Her boyfriend sent her $800 for an abortion. She chose life instead and used the money to buy baby items.

In 2008, Carla left her home in Brazil and migrated to the U.S. in the hope of learning English. She stayed with a Brazilian host family in Massachusetts, found a job, and met her long-distance boyfriend online.

The months of phone calls and Skype video calls eventually led to Carla flying to Texas to meet her boyfriend. They spent Thanksgiving together, and she flew back to Massachusetts, not knowing that she had conceived a child.

Two months later, Carla found herself feeling sick. She was falling asleep at work due to the fatigue she was experiencing. She started to worry about her health and told a friend about her symptoms.

“You’re pregnant!” Carla’s friend exclaimed. 

Carla started shaking after hearing her friend’s words. Carla was sure she wasn’t pregnant, but her friend urged her to take a pregnancy test. 

Hearing her baby’s heartbeat

Even after three positive pregnancy tests, Carla could not believe she was pregnant. She was in denial, so her friend took her to the ER to get an ultrasound.

The doctor confirmed that Carla was indeed pregnant with a 10-week-old baby. Carla heard her daughter’s heartbeat, a moment that would later affirm her decision to choose life.

“I can never forget that moment,” Carla says. “It was surreal. It felt like I was in a dream, and I was panicking. It was an extremely scary moment because I was 24 years old at the time.”

Carla anxiously called her boyfriend to tell him about the baby. He was shocked to hear the news and told her to terminate her pregnancy. He knew she was scared and used her fear to convince her to get an abortion.

“You just got here in the U.S. You’re by yourself. You have no family here,” Carla’s boyfriend told her. “This is going to hold your life back. This is going to be a problem for you. You’re young. You have your whole life ahead of you.”

The phone call left Carla devastated. Without any support from her boyfriend, she was unsure of what to do and felt unprepared for motherhood.

When she returned home, Carla mentioned her pregnancy to her host family, who embraced her news joyfully. Carla was shocked by their reaction and told them that her boyfriend wanted her to get an abortion.

Carla’s host family pleaded with her, urging her to choose life.

They told her, “If you do that, that’s going to haunt you for the rest of your life, and it’s going to completely destroy your life. Trust me, you don’t want to do that.”

Carla’s host family offered to adopt her baby. They encouraged her and opened her eyes to the resources available to her as a single mom.

Despite their encouragement, Carla called Planned Parenthood to schedule an abortion appointment. Her boyfriend immediately sent her $800 for the procedure.

“You’re choosing the right choice,” Carla’s boyfriend told her. “You’re doing the right thing. It’s the best thing you can do right now because I’m nowhere ready to be a father.”

Carla went to bed feeling apprehensive about her choice. She had nightmares and struggled to sleep. As Carla pondered her options, she remembered the moment she heard her daughter’s heartbeat and knew she couldn’t go through with her abortion.

So the next day, she canceled her appointment, went to Toys “R” Us, and filled a shopping cart with baby clothes, milk bottles and toys.

Her boyfriend was angry and continued pressuring her to get an abortion. Carla was done receiving that pressure from him, so she lied and told him he wasn’t the father.

When Carla was eight months along, her boyfriend reconnected with her and told her that he knew he was the father. He notified his parents about Carla’s pregnancy, and they immediately reached out to Carla. They were so excited about having a grandchild that they brought two large boxes of diapers the day Carla gave birth. Since then, the grandparents have been involved in their granddaughter’s life and paid for her schooling. 

Valuing the sanctity of life

Carla is thankful for the upbringing she had in a Christian family. Her grandmother was a strong Christian who taught her to value the sanctity of life inside and outside of the womb.

“If I didn’t have that mindset, like that faith, I could have gone through with the abortion,” Carla says.

Carla remembers hearing about how her friend’s sister got an abortion at 16 years old. The abortion wrecked the life of her friend’s sister.

“My friend’s sister never forgets. She drinks, she remembers, she cries and she’s a mess,” Carla says.

Carla’s friend shared her sister’s abortion story to prevent Carla from choosing abortion.

“It’s going to be you for the rest of your life,” Carla’s friend told her. “He’s not going to be around anyways, and he’s going to go on with his life. He’s probably going to forget about you and that you exist, so don’t put that burden on yourself.”

Carla says she would have turned into a completely broken person if she had gone through with her abortion appointment. She had been drinking a lot before the pregnancy. An abortion would have destroyed her and turned her into an alcoholic.

Carla encourages women who find themselves in unplanned pregnancies to choose life and consider life-affirming choices like adoption. She says that adoption allows both the baby and the mother to have the best future they can have. Carla mentions the story of Steve Jobs, whose birth mom became pregnant during graduate school and chose life through adoption. Because of her life-affirming choice, Steve Jobs was given the chance to live and became one of the world’s most influential innovators.

Looking back, Carla is grateful she chose life. It wasn’t an easy choice, and she had to make a lot of sacrifices over the years. But all the hard work was worth it. Carla has a strong relationship with her 13-year-old daughter, Madeleine. They have traveled to different countries, using those adventures to bond with each other.

“I’m so glad every day because now I look at my daughter, and she’s so beautiful. She’s so smart. She’s my companion,” Carla says.