"Her friends immediately scheduled an abortion for her..."
Today's story comes from Bethany Collins, a sophomore at Loyola. Bethany is very involved in the Service Committee with Loyola Students for Life. She tells us about her friend Erika's choice for life.Enter Bethany...Erika was only 16 when she found out she was pregnant.Her friends immediately scheduled an abortion for her at the nearest clinic. She was, after all, only a Junior in high school. She had so much against her in this situation and her whole life ahead of her.But, when she told her parents, they told her that they would never want her to abort her child, and that they would help her raise him.With this support, she chose not to have an abortion.She chose life.As a 16 year old junior in high school, Erika gave up so much for her baby, but she courageously chose to stand up to anyone who said she could not or should not take care of a baby.Leading up to my trip to the March for Life, I found myself thinking about Erika and her baby in the womb constantly. She was due on January 23, so all day on January 22 I kept thinking, "Wouldn't it be cool if he was born on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade?"The day passed with no news, but I still couldn't get them off my mind.On Friday morning, as we drove into DC, I found out that Erika was in labor. This was my third March, but for the first time, there was a real, individual face - a young mother - in my life who I was marching for.Walking in the cold, I couldn't think about anything or anyone else. I was there for one young girl from my hometown who chose life.The next day, during the SFLA conference, I was able to access facebook, where I was finally able to see pictures of Erika's baby Steven. He was born on Friday, January 25 at 2:37 pm, during the 40th March for Life.Having the names and faces of Erika and Steven, real examples of the people we fight for, made the experience of the March for Life and the pro-life movement so much more powerful for me.In choosing life for her baby boy, one 17 year old girl changed my life.---Thank you, Bethany, for sharing this story!