In February 2023, at 22 years old, Loren discovered she was unexpectedly pregnant during her final semester of college. Excited to become a mother, she also faced fear, uncertainty and exhaustion — navigating a pregnancy that would end in a miscarriage before she ever held her baby.

For Loren, this unplanned pregnancy was not just a personal challenge. It became the catalyst for a journey of faith, healing and purpose.

Pro-life upbringing

Loren was born and raised in the Philippines in a missionary family. Even though the word “pro-life” was never mentioned, Loren says her upbringing emphasized the value of life. 

She shared that unplanned pregnancies were common on her maternal side of the family, including her own mom’s. In her Filipino upbringing, choosing to keep the baby was the norm, and there was an understanding that family would step in to help.

Early trauma

In 2015, Loren’s family immigrated to the U.S., settling in Washington state when she was 14. Behind the outward appearance of a Christian household, Loren endured abuse and trauma. She experienced physical abuse from a family member and was sexually assaulted by different men in her life.

As a teenager adapting to life in a new country, Loren poured herself into her studies, determined to earn a full-ride college scholarship to escape the violence in her home. Beneath that drive, however, she carried years of unresolved trauma that fueled a prolonged battle with mental health.

“I really questioned, ‘If God is so good, why is He letting this happen?’” Loren says. “I struggled with that. I felt like I had so much depression and suicidal ideation for 12 years of my life because of all that trauma that I carried.”

When pregnancy tested her convictions

After earning a full-ride scholarship to Washington State University, Loren was in her final semester when a visit to the clinic for a rash led to an unexpected discovery — she was pregnant.

Instead of responding with concern, her doctor congratulated her and began discussing support and resources. Loren believes he was a “godsend,” especially after learning another young woman in the clinic had been encouraged to have an abortion.

The reassurance brought her peace, and she announced the news to her then-boyfriend, Cooper, by giving him a Valentine’s box with two pink shoes.

Soon after learning she was pregnant, fear began to rise, and she pulled out her phone to look up how to schedule an abortion.

“As I was about to schedule an abortion appointment, I saw Planned Parenthood in my rearview mirror,” Loren says. “From my mirror, Planned Parenthood was dimly lit, and it just looked so dark. I had already been escaping the violence [and the] darkness I grew up with, and now I [was] going to plunge myself into more darkness. God showing me that image was the sign that I needed to keep [the] baby.”

At that moment, her decision shifted. Loren also thought about her mother, who became unexpectedly pregnant at 19 and was pressured to have an abortion but chose life. Remembering her mother’s courage strengthened her conviction to choose life as well.

Grace from God

When Loren told a leader at her church that she was pregnant, her friend sent her a long text of encouragement, met her for coffee, and brought a small bag filled with anti-nausea treats and baby items. Loren says that friend reassured her and Cooper that they were still welcome at church.

That church friend also informed other church leaders, including an elder and the pastor, who helped support Loren and Cooper. They continued attending church, and that same pastor later officiated their wedding.

Reflecting on that season, Loren says, “We received so much grace during that time. And that grace was what we needed to repent and to live in freedom.” 

Cooper was a constant source of support for Loren throughout her pregnancy. Surrounded by encouragement from his mother and friends, he shared the news with college peers, who congratulated him and told him he would be a great father. 

Cooper worked hard to prepare financially and emotionally for the baby, including detailing tractors on the weekends. 

“He was with me almost every day just to encourage me and tell me that I was going to be a great mom,” she says.

New beginnings

About a month after discovering she was pregnant, Loren and Cooper went in for an ultrasound, where they found an empty gestational sac. Two weeks later, the doctor confirmed the early miscarriage.

The loss came just as Loren had begun to rearrange her graduation plans and imagine motherhood. While her peers focused on careers and internships, she was grieving the loss of her baby and felt unsure where her relationship and life were heading. Little did she know just how much God would use that unplanned pregnancy to lead Loren to a life of love, peace, abundance and freedom.

Cooper proposed two days after the miscarriage was confirmed. Six days later, they were married in the mountains of Idaho. Four weeks later, they graduated. A month after that, they moved to Arizona for his job.

Shortly after they married, Loren launched what would become her ministry, interviewing women who chose life in unplanned pregnancies — even as she quietly wondered, when will her turn come for motherhood.

Now in Arizona, Loren and Cooper experienced a second early miscarriage. This time, Loren miscarried alone in a rest stop bathroom and held the baby in her hands.

Doctors warned she would miscarry every time due to a blood disorder. Instead, God healed her from her blood disorder, and she later carried two pregnancies to term, welcoming two children back to back — Dean and Lucy.

Life today

Nearly three years later, what began in April 2023 as a storytelling project has become a thriving ministry. 

“I realized that God wanted me to make this my ministry,” she says. 

After marrying Cooper, she formally launched Unplanned: Stories of Resilience, now known as Unplanned Stories. As more women began reaching out for help during their own unplanned pregnancies, the project grew into a pro-life ministry.

Through Unplanned Stories, Loren and her team walk alongside parents facing an unplanned pregnancy, offering both hope and practical support. By sharing real stories of courage, love and life, they remind expectant parents that they are not alone and that their baby’s life has incredible purpose.

The ministry provides individualized care – connecting families with life-affirming resources, organizing Meal Trains, supporting registries through fundraisers, and sending handwritten Letters of Hope. Every act of support is designed to empower parents to confidently choose life, showing them that even in uncertainty, they are seen, valued and supported.

Loren’s encouragement to men who are facing an unplanned pregnancy:

“Go home, and tell [your] girlfriend, wife, or mother of [your] child that she is going to be a great mom. Tell her how much you care. That support and that encouragement are going to help her to choose life for the baby. Remind her of her strength. There are going to be so many people speaking words of shame and destruction over her, telling her that abortion is the best choice for her. But there is a life on the line. And that’s not just the baby’s, but her life [and] her future. You need to be that foundation of love and encouragement for that woman so she knows that she doesn’t have to go through that pregnancy alone.”

Loren’s encouragement to women who are facing an unplanned pregnancy:

“Lean into God and trust in Him. Your future and your baby’s future are in God’s hands. God has plans to prosper you, not to harm you, [and] to give you hope and a future. You never know how that unplanned pregnancy will transform your life, [or] how God will use that to bring the new thing into your life that will give hope, that will let you flourish, that will allow you to live in freedom.”

Written by Melina Nicole.