Seeing and Hearing is Believing

By Christi Portzline RN, BSN

We saw an abortion-minded client who had originally reached out looking for the abortion pills. We told her that we do not provide or refer for abortions but that she could come in for an ultrasound and talk about her options; she agreed to schedule a time for the following week.

She kept her appointment and came to the office with her partner and her little girl. As she and I were talking during the intake, she shared that things in her personal life were chaotic and that she was not financially able to add another child to her family.  She talked very openly and even laughed occasionally, seeming to have settled on her path moving forward. She asked where she could get the pills. I responded that I could not refer her to where she could get them, but I did tell her that the majority of websites where abortion pills are sold do not offer medical oversight. She seemed shocked at the lack of medical care with online abortions, but I felt a sense of “pause” in discussing specifics of the mifepristone/misoprostol pills at that time.

We then moved into the scan portion of her appointment. I talked with her, showing her what I was seeing and asking the Holy Spirit to give me the wisdom to present her with the truth without being manipulative. I asked her if she wanted to hear the heartbeat and she told me that she did. So, we listened to it ~ and when I say that I could feel the Lord’s presence in that room when we listened to it, I mean that it was in a very powerful and different way than I have sensed in any other scan.

We continued on with the measurements, and when we had completed all the required images, I sensed the need to circle back to listening to the heartbeat. I asked her if she wanted to listen again, and she paused, eventually saying “yes” in a tentative way. We listened to the strong “swoosh” that unmistakably evidenced life. As we were reviewing her information at the end of her appointment, I asked her how she was feeling. She said, “I was feeling okay about it…..but now I really feel like I would be killing it, you know?” and she began to cry. The life inside of her was undeniable. We honored that life by allowing it to be seen and heard.