An unplanned pregnancy didn’t stop her from pursuing her dreams and calling. Her daughter inspired her to write a book and launch PAX Academy, a private K-12 school for homeschoolers.

When 25-year-old Angela found out she was pregnant from rape, her immediate reaction was to call Planned Parenthood and schedule an abortion appointment.

Angela was horrified about the news of her pregnancy and devastated from the trauma of her sexual assault. She just wanted to move on and forget that it ever happened to her.

“I never imagined in a million years that the girl who was saving her first kiss for her wedding day would now be staring at a positive pregnancy test after one rape, and so my knee-jerk reaction was complete fear and horror,” Angela says.

Angela’s story was featured on Fox News.

For four days, Angela ruminated with her decision to get an abortion and wrestled with her pro-life values. She grew up in a pro-life family, her dad serving as the board vice president for a local pregnancy center in Maryland. Angela knew abortion was wrong, but she didn’t know how to navigate her unplanned pregnancy and the circumstances that led to it.

Angela ended up calling a pregnancy center in New York, worried that her town’s local facility would recognize her. The response the pregnancy center worker gave Angela was the encouragement she needed to change her mind.

“Sex doesn’t make babies. God does,” the staff member told Angela. “For some reason, God is choosing to give you a life out of this terrible situation.”

‘THE DAY THAT I CHOSE LIFE’

Angela’s story has been featured on Live Action‘s website.

On the morning her abortion was scheduled, Angela called Planned Parenthood to cancel her appointment. The staff member on the phone was the same person who scheduled the abortion and remembered Angela’s concerns about her unplanned pregnancy.

“You know that if you go through with this, you will never be able to live out your dream of traveling with the world. You’ll never be able to be a missionary as a single mom,” she told Angela. “We can take care of this problem for you, and no one will ever have to know.”

Angela found those words discouraging. The worker didn’t even acknowledge the humanity of her baby.

“It wasn’t a baby to her. It was like a problem to be gotten rid of. It was a problem that needed to be hidden, that it was this terrible secret, that I was full of shame and guilt and fear and all these negative emotions, that I needed to get rid of it and hide,” Angela recalls. “When she said that to me, I responded to her and said, ‘I would know and God would know, and that’s enough for me. So you can cancel my appointment.’ And I just hung up the phone. So that was it. That was the day that I chose life.”

‘SHE HAS BEEN ENTRUSTED TO ME FOR A REASON’

Angela waited until she was six months along before telling her parents about the pregnancy. Her parents went above and beyond to give her the love and support she needed to navigate her pregnancy.

“My dad stood up from the table and he came over and gave me a big hug. He said, ‘It’s going to be OK.’ He told me he loved me and that they were going to do everything that they could to make sure that the baby and I were safe, happy and healthy,” Angela recalls.

Her dad wanted her to be empowered in her choice and know all of the life-affirming options available to her, including adoption. Angela’s older sister even offered to adopt her baby.

“That was a huge blessing to know that I had that choice. If I felt like I couldn’t do it on my own, then my family would be there to be willing to adopt my child to keep her in the family,” Angela says.

Despite the circumstances of her pregnancy, Angela decided to choose life and be the best mom she could be for her baby.

“I felt very strongly that what the lady from the pregnancy center said to me was true … For some reason, God has given her to me. I may not know what the reason is, but she has been entrusted to me for a reason,” Angela says.

Angela gave birth to a baby girl, Sophia, who is now 10 years old. It was a life-changing moment for Angela to leave the hospital with her baby in the car seat, knowing that she had the responsibility to care for another human being.

“It was terrifying, but at the same time, I felt so confident that God was going to use that for good not only for her but also for me and to help me to grow to be the woman that He wanted me to be,” Angela says.

Her daughter is the best thing that has ever happened in her life. Angela sometimes thinks about how close she came to ending her child’s life through abortion, but she’s thankful she chose life instead.

“I do not regret for a moment choosing life — not a moment, not even on my worst, hardest, most difficult, cry-your-eyes-out-all-day day. Even on my worst day, I still would choose my daughter over and over and over again,” Angela says.

As Angela learned to embrace motherhood, she sought help from a therapist to heal from her trauma. Therapy helped her process her triggers, manage flashbacks and nightmares, and overcome dissociation. 

“I don’t think I really dealt with the trauma of the rape until I realized I was pregnant … When I got pregnant, it was like I had to wrestle through and process and deal with all of that trauma that I had been suppressing for so long,” Angela says.

Therapy also helped Angela find ways to speak about her unplanned pregnancy with different people. Growing up in a pro-life and purity culture environment, Angela had been saving sex and kissing for marriage. She also taught abstinence as a public school teacher for her health education class. Family, friends and colleagues knew about her beliefs. Angela wrestled with this and didn’t want to tell people that she got pregnant from rape.

“If I tell them what happened, they’re going to view my baby as the rapist’s spawn. I’ve heard that a lot. How can you keep the rapist’s baby? I didn’t want people to view my daughter through that lens. I don’t want people to think about her like that … I was OK with the fact that I didn’t owe anyone any explanation about things,” Angela says.

‘MY DAUGHTER’S MY MOTIVATION’

Being a single mom came with many challenges. Working as a public school teacher meant that Angela’s budget was always tight. She often worried about being able to pay her bills on time. But even with all the obstacles in front of her, Angela didn’t give up.

“My daughter’s my motivation to keep going. I want her to be proud of me. I want to give her the best life possible … and to have a life that’s full of joy, freedom, peace, love, patience, gentleness and kindness — all the fruits of the Spirit,” Angela says.

Angela’s daughter became her inspiration to publish her first book about Gospel-based parenting. Her experience being a mom also led to the creation of PAX Ministries. Under her ministry, Angela launched PAX Academy, which is a private K-12 school for homeschoolers.

“I was very present to the fact that if I chose life for her, that would mean the end of the life that I had planned for myself. I had a great life. I wanted to live in Latin America. I wanted to be a missionary and travel throughout Latin America. I speak Spanish, and that was my passion. I wanted to travel and share the gospel and love people who were living in poverty. I was like, if I do this, I’m not going to be able to do that. It really felt like choosing between her life and my own life,” Angela says.

Choosing life meant surrendering her plans to the Lord. Angela wrote all of her dreams on a piece of paper and laid it at the foot of the cross at her church.

“If these dreams are truly from you,” Angela prayed, “I trust that you will resurrect them when you want. But I’m laying them down and laying them at your feet and letting go of my dreams and my plans.”

In the past decade, Angela has seen God fulfill her dreams in ways she didn’t expect. She had planned to serve as a missionary in Latin America, but since the launch of her business, she has worked with many Hispanic families as they navigate homeschooling. Angela has also been able to travel the world with her daughter.

“It’s just beautiful to see how God is slowly giving me back the things that I had asked for and prayed for and believed for so long. I just get to do it with my daughter,” Angela says.

‘ABORTION WILL NEVER ERASE THE TRAUMA OF SEXUAL ASSAULT’

Outside of her life as a mom and business owner, Angela uses social media to advocate for the pro-life movement. She shares her story to help change people’s perspectives regarding abortion in the case of rape. Her story has been shared on various pro-life platforms, including Students for Life of America’s Almost Aborted Campaign. 

“It’s devastating to me when I hear people use rape as an excuse, for someone to say that it would be better for my daughter to be dead because of the crime of her father. The better solution would be to empower women to be strong mothers in the midst of that. Adding the trauma of abortion will never erase the trauma of sexual assault. It never will,” Angela says.

Angela’s encouragement to parents who are facing an unplanned pregnancy:

“Sometimes you just need to hear someone else tell you that you can do this. You are strong. You are powerful. You are brave. You are resourceful. You are full of life. You are full of hope. You are full of grace. You are stronger than your circumstances and believe it.”