Mrs. A from Northern israel discovered she was pregnant. She already had eight children, three were Caesarian births. The doctors and the extended family exerted great pressure on her to have an abortion, arguing that the pregnancy could endanger her life. After already passing the hospital abortion committee which okayed the abotion, two Hidabrut rabbis convinced her to keep the fetus.
“I can't stop thanking and praising the Creator and his messengers for giving me a righteous son,” A begins her conversation.
I understand that at first you considered having an abortion?
Yes, I was in my first months of pregnancy, I was already taking care of eight children at home. My sisters pressed me to abort, because during my previous pregnancies I had had three cesarean sections.When they heard that I was keeping th pregnancy, they cut off their contact with me.
The doctors also applied pressure and claimed, 'You are endangering yourself, you already have 8 at home, you don't need another one!'
I sunk into a deep depression, I felt bad, and there was also a problem of domestic harmony at home. My husband was very opposed to pregnancy, but nevertheless he left the decision in my hands. “
And how did you carry on?
“In my third month, I went alone to the abortion committee to stop the pregnancy. I felt bad and at the same time I lost my cell phone and couldn't be reached.Nobody could reach me, but there were some poeple who did not give up. “We were sent to you since we tried calling and no one answered” said two women from Hidabroot. one of them gave me her phone. On the line was a Hidabroot representative of the IMA mother child division, offering to help me as much as possible .
I told them about my condition, my depression, and the decision to terminate my pregnancy.
They encouraged me, made me happy and promised that they would provide assistance. I wept and it was emotional. I remember the words they said before they left which carried me through my pregnancy and still resonate with me until now. 'You'll see that you'll have great joy! You'll have a son with a lofty soul, a righteous son !!!'
Mrs. A. decided to keep the pregnancy, but the pressure to abort didn't stop. In a routine ultrasound, problems were found that could potentially endanger her pregnancy. Mrs. A. entered the high risk pregnancy ward for observation and again in her sixth month doctors advised her to terminate her pregnancy .
“The woman doctor who examined me told me: 'This pregnancy is endangering you,' recalls Mrs. A., and I told the doctor in tears: 'I didn't terminate the pregnancy in the first months, so now I should do it?”
I contacted the Hidabroot organization,and spoke to one of the organization's rabbis. The whole staff there was by my side and calmed me down.
And then, after just a few minutes, the same woman doctor who warned me earlier and recommended I abort, came back and said: 'Come take another ultrasound. You won't have an abortion. We’ll continue the pregnancy until the 32nd week, and then we’ll examine the possibility of giving birth”.
Mrs. A. was hospitalized for a month and a half. At week 31 she went into the operating room for delivery. The operation revealed something surprising that stunned the doctors: the uterus was not in a good state and it was hard to believe that the fetus survived under such conditions. After the operation, the doctors went out to her family and announced that the mother and the baby were both fine. But medically speaking, everything that happened in this birth was a miracle!!!
“I feel that a miracle happened for me and that the Creator of the world insisted that this soul should come to this world. It is unclear how he survived the pregnancy. I feel I merited a righteous son, I hold him in my hands and he fills me with great joy. I thank the Almighty and thank His great emissaries from the Hidabroot Organization for helping me keep this child and not G-d forbid abort him.”