“When I was 16, a boy in high school evinced interest in me, so I had sex with him — just once. And after I came out of that room, I thought, Is that all there is to it? My goodness, I’ll never do that again! Then, when I found out I was pregnant, I went to the boy and asked him for help, but he said it wasn’t his baby and he didn’t want any part of it.
I was scared to pieces. Back then, if you had money, there were some girls who got abortions, but I couldn’t deal with that idea. Oh, no. No. I knew there was somebody inside me. So I decided to keep the baby.
My older brother, Bailey, my confidant, told me not to tell my mother or she’d take me out of school. So I hid it the whole time with big blouses! Finally, three weeks before I was due, I left a note on my stepfather’s pillow telling him I was pregnant. He told my mother, and when she came home, she calmly asked me to run her bath.
I’ll never forget what she said: “Now tell me this — do you love the boy?” I said no. “Does he love you?” I said no. “Then there’s no point in ruining three lives. We are going to have our baby!”
What a knockout she was as a mother of teens. Very loving. Very accepting. Not one minute of recrimination. And I never felt any shame.
I’m telling you that the best decision I ever made was keeping that baby! Yes, absolutely. Guy was a delight from the start — so good, so bright, and I can’t imagine my life without him.
At 17 I got a job as a cook and later as a nightclub waitress. I found a room with cooking privileges, because I was a woman with a baby and needed my own place. My mother, who had a 14-room house, looked at me as if I was crazy! She said, “Remember this: You can always come home.” She kept that door open. And every time life kicked me in the belly, I would go home for a few weeks.
I struggled, sure. We lived hand-to-mouth, but it was really heart-to-hand. Guy had love and laughter and a lot of good reading and poetry as a child. Having my son brought out the best in me and enlarged my life. Whatever he missed, he himself is a great father today. He was once asked what it was like growing up in Maya Angelou’s shadow, and he said, “I always thought I was in her light.”
Years later, when I was married, I wanted to have more children, but I couldn’t conceive. Isn’t it wonderful that I had a child at 16? Praise God!”
I never thought I would be able to compete in sports after finding out I was pregnant in high school. And now, I am a state champion in 3 events. I am so thankful for my supportive family, friends, and coaches. I wouldn’t be able to do this alone. I thank God every day for my wonderful son. He motivates me to be a better person and keep working hard towards my goals… “‘ For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ Jeremiah 29:11′
Get to know Kathy Barnette
My life’s journey represents all that is good about this country. I grew up on a pig farm in southern Alabama in a one stop-sign town in a restful and rustic corner of the world. I never knew just how impoverished we were until I grew up. When my grandmother would ask me to help her in the garden, I thought she just wanted to spend quality time with me. I never knew it was for our survival. If we ever wanted greens or beans on our plate, it had to come from the effort of our own two hands.
In addition to being raised as what many would consider “disadvantaged,” I’ll add one more stumbling block to success: I’m the by-product of a rape.
Yet despite my beginnings, I was the first in my family to complete college. I spent ten years in the Armed Forces Reserves, where I was accepted into Officer Candidate School. I’ve worked in the financial industry, corporate America, and as an adjunct professor of Corporate Finance. For over four years, I have been a regular featured guest on Fox News. I am the recent author of the book Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain: Being Black and Conservative in America. And now, I am running for US Senate.
My story only takes place in America. I am not standing outside waiting for someone to admit me into the American Dream. I AM THE AMERICAN DREAM.
Though the details of my life’s story may vary somewhat from your story, my challenges closely resemble many who live in Pennsylvania. We have faced formidable odds and we have challenges yet to overcome, but with determination and a clear focus, we have opportunities to overcome them.
Kathy Barnette Candidate for U.S. Senate for the Great State of Pennsylvania
I am 15 and 17 and 1/2 weeks pregnant. I had an abortion over a year ago, and it was the most horrible thing i ever did. When i found out i was pregnant this time. I knew from the beginning i couldn’t abort it, but with pressure from my mom and from my boyfriend, i ended up going to the abortion clinic and because i was so far along it had to be a 2 day procedure, so i went and they inserted seaweed into my cervix to open them, and i had to go back the next day.
at about 12am after screaming and crying and slamming doors, i went to the emergency room to have the taken out. When i got there i was so happy knowing i was making the right decision and that i had to get the seaweed out ASAP to not have any problems, when the doctor finally got into the room he didn’t even touch me. He told me that he couldn’t do it that i needed to go back to the clinic where they put them in at, since it was 2 hours away and my mom already taking me one time i knew she was not going to be ok with taking me there again and then coming back without terminating the pregnancy.
Going home crying feeling like everybody was against me and my baby i decided i had no other choice but to go through with the abortion. I stayed up all night crying and at 8 in the morning my mom had a change of heart knowing how much it was hurting me to do it and she took me to my ob gyn. He took the seaweed out but told me that there was no promises that i would be able to carry my baby full term because of my cervix being open my body could expel the baby.
Well i went in on friday and everything was fine. I just want to be a mom! To tell all girls that if you have any doubts what so all about having an abortion DONT DO IT! i know that my life is going to be a lot different with a baby, but i got myself into this and its my responsibility. I know of the sacrifices im going to have to make not being able to do what other girls are doing and not going to dances or partying. And i know nothing is going to come easy to me. but im willing to deal with that, and you should be to!
Love,
Heidi
Dear Heidi,
What an inspiring story!!! Thanks so much for sharing that with all of us here at StandUpGirl. It is never too late, is it, to turn back and do what you know in your heart is the right thing to do! You are such a brave girl, Heidi. Good for you, for standing your ground and not giving up. Your baby is going to thank you for this some day. You are giving him or her a chance to live!
You are right, it won’t always be easy (it hasn’t been for me, either)…but it is SO worth it!! It really is. I look at my beautiful daughter and am so thankful that we are able to experience life together. I can’t imagine not having her in my life. The world is definitely a better place with her in it!
I had to grow up fast…but that isn’t such a bad thing. I partied less…but that isn’t such a bad thing either, is it?! I really don’t feel like I missed out on anything important.
I am so proud of you…that you had the courage to do what you did. You are strong! Keep on being strong and know that all of us here are behind you…rooting for you…and willing to talk or help out in any way we can.
Author: KATIE YODER FEB 11, 2021 | Visit LifeNews.com
After Toyota’s Super Bowl ad captured the touching life story of Paralympic swimmer Jessica Long, the media raced to report on the athlete. But many of them bypassed crucial details about the 28 year old – including her Christian faith and pro-life position.
Toyota, a partner of Team USA, highlighted the 13-time Paralympic gold medalist on Sunday. Her story is one worth telling: She was adopted from a Russian orphanage as a baby and lost both of her legs as a toddler only to become the second-most decorated U.S. Paralympian in history. But there’s more to the story. She centers her life on God, she says, and advocates for adoption in place of abortion. That’s because, for her, “I would rather know that the baby would have a better life than I could give him or her instead of just terminating the baby.”
The minute-long ad doesn’t show all of that – but it struck a pro-life tone. The camera follows the champion athlete as she “swims” through her life story, beginning with her adoptive mother receiving a phone call informing her that little Jessica is available for adoption.
“We found a baby girl for your adoption,” a woman’s voice tells her mother, “but there’s some things you need to know.”
“She’s in Siberia, and she was born with a rare condition,” she continues. “Her legs will need to be amputated. I know this is difficult to hear. Her life, it won’t be easy.”
That didn’t deter Mrs. Long. “It might not be easy, but it’ll be amazing,” she responds. “I can’t wait to meet her.”
Steve and Beth Long – a Christian, homeschooling family in Baltimore, Maryland – adopted Jessica when she was just 13 months old. Her legs were amputated when she was 18 months old due to a condition called fibular hemimelia, which meant that she did not have fibulas, ankles, heels, and most of the other bones in her feet. In total, she has endured more than a dozen surgeries.
But that didn’t stop her from living life. God had a plan.
Instead of a phone call, her adoptive parents actually “went to a church meeting and they saw a picture of me,” she told I Am Second last year. “They were told that this little Russian girl has leg deformities and really needed to be adopted. And my mom just said, ‘We knew that you were the child that God wanted us to adopt.”
Jessica loves both of her mothers.
“I’ve definitely dealt with a lot of emotions and questions regarding my adoption, but I am so grateful she chose to give me life,” she wrote of her birth mom in an Instagram post in 2019. And “My mom who raised me is the most bubbly, fearless, incredible woman and I’m honored to be her daughter.”
In 2013, she traveled with one of her five siblings to meet her birth parents.
“I want them to know that I’m not angry with them,” Long said in an NBC film, shortly before a tear-filled reunion. “I think that was really brave, and I don’t know what I would have done if I was in her situation, at 16 and having this disabled baby that they knew that they couldn’t take care of. I want to tell her that when I see her that, if anything, I have so much love for her, my mom, because she gave me life.”
Jessica is pro-adoption and pro-life, according to a Celebrate Life Magazine (CLM) story published in 2014.
“If you truly can’t care for the child and can’t give the child the life he or she deserves, I would give the child up for adoption, because there is going to be a family out there who will love that baby—no matter what the diagnosis is,” Jessica said. “I know it can seem really discouraging, but in the end, I think that if you would abort the baby, you would definitely regret it. I think, for me, that I would rather know that the baby would have a better life than I could give him or her instead of just terminating the baby.”
Jessica also believes in the power of prayer and faith, telling CLM that “It gives me all of my strength.”
But her faith journey is just that: a journey.
“I can’t think of a single childhood memory that we weren’t always at church or with our church community,” she told I Am Second. “And what I heard a lot of is that, ‘God made me this way.’”
“I knew I didn’t want anything to do with this God that made me this way,” she added. Among other things, she struggled with anger and feelings of being unwanted.
Years later at a Bible study, that changed.
“I just think, I just couldn’t do it alone anymore,” she said, before walking over to a woman who prayed with her.
“I just said, ‘I want to give God my whole heart for once,’” she remembered. “And as soon as I prayed, it was the first time in my entire life that I felt enough.”
She stressed that it’s a process.
“I am constantly reminded every day that I need to give it to God,” she urged. “Every day when I put on these two prosthetic legs that are heavy and they still hurt me. My legs still cause me pain. And I think it’s honestly this really cool, beautiful reminder that I can’t do it on my own.”
At the end of races, she pictures God swimming along with her.
“When practices get tough or races have been hard, I just call unto Him,” she concluded. “God, this is hard.”
And she hears Him respond: “Just keep trying, Jess. I’m here with you.
Five months pregnant with her first baby, Desiree Rossette was heading out the door to a wedding when she happened to notice she had a message on the answering machine. The message was from the hospital, and it would change her life, though she didn’t think much of it at the time. The test results the doctor wanted to discuss would lead him to call for an abortion against her wishes. Rossette’s blood test had come back revealing that her baby had a one in 30 chance of having Down syndrome.
Then, during an ultrasound, the doctor noticed white spots on the baby’s heart along with other characteristics that can sometimes point to Down syndrome.
Five months pregnant with her first baby, Desiree Rossette was heading out the door to a wedding when she happened to notice she had a message on the answering machine. The message was from the hospital, and it would change her life, though she didn’t think much of it at the time. The test results the doctor wanted to discuss would lead him to call for an abortion against her wishes. Rossette’s blood test had come back revealing that her baby had a one in 30 chance of having Down syndrome.
Then, during an ultrasound, the doctor noticed white spots on the baby’s heart along with other characteristics that can sometimes point to Down syndrome.
“After that ultrasound, he sat my husband and I down to discuss what our future held,” Rossette wrote in an essay for Love What Matters. “He said, ‘If you go past 20 weeks during pregnancy, there is a chance your son could pass away, along with you.’ I was sitting there in complete shock, sobbing like I never had before. He also said, ‘You could have an abortion, to at least save yourself.’ That is something I told myself I would never do.”
The family began to pray while at the same time planning a funeral for the baby boy, whom they named Dante. They were devastated but had no plans of having an abortion.
“A week later, I got a phone call from the abortion clinic to schedule an appointment,” wrote Rossette. “I was so upset I said some not very nice words and hung up. It turns out my doctor and his wife aborted their child with Down syndrome because he/she would be a burden. He thought I should do the same.”
Rossette never went to that doctor again and found a new group of “absolutely amazing” doctors. They welcomed her and her baby, gave her resources on Down syndrome, and said there was nothing “out of the ordinary” to be found on his ultrasound. Though she now regrets it because of the risk of miscarriage, she and her husband agreed on an amniocentesis to confirm the diagnosis of Down syndrome — an experience she called “horrific.” After the diagnosis was confirmed she said, “I wiped my tears, put on my mom cape, and went to work finding as many resources as possible.” She lined up the early intervention programs and therapies Dante would need.
