overcome

We recently had the Abortion Pill Reversal Helpline (APR) contact the clinic hoping to connect us with a young woman who had taken the first of the two abortion pills. The APR network is manned by an amazing group of nurses, nationwide, who specifically wait to receive calls from women who are hoping to “reverse” the actions of the first pill, known as Mifepristone. They counsel these women over the phone and connect them with a local pregnancy medical clinic like ours.

I was the nurse on duty when we got the call from APR. Daphne* was in distress, and very distraught about taking the first abortion pill. When I spoke with her, she told me the minute she swallowed that first pill, she felt "a darkness" overcome her, along with a "deep sense of regret and sadness". She was crying, upset, and desperately wanting information on how she could reverse the effects of that first pill in hopes of saving her baby. We immediately called in a prescription for Progesterone, the medication used to counteract the effects of Mifepristone, and scheduled her to come in the next day for an ultrasound to see if the baby still had life.

I remember seeing her come through the front door, such sorrow in her eyes. A young woman is forever changed by what Daphne described as a "quick fix" to end her baby's life. A decision that she now regretted so much. I took her back to the ultrasound room. When she first stepped into the room, she said she could "feel the darkness lift" from her body. Our ultrasound room is bathed in scripture. I know that darkness was lifted because of HIS presence there in the room.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.“ ~John 1:5

She held her hands over her eyes, saying she was too "scared" to look as I placed the ultrasound transducer on her stomach to try to get the image of her baby. As I looked at her, a steady stream of tears ran from underneath her closed hands. Her breath quickened, along with mine, and I had to remind us both to keep a steady breath and I just began to pray.....

I saw the image first. The tiny sign of life, along with that little flicker of a heartbeat. I held the transducer to her belly and she gently pulled her hands away from her eyes. She too could see life projected up on the screen. A strong heartbeat. A healthy baby. Her tears continued, yet a smile settled in on her face, seeing that image, seeing life in her baby.

She told me later as we were closing out the appointment how grateful she was that she had the option to reverse the effects of the abortion pill and choose to keep her baby. We will continue to monitor Daphne, through the remainder of her pregnancy.

Prayers would be greatly appreciated for her and her baby!

*client name and details changed to protect her privacy