January 29, 2005
Column #1,222

                                          From Abortion To Life                               
                          "Rescue those being led away to death"
                                               Proverbs 24:11
                                                       
      Two weeks after the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion 32 years ago, Carol Everett had an abortion, though she was married. Not because she wanted to, but because her second husband insisted on it, since they already had three children from previous marriages.

     "I chose him over the baby. Yet we were separated in 3 months," she recalls. So she lost the baby and the man. This is not unusual, but happens in three-fourths of  cases, she says.

     By 1977 Carol was in the abortion business. Why? "I saw the potential profit. I earned $25 for each abortion and did 545 abortions the first month. I saw I could become a millionaire if I had five abortion clinics doing 40,000 a year." By 1983 she had two clinics open in Dallas and planned to open three more. Each paid for itself in the first month.

     She charged $250 for a first trimester abortion, but up to $1,500 for a second or third trimester abortion.

     Once a month she put a girl with a botched abortion in her car - "not in an ambulance, which is terrible publicity, to transfer her, not to the closest hospital, but one across town which we could depend on in our cover up. One would die and we had 18 hysterectomies, one colostomy in which the woman's uterus was damaged, so that  bowel movements had to go into a bag, and one damaged urinary tract which had to be re-sectioned."

     "We were maiming and killing women and getting away with it, because families were too embarrassed to sue." Meanwhile she was having constant fights with staff so she met with a man who said he was a business counselor. Soon she asked him, "Are you a pastor?" He acknowledged he was. "Why are you here?"

     "God sent me," he replied. 

      Carol recalls, "I thought he was crazy. He told me God loved me. He sent his son to die for me. And if I made a simple affirmation of faith, my life would change. I prayed the sinner's prayer to shut the man up. He had me pray, `Lord, make me a worker in your vineyard.' I was laughing, does he think I will work in a vineyard?"

     Yet a few hours later she fell to her knees. Carol began talking women out of having an abortion, and soon quit. After overseeing 35,000 abortions, she began speaking to right-to-life groups and helping raise money for Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Ten years ago she decided to create 30 second ads to attract more women to CPCs. Here's one:

     "I was not planning to get pregnant. I was in my second year in college. Then it happened. I did not know who to talk to. I was afraid to talk to my parents. My boy friend did not know what to do. I called Resources for Women (whose number shows on the screen). I called them. They listened. They understood. They helped me and they can help you."

     Notice the word "abortion" is not used, nor the phrase "Crisis Pregnancy Center." The TV ads are aired during soaps, Oprah or Jerry Springer when young women are watching. The 800 number will direct callers to the nearest CPC in Dallas, Waco or San Antonio or one in 26 states.

     They are effective, boosting the number of calls by 30% to 70% if the ad is in Spanish. Why such a big increase among Hispanics?  Little has been done to reach them in the past.

     However, TV ads are not cheap. Each 30 second ad costs $100 and CPCs find that to be hard money to raise. Therefore, my son, Adam, who has a radio talk show on KSLR, a Christian station in San Antonio, held a fund-raising two-day marathon this week.

     The goal was to raise $40,000 in two days. I tuned in KSLR.com on my computer, 15 minutes into the second day.  "We are $7,835 short," Adam said. "We need to find 15 people to give $500 or 72 who will pledge $168 or $14 a month." He read names of donors and their gifts on air. He asked a CPC director why the ads are effective.

     "The girls have invited the TV stations into their homes. Here is an ad that touches their heart. They feel safe to call." Of those who are pregnant, 85 to 97 percent choose life for their baby. Many come to faith. 

     "Rescue those being led away to death," Adam said.

     Many did so, giving $39,602.