Romania and The Republic of Moldova need support centers for pregnant women / “For Life” magazine – Spring 2014

A woman in pregnancy crisis is faced with hardships difficult to imagine if you have never been through anything like that or have never carefully studied that situation.  The turmoil and drama a woman lives before choosing abortion are very well described by American pro-life author Frederica Mathewes-Green: “No one wants an abortion as she wants an ice-cream cone or a Porsche. She wants an abortion as an animal, caught in a trap, wants to gnaw off its own leg”.

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For example, especially in rural areas – although not exclusively –, children conceived out of wedlock are most often aborted, the main reason being the mother’s fear of stigma. Of course, ideally, a child needs to be conceived and born in the loving and secure atmosphere of a family, but lack of a family does not justify abortion by any means. Abortion does not cancel, but multiplies the negative consequences of the situation which has generated the pregnancy crisis.

That is why we believe this year’s March for Life theme also emphasizes that it is only natural for men, family and society to support pregnant women by all means.

The March for Life, The Pro-Life Month, a pro-life attitude and pro-life deeds do not mean condemning those who have had an abortion. They mean stretching out a helping, loving and sorrowful hand. They don’t mean condemning the fathers and mothers who, scared by insecurity, chose to move ahead without the child, seeing it as a burden in their lives, feeling they they could not ensure it the optimum conditions. Instead, being pro-life means offering these people support to keep walking through life.

How many women in pregnancy crisis can resist alone faced with their partner’s violence, social exclusion, poverty or the risk of being forced to give up their education and career? The answer is self-evident. Therefore, no effort made by us personally, by our family, by our group of friends, by our church, by our state, by today’s world is too much compared to the unique, unrepeatable and priceless stake that each and every human life represents.

This year’s March for Life theme also helps us raise awareness about the need for an institutional form of counselling and support for women in pregnancy crisis, and emphasize the necessity to set up Pregnant Women Support Centers to offer specialized services of counselling and support in pregnancy crisis.

To protect the life of the unborn, their parents’ lives and the future of society, we need not only a pro-life attitude, but a pro-life practice. Being against abortion without offering the whole support a woman needs in order to give birth to her baby is hypocritical and inefficient. Whoever cares about the baby, also cares about the mother and will do everything to help her.

Examples of good practice on a large organizational scale can be found in the United States. Understanding that “no woman should ever feel so alone, coerced, or so hopeless that she ends her child’s life through abortion” [1] and that “the answer to a crisis pregnancy is to eliminate the crisis, not the child” [2], the US supporters of Life have tried to help women in pregnancy crisis solve the problems that generated it.

The consequence is that in the US there are over 2,800 pregnancy help centers – almost four times the total number of clinics offering surgical and chemical abortion (approximately 730). Women resorting to these counselling and support services will freely receive everything they need in order to surmount the crisis: psychological, religious, legal counselling, food, a job, a home etc. In 2015 alone, US pregnancy help centers have helped more than 300,000 women chose life for their children!

(Excerpt from the press release of The March for Life Romania and The Republic of Moldova 2016 – “Pro-Life, Pro-Woman, Pro-Family)

NOTES:

[1] Jor-El Godsey, actual President of the Heartbeat International network of pregnancy help centers (with over 1,800 affiliated centers in 50 countries)

[2] Jeannie W. French, founder of the National Women’s Coalition for Life

ADDENDA: Abortion statistics for Romania and The Republic of Moldova

Abortions in Romania 1958–2014

County abortion numbers in Romania 1970_1980_1989_1990_1995–2014

Abortions on age groups in Romania between years 1990–2014

Underreporting of abortion numbers in Romanian statistics

Number of abortions in the Republic of Moldova 1995-2014

Republic of Moldova – Abortion rate for 100 live births on districts-regions 2008-2014

Source: Studentipentruviata.ro