Amazing Prolife Stories

Here are some incredible stories about life:

There is good news and bad news when it comes to the matter of abortion. Let me start with the latter: there are some 45 million babies killed every year around the world, making this the bloodiest act of genocide we have ever known. But since some folks will want to challenge this figure, let me deal with it before moving on. As one very helpful site that compiles all sorts of information and statistics on a whole range of issues says:

“The data on abortions displayed on the Worldometer’s counter is based on the latest statistics on worldwide abortions published by the World Health Organization (WHO). According to WHO, every year in the world there are an estimated 40-50 million abortions. This corresponds to approximately 125,000 abortions per day.” https://www.worldometers.info/abortions/

That is a lot of dead babies, and that is horrific news indeed, But there is some good news as well, and that has to do with the fact that often mothers who had planned to kill their children have had a change of heart, and their babies survived. Or, they were strongly urged to have an abortion, but they said no.

There are many of these stories around. Let me share just a few of them here. Some are quite recent stories, while others go back a way. But they all offer us heart-warming tales of those who were meant to be killed but who were spared, and went on, often, to be famous public figures.

I begin with an amazing story that really did go viral, since it took the form of a television commercial for one of the most-watched sporting events in the US: the Super Bowl. Advertisers pay megabucks to get their ads on during this event, with so many millions of people tuning in.

And a Toyota ad that appeared during the February 7 game would have surprised and moved countless viewers. It had to do with Jessica Long who was born in Siberia but adopted by Steve and Beth Long – a Christian homeschooling family in Baltimore, Maryland.

She went on to achieve sporting greatness as a 13-time Paralympic gold medalist. Although the ad does not make it clear that she is a strong Christian and prolifer, but it does make a powerful case for life, nonetheless. The 60-second ad can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqWG5_7nwyk

As one story about her amazing life states:

Long was born in Siberia with lower leg anomalies that resulted in her legs being amputated. Five months before the double amputation, at the age of 13 months, she was adopted from the orphanage in Bratsk by Beth and Steve Long, a couple from America. The young child was sent to a Russian orphanage by her Russian parents. According to The Siberian Times, doctors convinced Long’s teenage birth mother that she should give the baby up for adoption because of her condition, noting that it would be hard to raise her.

 

Growing up, Long was involved in many sports, including gymnastics, ice skating, biking, trampoline, and swimming, despite her double amputation. But she was most passionate about swimming. “I have no regrets. I believe it’s all part of God’s plan. I have only love for my mother for what she did,” Long said after meeting her birth mother at age 21. https://www.christianpost.com/news/toyota-commercial-promoting-life-adoption-a-top-super-bowl-ad.html 

You can see her describe her incredible story in this moving 10-minute video: https://www.iamsecond.com/film/jessica-long/ 

There are many other such stories. One of them which is similar to that of Long involves Olympian Simone Biles who won four gold medals and a bronze at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. As I said about her previously: “She was an unwanted child who was abandoned by her father and drug-addicted mother. But she was adopted by a Christian family in Texas, and went on to become one of the best athletes at the Olympics.” https://billmuehlenberg.com/2016/08/22/rio-gold-glory-god/

She will be competing in her final Olympics in Tokyo in a few months’ time. A new piece on her offers us some more detail about this champion:

Simone Biles, considered the greatest gymnast of all time and one of the most decorated Olympians ever, is one of the best athletes in the world and has overcome difficult circumstances to get there. Now, as she prepares for what she says will be her final Olympics, she’s reflecting on her life and how she became an Olympic legend.

 

In an interview with 60 Minutes, Biles discussed her athletic talent, the difficulties of the training she had to endure, and her time spent in foster care. Born to a single mother who was struggling with drug addiction, Biles and her siblings were placed in foster care. “Although I was young when my foster care ordeal began, I remember how it felt to be passed off and overlooked,” she previously wrote. “Like nobody knew me or wanted to know me. Like my talents didn’t count, and my voice didn’t matter.” After three years of being shuffled from foster home to foster home, her grandparents — who became her parents — discovered what was happening. https://www.liveaction.org/news/legendary-gymnast-adoptee-simone-biles-final-olympics

Various well-known people who were meant to be aborted can also be mentioned. Peter Saunders discusses several such stories:

Pattie Mallette was sexually abused as a child and, by age 14, was already using drugs and alcohol. When her hardships became too much to bear, she attempted suicide by throwing herself in front of an oncoming truck. Then, while staying in a psychiatric hospital during one of the darkest points of her life, she discovered God through a friend and became a Christian. This conversion, she said, gave her peace of mind.

 

But, after just six months, she relapsed back into bad behaviour and, at age 17, discovered she was pregnant. Because of her young age and difficult situation, many people encouraged her to end her pregnancy. Mallette, however, insisted abortion was never an option. Today her son Justin Bieber can sing to millions of fans and inspire them as a living example of the sanctity of human life. She has recently told her courageous story in her new book Nowhere But Up: The Story of Justin Bieber’s Mom.

 

Doctors told Tim Tebow’s mother Pam to abort her son after she became ill because the pregnancy, they said, could endanger her life. Pam refused, instead asking God that she have a healthy baby. He answered her prayers with a future star football player. http://pjsaunders.blogspot.com/2012/09/what-do-ludwig-von-beethoven-justin.html

And five more such stories are recounted in my next piece. Here are some of them:

Jack Nicholson. Born on April 22, 1937, his mother was all of 17 years old. Named June Frances Nicholson, she was a showgirl dancer. Nicholson in turn was raised by his maternal grandparents, John Nicholson and Ethel May. He only learned in 1974 after his birth mother was dying of cancer that he found out who she was, raised to believe that she was in fact his sister. Nicholson described his mother and the life she had lived and also talked about abortion, saying, “I’m very contra my constituency in terms of abortion because I’m positively against it. I don’t have the right to any other view. “My only emotion is gratitude, literally, for my life,” said Nicholson. “It’s a feminist narrative in the very pure form,” Nicholson said. “They trained me great, those ladies. I still, to this day, have never borrowed a nickel from anybody and never felt like I couldn’t take care of myself. They made the imperative of my self-sufficiency obvious.”

 

Describing his mother in the interview, Nicholson said, “June and I had so much in common. We both fight hard. It didn’t do her any good not to tell me, but she didn’t because you never know how I would’ve reacted when I was younger….

 

Steve Jobs. An interview with Steve Jobs for his biography reveals that Steve was almost a victim of an abortion. He states “I wanted to meet her mostly to see if she was OK and to thank her, because I’m glad I didn’t end up as an abortion. She was 23 and she went through a lot to have me”. When he finally met birth mother Joanne Schieble, she burst into tears as she apologized for placing him for adoption. “Don’t worry,” Jobs responded.  “I had a great childhood. I turned out OK.”

 

ABC News provides more background on Jobs’ search for his family: In the early 1980s, Jobs had hired a detective to look for his birth mother, but found nothing. Until then, he had been hesitant to tell his parents about the search, afraid he would hurt their feelings. But when Clara Jobs died in 1986, he told his adoptive father, Paul Jobs, and began a search in earnest. Jobs eventually arranged a reunion, hoping to tell his mother she had “done the right thing.” Jobs said he was surprised at how much he and Simpson were alike. “As we got to know each other, we became really good friends and she was my family,” he said. “I don’t know what I’d do without her.” https://buzymummy.com/2016/05/19/5-famous-people-who-were-almost-aborted/

Two more quick stories. The first one involves something that is all too common: a mother pressured by medical staff to abort her unborn baby because of possible issues such as physical defects. One story begins this way:

Kiera Meldrum, aged 20, was offered an abortion every single week following her 21-week scan, which discovered that her unborn baby had severe ascites to the bowel. The young mum from York, bravely defied the doctors’ orders to abort her baby, every week, and describes how constantly being offered an abortion made her feel “horrific.” At 34 weeks, Kiera delivered her baby girl, Lillee-Rose, who had to undergo life saving surgery and spend eight intensive weeks in hospital. However, Lillee-Rose is now happy and home with her family. Despite having a delicate bowel, doctors are satisfied that she should live a healthy and normal life. https://www.lifenews.com/2019/09/18/doctors-suggested-abortion-every-week-for-months-because-lillee-was-disabled-now-shes-healthy 

My final story is also quite remarkable. It begins as follows:

Melanie Pritchard and her family have an incredible story to share — one of the harrowing tale of her sudden death and a second part of her miraculous healing. This intense tale of Melanie’s 10-minute death while delivering her second child and bringing forth new life will leave you breathless. Pregnant at the time, Melanie suffered from amniotic fluid embolism, DIC, heart failure and cardiac arrest. She was declared dead and should have never recovered, but, miraculously, she did. Melanie’s faith through the whole ordeal and the profound faith and love poured out by friends, family and community is clearly evident.

 

Nancy Flanders has written more about Melanie’s amazing story. “Melanie Pritchard was as prepared as you can be to deliver her second baby. When she was pregnant with her first she had done all the research necessary to find a pro-life OB/GYN and drove 25 minutes of her way just to see that doctor,” she writes. “Her unborn child’s life was of the highest value to her, and she wanted to ensure that her doctor felt the same way. It turned out to be one of the best and most important decisions of her life.”

See the rest of the story here: https://www.lifenews.com/2015/03/11/the-day-she-died-with-her-unborn-daughter-still-in-her-body  

We often do not hear about such stories, but they deserve a wide hearing. They offer a wonderful offset to the horrific reality of 45 million babies killed every year.

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