRONG. JUST THINK - YOU MIGHT HAVE THREE SISTERS AND BROTHERS RIGHT NOW THAT YOU COULD BE TALKING TO AND VISITING WITH. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN LIFE IS PEOPLE. THAT’S THE ONLY THING THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO CARRY WITH YOU INTO ETERNITY - YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN, HOPEFULLY IN HEAVEN. DO YOU BELIEVE THIS?" "YES," she answered. "KEEP PRAYING ABOUT THIS, M__. ASK GOD TO KEEP YOU STRONG SO THAT NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO TALK YOU INTO AN ABORTION, WHICH IS A SIN." Then I told her the story of a woman who had eleven children and was asked how she had enough time to take care of her children. "WELL," she replied, "WHEN I HAD MY FIRST, I REALIZED THAT ONE CHILD TOOK ALL MY TIME; SO I DECIDED THAT HAVING A FEW MORE WOULDN’T MAKE MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE!"

     By the end of our conversation, M__ appeared to have changed her mind about having an abortioin. I sent her in for a pregnancy test and mailed her literature. I talked to M__ when I gave her the results of the test. By that time she was firm in her decision not to have an abortion.

     N__ called me on a Sunday morning in May. She called for an abortion. It didn’t take me long to convince her that abortion is wrong and then she told me her story. She and her husband are from Pakistan, and her husband is working here with a work permit. They have two small children and their funds are low. Her husband wants her to have an abortion for financial reasons. I asked N__ whether or not she believed in God, and she replied that she prays four times a day and is a staunch Moslem. I told her that my God is named Jesus and that there is power in His name. She asked me to pray for her, which I did, asking the Lord Jesus to soften her husband’s heart. N__ then began to cry. I said, "N__, WE’RE GOING TO SEE THIS THROUGH. THE LORD WILL PROVIDE FOR THIS BABY."

They had called within a few days of each other, two sisters living in Hayward, California, both unmarried, both suspecting they were pregnant. I made arrangements for a pregnancy test for both women, not realizing they were sisters at the time, but both of them didn’t go in on the appointed days. On calling them back, they said they would go later on in the week. In the meantime, both women were mailed our packet of information with the colored photos of abortion.

     When I got in touch with one of the young women, Marsha, a few days later, she told me that both of them decided to go to PLANNED PARENTHOOD for their tests. The result of Marsha’s test was NEGATIVE. "WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE MATERIAL I SENT TO YOU?" I asked. "IT WOULD MAKE A PERSON CHANGE THEIR MIND ABOUT HAVING AN ABORTION!!" she responded quickly. "WERE YOU CONSIDERING AN ABORTION BEFORE YOU FOUND OUT THE TEST WAS NEGATIVE?" I asked. "YES, I WAS," she answered. "THE PICTURES REALLY CHANGED MY MIND. I SHOWED THE LITERATURE TO MY BOYFRIEND AND HE SAID, ‘WOW!’ HE WAS REALLY SHOCKED. DID YOU KNOW YOU SENT THE SAME MATERIAL TO MY SISTER TOO?" she asked. "WELL, MY SISTER’S TEST WAS POSITIVE. SHE WAS PLANNING AN ABORTION AND NOW SHE’S CHANGED HER MIND."

Debbie called me on a Thursday morning. She said she was considering an abortion and wanted some information. Debbie had been vaccinated before she got pregnant, and the doctor was now insisting that she needed a hepatitis shot. She wondered how it would affect the baby and also if she could get a sonogram without going to a doctor. Debbie is a nurse and didn’t want to be embarrassed by everyone finding out that she was going to have an abortion.

     After talking to Debbie twice that morning, she had given me the following information: Debbie is in her mid-twenties with a five-year-old boy. The child is now in school, and it was a big relief for her because she had been feeling tremendously guilty about leaving her son with a babysitter while she works. Her husband is, apparently, not sympathetic about how she feels and wants her to work to bring more income into the house. Debbie has built up a great deal of resentment against her husband and doesn’t want to have this baby while she’s working

     "DEBBIE," I said to her, "DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU ARE SAYING TO ME? YOU ARE TELLING ME THAT YOU WANT TO KILL THIS BABY BECAUSE YOU ARE FEELING GUILTY ABOUT WORKING. IF YOU ARE THAT SENSITIVE ABOUT LEAVING THIS BABY WHILE YOU GO TO WORK, HOW DO YOU THINK YOU’D FEEL IF YOU HAD AN ABORTION?" I urged Debbie to pray with her husband about this problem and put everything in God’s hands. "DEBBIE, HAVING AN ABORTION IS JUST OUT OF THE QUESTION. THERE ARE WAYS YOU CAN HELP YOUR OWN SITUATION IN ADDITION TO ASKING FOR GOD’S HELP. IF WORKING OUTSIDE THE HOME MAKES YOU FEEL SO GUILTY, THEN YOU’VE GOT TO MAKE UP YOUR MIND THAT YOU’RE GOING TO STAY HOME WITH THIS BABY. THERE ARE THINGS YOU CAN DO TO MAKE MONEY AT HOME - BABYSITTING, TELEPHONE WORK, ETC."

     I called Debbie the next day to tell her that I found out it was okay to have the hepatitis shot. She gave me some happy news! She told me she had talked it over with her husband and they had decided to keep the baby. "THANKS SO MUCH FOR TALKING TO ME," said Debbie.

She called after a distribution of literature at ARROYO HIGH SCHOOL in San Lorenzo, California. (Ginny Hitchcock and other pro-lifers were there on the sidewalk right after an attempt on the part of the school to advertise PLANNED PARENTHOOD’S phone number on the high school student body cards. This attempt was squelched by the efforts of pro-life parents at the school board meeting when the school officials gave in to their demands to recall the student body cards.)

     The woman asked politely enough whether she could talk to someone in regard to the distribution of literature. "YOU CAN TALK TO ME," I answered, realizing she was about to bombard me with complaints. "I CAN’T SEE WHY THESE PEOPLE HAD THE NERVE TO DISTRIBUTE PRO-LIFE LITERATURE RIGHT AFTER THEY WERE AT THE MEETING THE OTHER NIGHT SAYING THEY WANTED THE PARENTS’ RIGHTS UPHELD," she stated. "PLEASE DON’T CONFUSE THESE TWO ISSUES," I told her. "THE DISTRIBUTION OF LITERATURE AT THE SCHOOLS IS A NATIONWIDE PROGRAM. LAST YEAR WE WERE AT YOUR SCHOOL AND MOST OF THE SCHOOLS IN YOUR AREA." "I DON’T WANT MY DAUGHTER SUBJECTED TO THESE GRAPHIC PHOTOS," she started in again. "THE DISTRIBUTION OF OUR LITERATURE ON THE SIDEWALK IS A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT," I stated. "I DON’T WANT MY DAUGHTER BRAINWASHED BY YOUR MATERIAL," she said, her temper rising. "MA’AM, YOU CAN HARDLY CALL THIS BRAINWASHING," I told her. "THE BRAINWASHING YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT IS GOING ON INSIDE THE CLASSROOM WITH THE PLANNED PARENTHOOD SEX ED PROGRAM AND HOMOSEXUALS BEING ALLOWED TO TEACH IN THE CLASSROOM. BY THE WAY," I said, "I’M BEGINNING TO GET THE IMPRESSION THAT YOU’RE ‘PRO-CHOICE’" "YES, I AM ‘PRO-CHOICE!’" she said loudly and emphatically. "ALL RIGHT," I told her, "WHY DON’T YOU STAND ON THE SIDEWALK NEXT WEEK AND DISTRIBUTE ‘PRO-CHOICE’ MATERIALS?" "STOP INTERRUPTING ME!!" she screamed. "LET’S HANG UP," I told her, as I put down the receiver.