{"id":273094,"date":"2022-07-31T09:38:37","date_gmt":"2022-07-31T14:38:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=273094"},"modified":"2022-07-29T17:13:18","modified_gmt":"2022-07-29T22:13:18","slug":"unplanned-pregnancy-lifetime-pro-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/unplanned-pregnancy-lifetime-pro-life\/","title":{"rendered":"An unplanned pregnancy led to a lifetime pro-life partnership"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An unplanned pregnancy while in college led a young woman to fear the consequences. Initially, she considered abortion, thinking it would help her hide the mistake from her parents. But instead, she realized she couldn’t take her child’s life, and carried the pregnancy instead. Today, her son is an adult who helps advocate for other preborn lives, with both working together to help mothers and their children alike.<\/p>\n

Unplanned pregnancy, fear, and faith<\/h3>\n

Pregnant, with nowhere to turn, Kathy Philbin walked into a clinic, wondering what to do. She was a senior in college, away from home studying at Niagara University so she could hide the pregnancy from her parents \u2013 at least initially. The clinic provided her with information about abortion, and a referral list of OB\/GYNs should she decide to continue her pregnancy. She was neither advised to terminate her pregnancy nor to keep her baby, so the decision rested on her shoulders alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was raised in a Catholic household, with three sisters and I knew my pregnancy would embarrass the family,” she told Live Action News. “I had a friend who had gotten pregnant, and her parents forced her to have an abortion. At the time, I wasn\u2019t sure what to do. Luckily, I was \u2018hidden\u2019 away at school, so I had some time before my parents found out.\u201d<\/p>\n

After three agonizing nights, weighing her options, and knowing if she had an abortion, her parents would never know, the choice to keep her baby became clear.\u00a0<\/p>\n

READ: Pastor\u2019s daughter chose life in an unplanned pregnancy, and ministers to others today<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to face Jesus someday and have to answer as to why I killed my baby,\u201d Philbin said. \u201cThat\u2019s not a discussion I wanted to have. While I did briefly contemplate having an abortion because it would have been the easiest way out, I felt as if my guardian angel was pulling me back from a decision I would deeply regret.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet she was afraid to tell her parents, thinking she would suffer the same fate as her friend. She knew her mother especially, would be devastated. She waited until she was 30 weeks to inform her parents of her pregnancy.<\/p>\n

A standing ovation<\/h3>\n

\u201cMy parents were clearly distraught about the pregnancy but also about me having premarital relations,” she said. “But I thought I was in love with my boyfriend at the time. They told me if I was younger, they would have insisted I place the baby for adoption.\u201d<\/p>\n

Philbin\u2019s parents continued to pay for her nursing education, but because she was attending a Catholic university, she was required to move off campus. She felt as if she was branded a scarlet woman, that her teachers were judging her harshly behind her back. But when she graduated, she received a standing ovation from her classmates. Two weeks later, she gave birth to her son, Andrew.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther women came up to me at graduation revealing they, too, had gotten pregnant but had an abortion,\u201d Philbin said. \u201cThey commended me on my courage to continue the pregnancy. It was as if I was human like the rest of them but unlike them, I chose life, something they were afraid to do because of possible repercussions.\u201d<\/p>\n

While her boyfriend wanted to marry her, he, like most of his family, wrestled with alcoholism, so Philbin eventually cut ties with him when Andy was seven months old, moving back to Northeast Ohio to stay with her parents.<\/p>\n

Philbin said, \u201cI wanted Andy to succeed in life and although his dad loved him, I didn\u2019t think he would be a good influence.\u201d<\/p>\n