“Right now, I’m calling because I’m actually on my way to get abortion pills at a clinic, and I truthfully don’t know what to do.”
Those were the words of Alicia who called into The Patrick Madrid Show this week during a moment of crisis. She said that she was used to listening to NPR on that radio station, but on her way to get an abortion, she began looking for a sign to not go through with it and she happened upon Patrick’s show.
“I was looking for a sign today, and randomly this radio station came on,” said Alicia. She explained that she had just found out that she is pregnant and she’s struggling with the decision to get an abortion or have the baby. Already overwhelmed by the difficulty of everyday life, she said she doesn’t want to inflict any more hardship on her two kids, her husband, or herself.
Alicia continued, saying that she was raised Catholic but not well, and both of her parents had passed, one by cancer and the other by suicide, leaving her with a limited support system. She is also in her last year of University, an extremely difficult time to have another child.
“I just don’t know what to do.”
Patrick took a deep breath.
“I’m so glad that you took a moment to call. To press pause, maybe get a second opinion, think it through a little bit more, that’s a good thing. I’m really glad you did that,” he said. “I remember as a young dad how busy we were; lots of kids. We didn’t have all eleven kids at once but we had a lot of kids. One thing that struck me, and I wonder if you had this same experience, was that as busy and as focused as we were on the first child, our son, when the second child came along, it didn’t change anything. It just made it better. We were about as busy as we were before, and we had another little, beautiful baby to love and get to know.”
Patrick explained that as a parent of multiple children, it’s not like your resources have to be split equally amongst all of the people in your life. It’s more like your time multiplies, your energy multiplies, and your love multiplies. God provides us with the things we need to succeed and be happy. Alicia admitted that she saw that when she gave birth to her second child, but she also noticed that life changed drastically for her oldest, and she wondered what impact a third would have on her family’s quality of life.
“I can’t help but think about, in this decision that you’re making right now, that in order for those things to happen, somebody has to die,” said Patrick.
Alicia agreed that the idea of ending a life is what made her hesitate to go through with it. “Planned Parenthood, for instance, says that it’s just cells dividing. I’m really early. I’m only five weeks, and they say that it’s just the beginning. But I can’t help but feel like it is a life.”
Patrick pointed out that Planned Parenthood is in the business of selling abortions so they’ll say anything to keep the money coming in, including statements that reduce human life to “a clump of cells”.
“We’re all a clump of cells. You and I are both clumps of cells. We just look different now than we did at that age. You look different now than you did when you were five years old. You look different now than you did when you were a newborn baby, but it’s still you. So that life in you, it’s a human being. It’s a son or daughter, somebody whom God created.”
Alicia explained that she has been weighing this decision and praying to God for a sign to not go through with this. But Patrick illustrated that the very act of her calling into the show was a sign of hope itself. That was her conscience speaking to her, saying that deep down, she knows that there is something clearly and fundamentally wrong with taking the life of another person, especially one so defenseless and innocent.
Patrick referenced Matthew 6:33 which says that as long as you serve God and the kingdom of heaven, everything else will fall into place. Always put Jesus and the truth first, and He will provide you with everything you need. He provides for the sparrows, and how much more important are we than birds? In God’s eyes, we are far more important and thereby far more worth providing for and taking care of.
“And imagine yourself a year from now, two years from now, looking into the face of the little baby boy or girl that you’re carrying inside you right now and trying to imagine, ‘What would it be like without you?’ But you’ll never have to wonder about that because you’ll have that baby if you make the decision to give life to your child. Imagine when he or she is graduating from high school, or getting married, and you’re looking with so much love at that son or daughter of yours and thinking of all the love and all the happiness and all the relationships and everything else that God has planned for you and your unborn child. All of that would go away if you were to go through with this. I hope you won’t. I really hope you won’t.”
“I don’t think I will. Thank you. Like I said, I was looking for a sign and I was listening to the radio, and you came on. I wasn’t expecting to find you today.”
Alicia realized that though she worried about what life may be like with another child, it was not worth throwing away God’s greatest blessing. With just faith the size of a mustard seed, we can move mountains. Imagine how much we could do if we were to surrender by putting all of our trust and all of our faith in God.
Patrick referred Alicia to the Waterleaf Women’s Center in Aurora, Illinois, and offered her his personal email to stay in touch, and to eventually send him a picture of her baby when she gives birth.
We invite all of our listeners to continuously pray for Alicia, her husband, and her three children as they embark on this new chapter in their lives.
If you or someone you know is in the Chicagoland area and is going through a pregnancy crisis, you can find the contact information for Waterleaf Women’s Center below:
Call: (630) 701-6270
Text: (630) 360-2256
Clinic Address: 3055 E. New York St., Aurora, IL 60504
Tune in to The Patrick Madrid Show weekdays 8am – 11am CT
