Claire describes yesterday's sidewalk counseling:There were five of us of standing outside Leroy Carhart’s abortion mill in Bellevue on Monday morning. Denny and Chet were on the south side of the parking lot (along the heavy traffic of Mission Avenue) while JoLynn, Carol and I stood on the east side of Carhart's extremely trashy building near the entrance.
Though the clients usually pull into the lower parking lot, some park on the street by us. Yesterday a young woman in a van parked about a half block down the street. As she was walking towards the entrance of the abortion mill, I walked down to meet her. I was, as usual, holding my large sign with a beautiful baby and a model of a 10-week old baby in utero in my hand. I explained that our presence here was to let women know about the alternatives to abortion and that there was a pregnancy aid center right across the street that would graciously help with any of her needs. She gave me a grin and said, “Oh, I have some [kids] at home already.” I told her that was great, but what about this baby? This baby is certainly as precious as her other children. She repeated that she already had kids.
When I offered to adopt her baby if she would decide against aborting him, she turned back at me before she walked in the door and said in a very knowing and pleasant tone, “The baby is only this big anyway." (She held up her fingers to show the size of the model I had been carrying) "Besides why would I want to have this baby then give it up for adoption!” With those last words, she walked into the abortion mill.
There were 7 women who entered Carhart’s place for abortions yesterday. All of them were very determined though some were nervously affected. The first client, for instance, was dropped off at the door and squealed over at us in a very eerie tone, “ I love this place! I just love this place!” Quite possibly, she has had previous abortions here. The abortion workers who were standing there by the door and smoking cigarettes loved the moment. They proudly opened the door for her and grinned defiantly in our direction. It was a sad, spiritually chilling moment.
But then such moments are the regular challenge of sidewalk counseling. And so we encourage you to please continue to pray for us, that we remain calm, gracious, winsome and ever controlled by the Holy Spirit. Please pray too that our witness would be blessed as abortion clients, abortion workers and even the hundreds of people driving by reconsider their ideas about abortion, about the premium God puts on human life, and about their standing before God. Thank you.
