At the end of September 2021, Bishop Juan Antonio Reig Pla, bishop of the Spanish diocese of Alcalá de Henares, celebrated the baptisms of 14 children saved from abortion through the informational and charitable actions of the members of the John Paul II Rescuers Association.
This is an initiative carried out by Catholic volunteers who help pregnant women in difficulty. They help them to objectively know the alternatives that are available to them and not be manipulated by pro-abortion activists into killing their unborn children, believing this to be the only viable option.
Children saved from abortion
On the association’s blog, one of its members, Marta Velarde, shared some stories of the women and children involved …
Marta’s story
One of the pregnant women who received this precious help is Marta, whose third daughter (the one being baptized) had just turned 10 months old. When Marta became pregnant, in the middle of the pandemic, many people advised her to abort. Providentially, however, she got confused with the phone numbers and ended up calling the Rescuers Association. After hours of conversation, she decided to meet a member of the association in person. When they started to talk in person, she began to cry, recognizing how much the thought of abortion took away her peace. On the night of her little girl’s baptism, she kept reaffirming how happy she was that she had chosen life.
Ana’s case
Ana is another pregnant woman who went through a similar drama and overcame it. She had decided to abort her fifth daughter when she was 5 months pregnant, but she also changed her mind thanks to the support she received from the Rescuers. However, the many problems of everyday life were hard for her to handle, and it was several years before she decided to baptize her daughter. Ana can be a difficult person, according to Velarde, but she has learned to consult “the One above” before making her decisions.
Mariana’s testimony
A third case reported by the association is that of Mariana, who met a rescuer when she was on her way to the clinic to have an abortion, 10 minutes before her appointment. After a conversation with him, she decided not to go ahead with the procedure. When she told her partner that she had decided against the abortion, however, she had to face a new and harsh ordeal: he simply abandoned her. Her own sister didn’t want to help her either.
Mariana was unemployed and with no one to help her—except the rescuers. The pregnancy was difficult in every way, but the rescuers gave her the support she needed. When the baby was born, Mariana named him after the rescuer who had saved him from abortion: Pablo Santiago. The decision for baptism, both for her son and herself, would come even later, when she visited a shrine of Our Lady of Schoenstatt and, for the first time, attended a First Holy Communion. Today she has a job, friends, and a son—and she makes a point of sharing her testimony with anyone who will listen.
Sometimes all it takes to save a life is the willingness to talk, to listen, and to offer the kind of support that Jesus already enjoined upon us in the Gospel: to love others as He did, and share our own material and spiritual gifts with generosity.
Many women choose abortion because they have been convinced they have no other option. Rather than judge them, we need to inform them, and appeal to their own conscience. It’s up to us to ensure that other real options are available for them, and that they are aware of them.
On Judgment Day, may Jesus say to us, “I was pregnant and scared and confused, and you opened my eyes, you treated me with compassion, you gave me a place to stay, you helped me find a job, you helped me feed and clothe my baby …”
And today we celebrate...