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Pregnant?
Feeling trapped, terrified and alone?
It wasn't supposed to have happened - but it did. It doesn't matter now how it happened - it did. A chance
encounter - a date - a party - a rape - an 'accident' - the test was
positive and your world has changed. You don't
look different - not yet. No one knows yet, but what will they think if they find out? Your
family? Their friends? Your
friends? Neighbors? At
School? In Church? Where can you hide your
secret?
Perhaps some
know - and are putting pressure on you to have an abortion.. Perhaps even your parents are giving you an ultimatum
- have an abortion - or leave home. Perhaps your boy friend insists on an
abortion - if you want to save your relationship. Perhaps your boss is
telling you to have an abortion if you want to keep your job. Friends are
urging you - an abortion is the sensible choice in your circumstances. You
can have a baby later.
Abortion is
legal, a quick way to get un-pregnant again. No one will ever need to know
the shame. Life will go on. The problem is taken care of.
Or is it? Will the painful memory ever go away?
Something deep inside tells you it won't, that
abortion is death, the end of the life that has begun in you.
Abortion - it is
something you've said you would never do. You've seen the pictures of babies in the womb. Real babies. Not just cells.
You believe in life. In God the Creator of life.
Perhaps you go to Church - sing in the choir - perhaps teach Sunday school?
Some day you want to be married, be a bride - then a mother. 'Nice' girls don't get pregnant without being married. And they don't have abortions!
But we know they do. Every year in this country 1.3 million babies are aborted. Planned
Parenthood, who performs the largest number of abortions in the country,
did a study of 10,000 women who had abortions in 2000 -2001 and found that
the majority - 78% - said they had a religious affiliation. Perhaps, like
you and I, many felt they had no other choice than to have an abortion to
hide their secret!
But you do have another choice...you can
choose life ... and still protect your privacy and keep your pregnancy
confidential.
It is the choice
most 'nice' unmarried girls who got pregnant made before abortion was a
legal option. The founder of Martha and Mary House was one of them. She
kept her secret even from her family by going away to a maternity home.
There she - and more than fifty other women - gave birth, and the majority
placed their babies for adoption. After 1973 when abortion on demand became
a legal choice, maternity homes emptied out and closed down. Today, the
loving and courageous choice of adoption is a neglected option. In a recent
year, of 1.3 million children born out of wedlock, only 23,000 were adopted. And maternity
homes are few and far between.
That is why
Martha and Mary House is here - to offer a safe,
private and confidential place for you who are pregnant with no place to
go. If you are looking for a way to continue your pregnancy, give your
child life and make the best choice for your own future as well, we are
here for you. We believe that both you and your child are unique and
precious, created in the image of God and loved by Him. We pray that in
seeking His will you will discover your God-given
personal resources and how to develop them. We would like to help
you.
Martha and Mary
House is home away from home for you who may need to stay away from your
own family during this difficult time of your life. You are not alone! We
live family style with resident House-Mother(s) or
House Parents and up to four pregnant "daughters". All share in
housekeeping duties. You will choose a program of study, vocational
training, be employed or seek employment. We follow House Rules which include morning and evening prayers, Bible
study and attendance in a Church of your choice, pre-natal and birthing classes
and career and open adoption counseling. We have an extensive library.
Friends of Martha and Mary House volunteer as tutors or mentors. We have a
garden and two dogs and two cats.
We teach about
decision-making, choices and consequences, courtship, purity and abstinence
before marriage, the sacrament and holiness of marriage and God's design
for the nurture of children in families with father and mother who belong
to one another in life-long commitment. You will consider carefully the best
parenting choice for your child and for your own future.
Birth
mothers who choose a loving family for their child through open adoption are
eligible for a Martha and Mary House scholarship to continue her education.
If you have
suffered pregnancy loss by choice in the past, we have a 12-step program, Abortion Survivors Anonymous, meeting
at the House for healing the wounds of abortion in preparation for birth
giving.
We are here to
offer practical, emotional and spiritual support as you work out the best
plan for yourself and your child. And if you need
or prefer to go to another part of the country to protect your
confidentiality and privacy, we are developing a referral network with
other maternity homes or host homes to provide a safe, nurturing place for
you to stay till your baby is born.
If you would
like for us to help you, have questions or just
want to talk, please contact us. Our prayers are with you!
Psalm
139: 13-14
For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother's womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and
Wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works;
And that my soul knows very well.
Deuteronomy
30:19
" I call heaven and earth to witness
this day ... that I have set before you
life and death, blessing and cursing.
There fore, choose life,
that both you and your seed may live."
The Choice is
yours. We are here to help you. To learn more about us, click on housing to see our application, house rules
and housing admission.
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