A British woman who came close to aborting her unborn baby last year before changing her mind at the last minute is expressing gratitude for the pro-life clinic protesters who helped her through the difficult situation.
Photo credit: Shutterstock
Photo credit: Shutterstock
Suzan Briggs, 27, recently told the BBC’s Newsbeat that when she found out she was pregnant, she simply didn’t think she could handle it.
With three kids already at home, Briggs said she was prepared to have an abortion, but when she reached the clinic, something changed.
“When I got there they gave me information about abortions, but there were campaigners [from the group Abort67] waiting outside the door,” Briggs told Newsbeat. “They had someleaflets about abortions and they started talking to me. They had pictures of a fetus at eight weeks and they had pictures of aborted babies.”
She explained that the pro-life protesters outside of the clinic began to tell her that “abortions aren’t good.” When Briggs explained that she was scared and didn’t want another child, she said the pro-lifers offered up a message of hope and support.
“They told me God would help me and give me strength. They took me to a coffee shop, they bought me tea and I said I would go home and try to think about it,” she said. “I tried not to listen to them, but they were praying for me and I was crying and shaking. “The way they talked to me gave me faith and their encouragement made me decide to keep the baby.”
These individuals, though, didn’t only pray for Briggs; they also kept in touch with her beyond thatinitial meeting, frequently checking in and providing her with baby clothes. In the end, their message of support dissuaded her from having an abortion — something she’s grateful for.
In fact, Briggs said that, had she situation ended differently, she would have had life-long regrets over not listening to them.
AP
AP
“Now I thank God I didn’t pass through that process. At eight weeks you can really see the leg is already formed, the head, the face,” she said. “Then when I finally saw my daughter, I thought, ‘How could I have wanted to terminate this baby?’”
Briggs named her baby Miracle, which was likely influenced by this experience.
Her comments come as some advocates propose “buffer zones” in the United Kingdom, which would prevent protesters from being in specific areas outside of abortion clinics.
Earlier this year, TheBlaze also featured the story of Rebecca Rizzi, a mother from Arizona who changed her mind about abortion last year as the result of clinic protesters who reached out to help.