When Abortion Makes Sense: Corinne's Story

There was a girl living in Constanța, Romania; she was poor, unemployed, and lived with her family. Eventually, with only a 7th grade education, at the age of 18 she found herself pregnant. Her boyfriend was not in the picture; she was trapped. Her father was not happy about this news at all; he told her that he expected more of her, and pressured to go have an abortion and forget about this baby. At that time in Romania, seventeen out of every twenty children were aborted.

She was faced with a decision; it seemed like everyone was against her. Her dad definitely wouldn’t be satisfied if she chose life. She had so many questions: “How will I have enough money to raise a child? I’m out of a job!”, “I don’t know how to be a mother and I know I’m not prepared. Wouldn’t my child be better off aborted? Her life would be so hard!”, “If I don’t have an abortion, what will I do with this baby? Won’t she end up in one of the horrible orphanages? She would be so sad alone.”   

Against all expectations and odds, the young mom - named Elena - chose life. Soon the nine months were complete, and she was whisked back to the delivery room, and gave birth to a beautiful dark haired baby girl; she gave her the name “Luiza.” She was absolutely lovely, and so worth choosing life.

Elena was fearful, but had come to a decision. She was not ready to raise Luiza on her own and chose to give her up for adoption.

Soon her little baby was sent to an orphanage. Luiza awoke to find herself in a room full of cribs; there were multitudes of babies crying and just a few staff members to care for them. She was placed in her own crib with a small blanket. As she laid down, the little one in the next crib over cried out - scared and unsure of what was going on - so one of the workers quickly mixed some formula and water into a bottle and put it in the little one’s mouth to quiet the wailing. Each of the workers felt completely overwhelmed; in the past ten years a statistic had been taken that there were more than 100,000 children in government institutions in Romania [1], and the orphanage did not have nearly enough money to hire the number of staff they would need to take care of this many children.

Luiza felt forsaken. She had never bonded with anyone; she felt utterly alone. It was no use to cry; she could rock herself back and forth, but other than that, there was hardly ever comfort for little Luiza.

Until one day. In the office of the orphanage, the director was looking through some new papers from a family from the United States who wanted to adopt a baby girl. There were so many girls who so badly needed to be adopted out of this orphanage; how were they going to choose which one to pair them up with?

They came to a decision that Luiza would be the one they would match with the American family. She was quickly sent to a foster home where she would be cared for by a foster mom named Mama Maria, a widow who lived in the Constanța area, until her adoptive family arrived to take her home. Mama Maria took wonderful care of Luiza; for the first time in her life, Luiza bonded with someone. She loved to spend time in the outdoor garden with her foster mom; Mama Maria poured her life into her.

One day two strangers arrived at Mama Maria’s house. Luiza did not know what was going on, being only thirteen months old. Mama Maria was acting stiff and keeping her tightly in her arms. But the time had arrived, and Luiza now had a new family who was going to take her home. With much sadness that she masked with a smile, Mama Maria handed her precious Luiza over to her new mom.

“Corinne Luiza, we love you!”

What did that mean? Didn’t these foreigners know that Luiza only understood Romanian? And what did this crazy word “Corinne” mean? Was this an odd sounding American food? The little girl was unsure…

Luiza was rather emotionless toward her new family; she wanted her other life back. She decided that she only liked the guy - her new dad - but she was very afraid to connect with her new mom. She didn’t want to be neglected or taken again, as had already happened so many times in her short life.

Eventually, with tears coming down her face, Luiza - now officially known as “Corinne” - boarded the plane with her mom and dad. Leaving behind all she had ever known - the orphanage, Mama Maria, and Romania itself - she had a new life. She peered out the window for one last look at the beautiful country, before falling asleep.

Eventually the last connecting flight landed, and Corinne began a fresh chapter of her life. In the years to come, her life was radically changed from being a sad, broken little girl, to a radiant and healed daughter of the King - she had come to know Jesus as her personal savior.

I am so blessed to say that I have the privilege of knowing this girl personally. Corinne’s life is marked by a glowing joy and a deep love for Jesus. She has faced a huge amount of pain in her life - due to the circumstances of her earliest years - but instead of becoming bitter, Corinne has chosen to forgive.

She was unintentionally ignored nearly every day of the first few months of her life while she was living in the understaffed orphanage. This was crushing to her - and the many other children in that orphanage. They were, in a large sense, abandoned. And for this reason, many people look at the lives of such orphans and conclude that they would have been better off aborted. Abortion seemed to make sense; people would tell themselves that these kids would live very difficult and often hunger-filled lives in the orphanages, and then be sent out on the street when they aged out of government care.

It is extremely sad that so many little Romanian orphans had these types of experiences. There were so few people willing to serve these kids, and as a result, many of them have emotional trauma, physical issues from being underfed, or engage in crime (such as stealing) to get the food and resources they need, if they were living on the street.

Each of these individuals who was orphaned in Romania - and other places in the world - is massively valuable in Jesus’ eyes. Yet so few are willing to stand in the gap for these lives. Many Americans spend their evenings contented in front of the TV eating their fat-filled foods while children like Corinne are lying in cribs, crying out to just be held and loved.

There is a serious problem if we are professing to know Jesus Christ, who has said, “...It is not the will of your Father who is in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish”  (Matthew 18:14), while we just stand by. Jesus didn’t save me so I could just passively go from one day to the next - promoting my own agenda and dreams - I have been redeemed to know Him and to make Him known.

If His heart is aching for these children, the young mothers, and struggling families, then what are we doing spending $600 on a prom dress, investing hours into Instagram, and complaining about our school classes? Our Jesus hasn’t stopped being a Father to the fatherless! Are we about to?

There is an attitude in our culture that if someone might possibly have a hard life, then we’re doing them a favor to have them aborted. Often doctors, social workers, and Planned Parenthood personnel have told mothers that due to illness, home factors, parental age, or possible poverty, that the only logical decision would be to end their child’s life. Such statements sound loudly of influence from Margaret Sanger - the founder of Planned Parenthood - who once said, “The most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.” [2]

I challenge all who think this way to look into Corinne’s eyes and see that even though she was born to a very young unwed mother and was practically abandoned, her life is not in any way less valuable than any of our lives, and it truly isn’t any less wonderful either. Corinne is so glad her mom chose life; she doesn’t wish she had been aborted - as the culture tells us these abandoned individuals wish. She is thankful for the circumstances of her past, and the Lord is using them to allow others to see how beautiful every single life is to Him.

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[1] http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/02/20/280237833/orphans-lonely-beginnings-reveal-how-parents-shape-a-childs-brain

[2] http://www.lifenews.com/2013/03/11/10-eye-opening-quotes-from-planned-parenthood-founder-margaret-sanger/

Orphanage Photo Courtesy (1) Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (2) NRP.org (3) Daily Mail