We cannot give their names to preserve their identity, so we will call them Jane and Joe.
This young Spanish couple went last Ash Wednesday to the Dator abortion center, one of the best-known abortuaries in Madrid, Spain, where thousands of children are aborted every year. They were not alone; they were accompanied by Jane’s mother, Eva.
The young couple are both in their 20s, and neither of them is currently working. They live in one of the poorest areas of Spain and they have three young children. For this reason, the news that Jane had become pregnant again filled them with fear of the difficulties they would face in taking care of a new child. In this situation, they decided to have an abortion.
However, their experience with their first three children filled them with doubts about their decision. They were aware that pregnancy means a new child has already come into existence, not just a “clump of cells.”
A silent presence, and an eye-catching pro-life center
When they arrived at the abortion center, their anguish was such that none of the three noticed the silent presence of a group of volunteers from Spanish pro-life organization 40 Days for Life, who that same day (coinciding with the beginning of Lent) had just started their prayer campaign to end abortion.
Joe and Jane entered the abortion clinic. Eva remained outside on the street.
As she waited, she saw on the opposite street corner an eye-catching place called Pro-Life Refuge (“Refugio Provida”). This is an initiative run by various pro-life organizations, which gives pregnant women with difficulties the help they need to go ahead with their motherhood. Eva decided to go in.
“You don’t believe, but they do”
“She told the people at the Shelter that Jane and Joe were inside the abortion center, but that they had many doubts,” a 40 Days for Life representative tells Aleteia. Then, “the people from the Refuge told her that if the couple came out, they could help them, but since they were already inside, they could do nothing. At that point, someone pointed to the 40 Days for Life group and told Eva to ask them to pray for her daughter. ‘I just don’t believe in these things,’ she replied. ‘You don’t, but they do,’ the volunteer replied. ‘So don’t worry, just go tell them.’”
And so she did. Immediately, the small group began to pray silently that God would save the baby’s life, and enlighten the parents so that they would decide to go ahead with their child’s life.
Minutes later, to Eva’s surprise and the joy of the 40 Days for Life volunteers, Joe and Jane left the abortion center “as if pushed by an inner force.”
An ultrasound and the decision not to have an abortion
Eva immediately told them what had happened and took them to the Pro-Life Shelter. There they were referred to the Godmother Foundation, where they were offered an ultrasound performed by a doctor. They agreed. When they saw the baby, they decided not to abort.
Afterwards, they received all the information about how they were going to receive help during the pregnancy and during the baby’s first years of life, how the organization was going to help them find work, and how they were going to give them everything they needed to raise their other 3 children.
“It left us trembling”
“The fact that this has happened to us just this year,” Rebeca de Miguel, the coordinator of 40Días Por la Vida in Madrid, explains to Aleteia, “when we’ve opened a second prayer campaign in front of another abortion center to save more lives, and on the first day, left us literally trembling with emotion.”
And she concludes: “This shows that prayer is the real force that will succeed in ending abortion. And it encourages us to continue trusting in God and to commit ourselves with our active participation in the campaigns of silent and peaceful prayer in front of abortion centers.”
And today we celebrate...