Family Planning Associates, Miramar Road, San Diego, Saturday, Dec. 11, 2010
News from the Trenches When the young Hispanic woman saw the image of her 9-week-old baby on the ultrasound screen, any lingering thoughts about having an abortion evaporated. Dr. Karen Saroki skillfully moved the wand so that the image of the tiny baby on the screen could be seen from different angles. The mother tearfully announced she was definitely keeping this baby. Her tears of joy were contagious. The eyes of everyone in the examination room welled up, including the baby’s father, Dr. Saroki and Anne, the sidewalk counselor who had brought the couple to the Culture of Life Services Clinic (COLFS). 
Anne had met the young Hispanic couple about an hour earlier at the busiest abortion mill in San Diego County, Family Planning Associates. She intercepted them as they were about to climb the stairs leading to the abortuary on the second floor. The counselor informed them about the abortionist deplorable record of malpractice. But when she asked them a question and they looked blankly at her she realized they did not speak English. So, using her cell phone, Anne called Luis, a Spanish-speaking sidewalk counselor, who was counseling at a driveway across the parking lot. Anne set the cell on speakerphone and Luis spoke to the couple. He explained about the abortionist’s record of negligence and the women who had returned to this place with serious medical complications. He told them that the following day, December 12th, was the Feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. And that she had appeared to the Aztecs to aid in their conversion to Christianity, since many of them were still involved in the pagan custom of offering human sacrifices. He explained that the abortion they were contemplating was a human sacrifice that was repugnant in the eyes of Jesus and Our Lady. As Luis spoke to the couple about Our Lady of Guadalupe, Anne handed the young woman a Rosary. Luis told them that they needed to see a good doctor who did not perform abortions but was focused on the mother’s and baby’s health. She could go to COLFS right away. Luis told the couple that he was coming over to talk to them in person and he walked quickly across the parking lot. He showed the couple a photo of a 6-week-old unborn baby and a lifelike model of an 11-week-old unborn baby. The couple then winced when the counselor showed them a photo of the dismembered remains of a 10-week-old aborted baby. Luis told them that one of the reasons he was here was because of what occurred to a baby that he and his wife had adopted. He told them that the baby, a boy named Martin, had been adopted from a woman who they later found out had considered an abortion. Baby Martin was diagnosed with a rare pediatric liver cancer and died. The counselor explained to them that the loss of a child is the greatest grief a person can endure. And that, if they aborted their child, sooner or later they would experience that grief. He told them that in the six years he has been counseling he had never spoken to a woman who had regretted having her baby, but he had spoken to several who regretted having an abortion. The woman who had been weeping as the counselor spoke said she wanted to see a doctor right away. The couple got in their car, Anne got in hers and they caravanned to the COLFS clinic. Luis returned to the main driveway to counsel. He was glad to see that there were 10 people, Rosaries in hand, praying and singing hymns. He knew that the prayers would be extra powerful this morning since three of the prayer warriors were young children and this was the eve of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. A car stopped on the exit side of the driveway. The abortuary had been open for a couple of hours so Luis approached the car with a post-abortion healing brochure in hand assuming the couple had aborted. The driver was a young Filipino man, the hood of his black sweatshirt was over his head. His eyes were bloodshot and moist. A forlorn looking young Filipino woman sat in the passenger seat. The counselor gave the post-abortion brochure to the young woman. “Don’t worry, we didn’t do it,” she said. The boyfriend spoke up, “We couldn’t go through with it. There were all these people in there and it occurred to me what we were about to do.” Luis asked them if they had spoken to a counselor before going in to the clinic. The young man replied that they had not. The young woman pointed at the people praying on the sidewalk and asked Luis if he was with them. He said that he was and that they were praying for the people going in to the clinic. “Oh my God, they’re praying for us!” the young woman gasped. The counselor gave them a business card for COLFS and encouraged to make an appointment to check on her health. She said that they would. “God bless you for what you are doing,” she said before they drove off. Please pray for “B,” the woman who chose life after seeing the ultrasound, and for “R,” the woman who could not go through with the abortion. -- Luis, Roger and Anne
