How do I help someone contemplating an abortion?

[mkb51]

A friend who has two children found out she is expecting again. Her marriage is going down the tubes, her husband leaves and doesn’t come home for long periods of time, and he can’t hold down a job. She is a schoolteacher who has to work and depends on her parents to help, but they are fed up with her because she takes him back all the time and they don’t want to help her anymore. She feels it’s the best thing to do now is to abort her unborn child. Are there any words of wisdom that I can share with her?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Your friend doesn’t need “words of wisdom”; she needs help. Remember what St. James said:

If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? (James 2:15-16).

Call your local crisis pregnancy center and find out what services they can offer and what help is available in your community. Urge your friend to discuss her situation with a crisis pregnancy counselor, and offer to take her or to babysit her kids while she goes. Ask her what practical help she needs that she is not getting anymore from her parents and see if you can arrange with the crisis pregnancy center to arrange for it.

Your friend and her family are in our prayers. God bless.