Shaping Hearts

Every person was entitled to his or her own viewpoint. They had the right to their opinions and their opinions of what was right. Grace knew and had learned this firsthand. She straightened papers and checked the clock on the wall. “Any minute now, she will be here.”

Lauren entered into the office. This was the person from the church’s parish who had requested her counseling services. “Hello, ma’am,” said the young woman of twenty.

“Hi, Miss Wood,” Grace welcomed her. “Take a seat. I understand you are here for the marriage counseling program? I apologize that the reverend wasn’t available.”

“Well,” she replied, “Not exactly. You see, I had questions concerning whether or not to marry, but that was only a small part of it.” She shifted her weight nervously. “It is an option, please understand. But I’m not very confident of the idea of marrying my fiancé now, as I feel it’s for the wrong reasons.”

Grace nodded. “That’s very sensible of you.”

“Perhaps, but it doesn’t help the situation. I’m pregnant.” Lauren blushed red as an awkward silence crossed between them. “I’ll be frank and make this easier. My boyfriend isn’t the father. This happened against my will at a party a few months ago. I don’t know who the father is or could be, but I blame myself. I put myself in a bad situation and now I have to make a choice.”

“So your considering what to do with the baby? Adoption versus keeping them?” Grace asked slowly.

“Adoption verses abortion,” she confessed. There was a pause.

“I see.” Grace struggled to catch her breath. This brought her back to a darker place, to a time when she was in the young woman’s shoes. She had not been raped, but she was pregnant, and she was altogether to blame. Abortion had been an option but it was not the one for her. “The process is painstaking. I should know. I’ve been there.”

Lauren jumped too fast to a conclusion. “And you’re going to tell me that abortion’s wrong. You are going to say that it is unchristian and unacceptable. It’s murder.”

“I was going to tell you that there are other options, Miss Wood.” Grace took a small photograph from her desk drawer. She held it in her lap as she spoke. “It is a choice, some would say. I find that it is not a very fair one. I have been told that, in situations as yours, it is justified because of the circumstances. You did nothing to deserve what has happened to you, no. But being pregnant is not a punishment. And aborting your child is. You’re punishing your daughter or son, and your punishing yourself. Christians may uniformly share this opinion or that may only be a generalization. Regardless, I follow my own heart and no one else’s, and if asked, I’d say it’s wrong.”

Lauren’s eyes showed the look of defeat. She breathed a sigh. “If I said that I didn’t believe a word of that, I would be lying. I suppose that’s why I really came. But I do feel that abortion is a choice. I’m barely twenty and I’m not ready for marriage. Or parenthood. I just moved away from my parents, my finances are slim, and I want to go to college like I’ve always dreamed of. Things were finally looking up.”

“And this changes that?” Grace asked thoughtfully. “Things aren’t looking up anymore because of the baby? I love babies.”

“As do I, I suppose. Just not for me, not now. Abortion is a woman’s own right, and everybody seems so opposed to it. I don’t want to go through all of the pain that comes with pregnancy, even more with labor, and the worst of all when I put my flesh-and-blood child into the hands of some stranger. I don’t think I can. And I don’t think it’s murder, either. It isn’t a baby. It’s a fetus.”

Grace turned in her seat and faced the wall beside her. It was ornamented with framed pictures. Some showed her with her husband, or her friends, or brothers. “Who’s your greatest hero?” she asked.

It seemed a random question. Lauren thought for a second. “Mother Theresa.”

“Good answer,” she praised. “She’s a person, right? Which means she was once a baby, and a fetus before that.”

“Well, yes.”

“But she’s a person.”

“Okay,” Lauren admitted. “I see your point. But children are products of their upbringings and environments. I’d be an unprepared parent living in a little apartment. A single, unprepared, underpaid woman. What kind of child would become of that?”

“You’re also very devout and loving. You’re considerate and you care. Why else would you be here today?” Before the young woman could answer, Grace pulled the photograph from her lap and set it on the desk to face Lauren. “Look,” Grace instructed.

Lauren stared into the face in the photograph: the precious face of a wide-eyed, little boy. “Is that your son, ma’am?”

“It is. He’ll be two this September. I thank the Lord everyday that he is around. I could have aborted him, and I almost did. I had no idea that he would be so beautiful, such a blessing. I didn’t know what I was dealing with but I took a chance. I shaped a heart. He is, after all, God’s creation. He’s just a child, and he’s perfect.”

And this is where the story ended. Grace did not support abortion, but Lauren did. They saw different faces on the same coin. I should not tell you what Lauren did or did not decide in the end. In her place, what would you have done?