Lives of Unborn Babies Saved by Christmas Caroling
“We got to bring the power of God to this dark place. God is good.”
Even for those who haven't been to church in a long while, the beautiful hymns of Christmas stir something in the soul.
For the past thirteen years, people have gathered to sing Christmas carols at a most unlikely place....abortion clinics.
Six parents in the Orlando, Florida, area reported a change of heart after hearing the moving Christmas music — and are keeping their baby! Several more abortions were averted in other towns as well. Pro-Life Action League Executive Director Eric Scheidler described three different California couples changing their mind at the abortion clinic at the very last minute, as carolers sang outside Family Planning Associates abortion center in San Bernardino.
“What impressed me about this report is they actually stopped to tell the caroler group that they changed their mind,” Scheidler stated.
“The couple told them, ‘It was because of your caroling that we decided to keep our baby,’” he said. “The singing was the only thing that happened to change their mind.”
The pregnancy had put the couple’s marriage under pressure, Scheidler continued, making them feel pressure to abort.
But when they came out and thanked the carolers, “They were holding hands and in tears,” he said. “This had introduced healing into their marriage.”
Research has shown that most women who seek abortions really don't want to abort, but feel so desperate because of their circumstances and that they really don't have any choice. Often just being shown sincere care and offered some real help is what makes the difference in keeping their child, or placing that child for adoption.
This Christmas saw an increase in the caroling effort, with groups in 72 U.S. cities taking part in "Peace in the Womb” Christmas Caroling, organized by the Pro Life Action League and Pro Life Action Ministries.
The power of the hymns is a beautiful way of expressing love and concern to young women in unplanned pregnancies, maybe reminding them of the the most significant unplanned pregnancy in the history of the world - the Christ Child, born to the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem. The pro-life groups have recounted pregnant mothers and couples expressing their gratitude and telling them the singing touched them, helping to steer them away from abortion.
“We just love doing it,” said Michele Herzog, director for the Orlando Pro-Life Action Ministries office. The group sang carols at the All Women’s Health abortion center in Altamonte Springs and two Orlando abortion centers.
Between the two locations, the carolers saw two sets of twins and two other individual babies saved. Herzog said the facilities are set up so that the pro-lifers are able to sing and be seen from the waiting room window or the entrance, making contact much more possible than many other facilities.
“We sang, prayed and called out to the women,” Herzog recalled.
In one case she witnessed, two teenage girls with the pro-life group were singing a song they wrote themselves titled “Let me live.”
Herzog said a couple came out and told them, “We’re not doing it.” “It was just really an amazing day,” she said. “It really was something else.”
Every year the group has sung the carols, they will touch at least one woman who is “so broken,” Herzog continued.
“These carols hit home,” Herzog said. “While they’re sitting in this dark, dark place, they hear us singing and praying, and it really does make a difference, and that’s why we continued to do them.”
Last year, she said a Muslim couple decided not to abort after hearing the Christmas hymns.
“God had just touched her with those carols,” Herzog recalled of the pregnant mom. “She just kept saying, “The songs, the songs.”
“It has quite an impact, I believe,” Herzog said.
"We're having a baby! We changed our minds," a woman called out joyfully on Tuesday, December 20, during Christmas caroling at an abortion center in Wood Dale, Ill.
When the group met the couple at their car, the man said to them with a big smile on his face, "Thank you. You're doing a great job!"
“What exactly was the "great job" we did?” Maria Goldstein of Northwest Families for Life said. “We didn't counsel them on the way in; we didn't talk them out of the abortion; we weren't even able to show them pictures of developing babies. All we did was show up, pray, and sing,” she continued.
“Maybe they heard our carols inside and felt God tug at their hearts. I guess that really is a "great job!" We got to bring the power of God to this dark place. God is good.”
