Bogotá, Colombia, May 7, 2021 / 12:05 pm (CNA).
“Abortion is a scourge that kills many children and moms, it kills more than COVID. It’s relentless,” said Liz Martínez, a 33-year-old Colombian mother who almost two years ago was about to abort her daughter Lucrecia.
Martínez is one of the mothers who receive help from the Moms 40 Coalition for Life Foundation, which has ties to the 40 Days for Life prayer campaign that helps pregnant women in vulnerable situations.
“I thank God for the foundation. They have saved many lives. Without them I would have had an abortion and I wouldn’t have forgiven myself,” Martínez told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language news partner.
“I thank God because if it weren’t for these people I would have killed my daughter, and she’s the best thing that ever happened to me. She has light brown skin and green eyes, beautiful, a bundle of energy, but she’s my daughter. I thank God, He knows what he’s doing,” she said.
Lucrecia Yepes Martínez was born June 6, 2019. She’s the fourth child of Martínez, who had her first pregnancy when she was 16. At that time, “I always rejected the idea of abortion and never considered it, and whenever they asked me, I said I wouldn’t do it.”
“I had my first child at 17. I had two other children with my husband and I stuck it out with him for 14 years. He became unfaithful and I got divorced. I tried to forgive him and I couldn’t,” she recounted.
“When I got divorced, I kept my three children, Santiago, 16, Danilo, 14, and Evan, 10. After I was divorced for a year, I met the person who would become my boyfriend. I had a tubal ligation when I had the child who’s now 10, so I wouldn’t have any more children,” the mother explained.
However, Martínez became pregnant again, and the doctor told her that it could be an ectopic pregnancy with the baby developing outside the uterus, but it turned out not to be so. “The left tube had reformed itself and the baby was in the womb. I fell into a crisis. My daughter’s father is a police officer, divorced, he already had three children.”
“‘It’s a normal pregnancy and can go to term,’ the doctor said. “It’s impossible,” I said, “but the doctor told me that for God nothing is impossible and that in his career he had already seen a few other cases of women who had had tubal ligations and became pregnant. ”
Martínez’ mother offered her money to have an abortion, but she refused. Then her mother stopped paying for her college classes. Martínez also lost custody of her children and with the situation having become more complicated, she looked for where she could get an abortion.
“I went to an abortion center … they offered to do a D&C abortion.”
“They told me it cost 580 thousand pesos ($154) and I agreed to it,” Martinez told ACI Prensa.
“They told me to tell them why I wanted to have an abortion. And they asked me what I was going to do with four children. They convince you to have an abortion,” she added.
When she left the abortion clinic, she saw some people from 40 Days for Life.
“A woman looked at me. I felt bad and hid the pregnancy test in my backpack. She kept looking at me, I felt ashamed and when I took two steps she came over to me. She gently asked me how I was doing. She introduced herself, told me that her name was Andrea and asked me if I were pregnant,” she recalled.
Martínez told her about her situation and another man, who was holding a rosary, came over to her. “He told me that he was a doctor and that he and the others came to save the lives of the babies. We walked for two blocks, which seemed like an eternity to me. A psychologist received me at the place where they had accompanied me to. They did an ultrasound and they had me listen to the baby’s heart,” which didn’t happen at the abortion center.
Given the situation, the Moms 40 Coalition Foundation always sent her food and supported her. However, “sometimes the idea of having an abortion would return, but with psychological therapy I was able to understand that I really did want to have and protect” Lucrecia.
“When the girl was born I continued to be part of the group that receives help from the foundation. There they provide training for us and help us regarding work, they give us things for the children.”
“They’re always standing ready to help. They’ve sent me a playpen recently and I put Lucrecia there when I’m cooking,” she added.
She said that when she’s able to, “I’m planning on joining the foundation to save more lives.”
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