Rebecca walked out of her 35-week abortion and found help at a pregnancy center

When her father suddenly died while she was in college, self-described "Daddy's girl" Rebecca was shattered. She had grown up in a stable, loving environment, but suddenly she found herself turning to alcohol and drugs to cope with the profound loss. Then, she found out she was pregnant, and her mother was more desperate than ever to help her daughter recover from the pain and addiction that had taken over her life. That's when a pregnancy center stepped in and helped change everything.

Key Takeaways:

• Jersey Shore Women's Center helps women overcome the obstacles that are keeping them from embracing motherhood.

• Rebecca had scheduled and canceled multiple abortion appointments, including one at 35 weeks, which she was moments away from undergoing.

• She was struggling with drug addiction and thought having her baby would tie her to that lifestyle. Instead, having her daughter helped to free her from it.

The Details:

In a video for the Jersey Shore Women's Center, Rebecca explained, "I had a very hard time grieving. At first, I started using Adderall to help focus on school, but soon I was abusing Adderall. Eventually, I found myself in the drug scene. It still doesn't feel real, but I ended up addicted to meth. I dropped out of school, moved home, but I fell into the drug scene there as well. Then I found out I was pregnant. I knew right away I wanted an abortion."

The drugs were supposed to provide Rebecca with a temporary escape from her grief, and she was sure she would eventually go back to her planned life. Rebecca thought "a baby would be an anchor in this other life that wasn't really mine."

She scheduled an abortion, but out of fear of the procedure, she cancelled it. She did this several more times — scheduling abortions and then canceling them out of fear for herself.

"Finally, I was 35 weeks along when I started researching late term abortions. I found a place in Washington, D.C. that would take me," she said. "Those procedures are very expensive, but the clinic connected me with funding from the National Abortion Federation. They emailed me a packet with all the information I would need. They set me up with travel and a hotel. In all, the National Abortion Federation put up $10,000 for my abortion."

Sitting on the table in the facility, she was told that an injection would be used to stop the baby's heartbeat. Faced with the grim reality of the situation, she told them, "'I don't think I can do it. Can I think about it? Can I come back tomorrow?' Their reaction was strong and cold. They said something like, 'I don't think we're open tomorrow.' I think they know once you end up leaving that table you probably aren't going to come back."

Despite that pressure, Rebecca got up and left the facility. She went back to the hotel and called her mother. She would later learn that her mother then called Jersey Shore Women's Center and spoke with the pregnancy center's founder and president, Tricia Bradberry, who stepped in to help, sending women to pick up Rebecca from the hotel.

"The women brought me directly to the center, where I met Tricia," said Rebecca. "She was so kind and she offered me so much help. A few weeks later I gave birth to a baby girl. I wish I could say our happy ending started there. But in truth, that's really just the beginning of my story. I still had a lot more to go through and Jersey Shore Women's Center was there with me for all of it."

Tricia offered to help Rebecca into rehab, but Rebecca refused. Her addiction had such a grip on her, that after her daughter was born, Rebecca lost custody of her. Once she finally felt ready for rehab, Tricia helped her find one, but Rebecca left the program early. Her addiction was running her life and she soon found herself walking the streets of Atlantic City alone and without adequate shoes or a place to go. She asked someone if she could use their phone, and she called Tricia.

Tricia, who had been texting Rebecca everyday to check up on her, called an Uber and got Rebecca to the pregnancy center. From there, she helped Rebecca find another rehab program.

Tricia told Live Action News:

"We got her connected three different times. We probably called 20 different places for her to try to get her to the right place. We had volunteers go to their home and paint the nursery, we got them furniture, put up curtains... She also had a dog that was very important to her and she didn't want to go to rehab because she didn't want to leave the dog or lose the dog. We got her dog vaccinated and found a place to board her dog.

In the beginning while Rebecca was getting well, Rebecca’s mother and baby visited the center every month meeting with client advocate, Sue Decker. Rebecca continued to stay in touch through the 24 text line and phone calls. Rachel’s mother and Sue worked on short-term and long-term family goals and eventually, Rebecca was able to take over coming to the appointments and even participated in our free Mommy and Me Music Classes, budgeting classes and more.

At one point, Rebecca had lost her financial aid, and we were able to help her with part of her tuition. We helped her with food, material items, clothing, and everything she needed for her baby. When it came time for Rebecca to get an apartment, Jersey Shore Women's Center was able to help her with her rent too.”

Now, Rebecca is reunited with her daughter and they are doing amazing. Last month Rebecca graduated with her Bachelors of Psychology and is continuing on with even more college education.

"I want to be clear," said Rebecca. "I ended up going to rehab because I had something to live for. I wanted to have an abortion because I thought having a baby would tie me to this other life — this life on drugs. But it was having my daughter that actually pulled me out of it. Jersey Shore Women's Center didn't just save my daughter's life. They saved mine."

Zoom Out:

Rebecca is just one of countless women who has received life-changing and life-saving assistance from a pro-life pregnancy resource center like Jersey Shore Women's Center.

"Most of our stories are just as dramatic as Rebecca's," said Tricia. "We don't call it a 'save' when someone walks into our center and decides they are going to keep their baby. It's not even a save when the baby is born. We call it a 'save' when they're where Rebecca is — when mom and baby are saved. I think that's what makes our center extra special."

Jersey Shore Women's Center aims to show women how worthy they are even after the baby is born, checking in with them if they don't hear from them in a while, and supporting them through any struggle that arises.

"We had a young lady who came to this country and she was raped when she got here," said Tricia. "And she was having an abortion at the abortion facility next door to us and one of the sidewalk advocates brought her over and she was there all day with us. She didn't speak English, which made it more challenging, but we gave her an ultrasound and she chose life and is doing very well."

She added:

"We had a couple who was living in a cemetery. They had graduated out of the foster system and she was pregnant. She had her baby, and though she doesn't have custody right now, her daughter is alive and doing well. We had another woman who was scheduled to have an abortion and we ended up sending her out of state to a safe and more stable environment and as a result of that assistance she chose to have her baby, which is what she really wanted all along, but just needed some help."

Stories like these show the truth of how pregnancy centers help women both before and after the births of their children.

Jersey Shore Women's Center is located next door to American OBGYN, an abortion facility. Since the pregnancy center opened five years ago, abortion services at American OBGYN have decreased from four full days a week to just two hours per week, according to their website. But now, there's a new Planned Parenthood that has opened. Tricia hopes to see both facilities close, and if there is any place with the passion and talent to take on Planned Parenthood in South Jersey, it is Jersey Shore Women's Center.

The Bottom Line:

Pregnancy centers provide vital services to support women and families. To help women choose life with confidence and thrive, Jersey Shore Women's Center is open six days a week and available to women through a 24-hour hotline. Since 2021, staff and volunteers there have served more than 5,600 women through monthly appointments, classes, the family boutique, a food pantry, pregnancy tests, and ultrasounds.

Meanwhile, the National Abortion Federation was willing to spend $10,000 on one woman's completely elective abortion at 35 weeks — the type of abortion that abortion organizations like NAF claim don't happen or only happen for medical reasons.