August 2024
Last month’s post consisted of two stories that shed light on the reality of what we see in our clinic. Sadly, those types of stories are becoming more of the norm. The fight for Life and to win souls for Christ continues to rage, and Crossroads can use your prayer and support now more than ever as we battle the current abortion marketplace and mindset.
Crossroads relies heavily on our online marketing to reach abortion-determined women. We compete with thousands of online abortion retailers to reach those women first. Recently, we were contacted by a 22 year-old woman who found the online abortion pill market prior to finding us. This woman had ordered free Plan C pills online from a site that provides care to women who cannot afford it. She did not undergo an ultrasound but estimated that she was one month pregnant at the time of taking the pills. The process was entirely anonymous, and there was no one to contact for support if she experienced any problems. After taking the pills, she experienced severe pain and passed a palm-sized clot before losing consciousness. She was afraid to seek medical assistance because the site warned her that “many women in Oklahoma have been arrested” for using these pills. She reached out to Crossroads because a recent pregnancy test still shows a strong positive result, and she continues to have pregnancy symptoms. This type of situation is why we at Crossroads fight to see these women first. Women need an initial ultrasound for their safety to confirm and date a pregnancy and rule out life-threatening ectopic pregnancies.
The above story is what is happening in the way of the marketplace, but we are fighting hard not to lose ground in regard to the mindset of women who come to our clinic.
A 21-year old abortion-determined woman recently visited our clinic for an initial options counseling & ultrasound appointment and returned again for a rescan. During her rescan appointment, the sonographer showed a very active 12-week old baby. The patient responded very positively to the live images on the screen and was even curious as to the gender. Despite the amazing display by her child and her positive response, she proceeded to tell us that she and her partner had ultimately scheduled a surgical abortion in Chicago in September at a clinic that told her they would perform the procedure up to 26 weeks. She also shared that she had ruled out adoption because she would feel “guilty.” She did not want another child to enter the “system” and that there were already older children who needed to be the ones to be adopted. This client failed to remember that during her initial visit we provided her with options counseling, which covered the process of adoption in Oklahoma. The process in Oklahoma in no way throws a baby into a “system.” The mother gets full control, choosing the adoptive family and the type of of adoption whether that be open, partially open, or confidential. These types of adoption are very different from foster care. In foster care, the birth mother has very little say & control, and the placement is temporary and may involve the child moving from one home to another. In voluntary private adoption, the birth mother get to be in control, and it is a permanent placement without the moving around.
Satan is alive and active, working hard to deceive, so now more than ever we ask for your prayers and support to continue to be effective in this mission field created by abortion. We need the Lord’s Holy Spirit to help guide us in reaching these women and also in those times when we are given the opportunity to speak truth.
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. ~ 1 Peter 5:8
Blessings in Christ and for LIFE,
Linda Stewart,
Executive Director
OKC and Guthrie