“It was June 1, 2006. I will never forget that date.” That was the day Angela Jozwicki had an abortion. She had grown up with “a lot of screaming” around her, and was using drugs by the time she was 14. In 2006, she was 22 and found herself pregnant. “I knew in my heart that a baby would stop me from having drugs, but I wasn’t ready,” she told Andrea Picciotti-Bayer of The Catholic Association Foundation for an amicus brief in a case before the Supreme Court earlier this year. “I used abortion to avoid getting better,” she confessed.

Angela didn’t think she would ever be able to have a baby in her life. “I was taught that you get married, buy a house, and you have a baby. Because I did not see that in my future, I never thought I would have a baby.” In October 2015, a dollar-store pregnancy test told her she was pregnant again. She was still using drugs, so she made an appointment for another abortion. But the baby’s father didn’t show up to drive her to the clinic the morning of the appointment. She believes God showed up that morning instead.

“I decided that I would keep that baby.” She started making calls to pregnancy help centers, and Soundview Pregnancy Services in Long Island area of New York, answered. One of the members of the staff there, Barbara, talked with Angela during each week of her pregnancy, as she got educated about pregnancy and childcare. Barbara was even at the hospital when it came time for Angela to deliver her baby.

Staff at the care center helped her enroll in the a supplemental nutrition program and apply for financial assistance during her pregnancy and the first months with her son, Cameryn. At first, Angela didn’t think she could turn to her mother for help, but the center helped them, too, in their strained relationship. As a result, a grandmother would help her daughter and grandson with a place to stay as Angela looked toward getting a job once Cameryn was old enough for preschool. “I always thought that people were fake, but they are genuine,” she said about the people at the care center. “This is who they really are. They will help me to raise my son to be genuine.”

Brenda Coe is another of the 13 women whom Picciotti-Bayer interviewed before the Supreme Court heard a case and ultimately gave a reprieve to pregnancy care centers in California. Coe and her husband were introduced by a mutual friend to Krystal, a pregnant single mother. Krystal had a 2-year-old son and couldn’t raise another child in her current circumstances. Krystal had already sought help from the Pregnancy Help Center in Torrance, California, confirming her pregnancy and talking with them about adoption. Once she met the Coes, she asked them if they would adopt her baby. The center became a part of all of their lives. Brenda would accompany Krystal through ultrasounds, and helped her interview the obstetrician she would choose for her and the baby’s care (the doctor also volunteered at the center). Brenda and her husband were present when their child was born, and they all stay connected through pictures and phone conversations.

Brenda is “overjoyed” by the gift of her child, and believes that “birth parents should be encouraged to be the best God wants them to be so that their adopted children can find them in a strong place.”

There are more stories like Angela, Brenda and Krystal’s, from so many centers around the country. In 2017, 2,752 pregnancy care centers provided almost 2 million people with free services, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute.

As the nation marked the passing of President George Herbert Walker Bush, it seemed to mourn the passing of decency and civility, too. It’s a credit to the way he lived his life, with family at the center of it, that he inspired such a tribute. But we ought not allow this to be a nostalgic end. We are not powerless. There are people among us who help others, who sacrifice for others and who make it possible for others to do so as well. That’s certainly bound to be more fruitful than believing our good days and people are gone.

COPYRIGHT 2018 United Feature Syndicate