{"id":90360,"date":"2016-03-26T10:23:19","date_gmt":"2016-03-26T14:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=90360"},"modified":"2016-03-23T14:27:19","modified_gmt":"2016-03-23T18:27:19","slug":"women-empowered-choosing-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/women-empowered-choosing-life\/","title":{"rendered":"6 women empowered by choosing life"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Abortion advocates claim that access to abortion empowers women. In reality, abortion sends the\u00a0message to\u00a0women that they aren\u2019t capable. It says women aren\u2019t strong enough, good enough, or smart enough to accomplish their dreams without killing their children. It\u2019s the ultimate form of emotional abuse of women.<\/p>\n

Choosing life, on the other hand, allows women to take control of their futures without harming anyone else. This is true empowerment, and these women prove that.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Tommitrise Collins<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Collins

Collins taking her exam. Photo via Facebook.<\/p><\/div>\n

Collins rose to internet fame<\/a> when her sister snapped a photo of her during labor. But it wasn\u2019t your typical photo. Collins was in her hospital bed with her laptop taking a college exam.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took me 4-5 hours after the opening of the test to try to put the pain to the side and do it so I wouldn\u2019t have to do it later and I could enjoy my newborn,\u201d Collins said at the time.<\/p>\n

She finished her exam in less than the allotted time and while experiencing contractions which were 3 minutes apart. Her baby girl Tyler Elise was born after 20 hours of labor.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is my life now, and the way I look at it is, she will always have me to depend on, so my goals will not be put on hold,\u201d said Collins. \u201cI don\u2019t want to just barely make it by, I want my child to live comfortably, and I want to show people that just because I am considered a young mother doesn\u2019t mean I have to be considered a bad mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hillary<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Photo

Photo credit: A Woman’s Friend<\/p><\/div>\n

Hillary was homeless and addicted<\/a> to heroin when she became pregnant. Hopeless and feeling that abortion was her only option, she reached out to A Woman\u2019s Friend pregnancy center simply to get access to state medical benefits to pay for the abortion.<\/p>\n

The center provided her with a free ultrasound and offered her support, but Hillary was still afraid that she would not be able to take care of her child.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember telling my client advocate, \u2018I can\u2019t imagine how I\u2019m going to stop using heroin for my baby. I can\u2019t even do it for myself\u2019,\u201d Hillary explained.<\/p>\n

However, the encouragement she received from A Woman\u2019s Friend allowed her to consider keeping her child. Even after being arrested just a week later and spending 60 days in jail, the counselors and staff at A Woman\u2019s Friend stuck with Hillary, allowing her to feel a sense of empowerment, even behind bars. She decided that when she was free she was going to use the resources available from A Woman\u2019s Friend to change her life.<\/p>\n

Months later, with help from the pregnancy center, Hillary gave birth to her baby boy Adam and was finally free from her addiction.<\/p>\n

Danica Fountain<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shortly after her graduation from high school, Danica Fountain<\/a> was concerned that she might be pregnant. She turned to a local pregnancy resource center that she drove by frequently. At the center, she told the counselor that if she was pregnant, she would have an abortion.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was so nice,\u201d Fountain said. \u201cShe did not judge me at all. [\u2026] She showed me a picture of this baby that had arms and legs and a head. I couldn\u2019t believe it because everyone referred to that as \u2018tissue,\u2019 that it was not a baby, which is why I was comfortable going through with an abortion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite this new-found knowledge, Fountain was still convinced that abortion was her only option because she was unwed and had only a high school education. Her boyfriend and a family member both agreed and told her to abort, saying it was the only way she would ever be successful. Fountain went to Planned Parenthood where her feelings of inadequacy were encouraged, and an appointment for that abortion was scheduled.<\/p>\n

Remembering that the woman at the pregnancy center told her she could come back at any time to talk about alternatives to abortion, Fountain returned to the center for an ultrasound.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat made it so real to me, that it wasn\u2019t just tissue,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

Empowered by this true knowledge of life before birth as well as what options were available to her beyond abortion, Fountain chose life and gave birth to her baby girl. Grateful for her daughter\u2019s life, Fountain now lobbies members of Congress about the work done by pregnancy resource centers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many women out there who are making the decision to abort because they don\u2019t know there are other options and no one is supporting them with those other options,\u201d said Fountain.<\/p>\n

Amanda<\/strong><\/p>\n