Friday morning we took three women for ultrasounds. Two had been at the abortion mill earlier in the week. One, an Arabic woman, we met that morning. The waiting area at the crisis pregnancy center was, that morning, a colorful place, with Arabic, English and Spanish all being spoken. There was even a small attempt at sign language, since one of the Spanish-speaking women has about three-quarters hearing loss. The Arabic woman, a traditional Muslim, was largely silent during the morning. Her friend, however, who translated for her, was enthusiastic about the morning’s experiences; she thanked us repeatedly and voiced her especial gratitude for the Guadalupe Partner who had talked to them at the clinic that morning and who had arranged the ultrasound. We’ve had too much experience, though, to say that we were surprised when they pulled up to the abortuary again on Saturday morning. The father of the unborn child was threatening to leave his wife if she did not kill the child. Added to that, the woman’s physician was telling her that after four c-sections, she was at too much risk to carry the child. She was badly frightened. Her friend from the day before was also there. We found that she was more fluent in Spanish than in English; most of the conversation, then, occurred in Spanish–it went on, 10, 15 minutes, but this time they could not be persuaded to spare the child. However, because of the conversation in front of the clinic, they walked in for the appointment about 5 minutes late–and were told, to our surprise, that their appointment for the day would not be honored. (We know that appointments walk in late there all the time. Why was this one different?) Both women seemed happy, relieved. They left. In fifteen minutes they were back again, sent by the husband who had insisted that they make a new appointment. That appointment is for tomorrow.
One of our moms yesterday was dilated 2 cm. We’ll soon have a new baby picture to add to our album.
One of the projects for the week is to find a physician who can help H. with her hearing loss problem. Her condition has never received medical attention.
