3 TOKENS, 2 FLAT TIRES, 1 BABY SAVED FROM ABORTION
By Dan Miller, State Director of Pro-Life Wisconsin
It was late afternoon when a woman pulled up to the abortion facility in a "newer" used vehicle. The first thing I noticed about her "new" car was how horrible the engine and transmission sounded, like two spark plugs were missing.
When she got out of the car, escorts from the abortion facility were all over her, but she had parked in a tow zone. I knew she'd be back to re-park the car, so I took a walk across the street and waited. She finally found a parking spot a block away and traffic was heavy on the street, so no one could cross over when she was ready to cross the street. This gave me at least 45 seconds to speak with her before the escorts descended. I was able to give her some literature and told her all about the free help at the pregnancy resource center nearby, and then I kind of surprised her and said, "What's up with your car?! Whoever sold you that car should be ashamed of themselves. That thing sounds horrible! You should take it back to that dealer and get your money back. That's just not right."
She smiled in agreement, "Yeah, that car turned out to be a real piece of junk...the transmission is weird and so is the engine...but it's mine now. No turning back, you know?"
I said, "Nice talking to you. See you when you come out, okay?" By now, the escorts were able to cross the street to "save" her from me. She came in and out a few times, but I never got to reconnect with her. When she came out the last time, she had a pro-life sidewalk counselor by her side. When I spoke with the sidewalk counselor after their interaction, she said it went well, but nothing definite from our "new car friend."
I rejoined the group I was praying with and kept my head on a swivel. "New Car" was still hanging out at the gas station, across the street from the abortion center. I was a little puzzled. She seemed like she was walking with purpose when she left, like she wanted to get out of that place. Why was she still hanging out over there? The sidewalk counselor said to me with a smile, "I think you need to go over to the gas station to get yourself some coffee." I knew exactly what the sidewalk counselor wanted me to do. Like I've done hundreds of times before, if we see one of ours go into the gas station, it's automatically time to go "shopping." What I usually end up doing is buying them some soda and snacks, maybe even gas, and we get another chance to save the baby. Sometimes it works, sometimes not, but it's always worth trying.
My "new car" friend was in back, talking to someone on the phone. I asked her if everything was okay with her "new car." She said she had two flat tires, but had no money to air them up with. I said, "No way! Two flat tires! That's a bad sign! I thought for sure your engine or tranny fell out!"
She said, "I know, right? But yeah, for real. Two flats. Unreal."
I went up to the cashier to go get some tokens for the air pump outside. "How many?"
"Three dollars worth should do it." I said. On the way out to her car, we introduced ourselves. It was my first time using that machine, so we were both trying to figure it out. It took FOREVER to air up the back tire. I could breathe harder than this air pump! My “new car” friend volunteered to monitor the air pressure from the dash computer. When I got the back tire up to 35 PSI, she shouted out, "OKAY!! THAT'S GOOD!" On to the front tire.
This tire was bald and even flatter than the back tire. If she broke the bead on the rim of the tire, we'd need a tow truck. I began praying for the tire to show signs of life. FINALLY (Thanks Lord)! She yelled out again, "ALL GOOD DAN!"
I said, "Okay, so that's all fixed. Now, how are YOU doing?”
“I'm good.”
“How's baby doing?”
“Baby is doing really good actually - she's at eight weeks.”
“That's awesome! You want a girl?! You just called your baby, ‘she.’"
“Yeah, but money is tight right now, and her daddy and I aren't getting along so well”
“I know you want to get the heck out of here, and I don't blame you, but I just want to encourage you to go check out the free help at the pregnancy resource center. I'm going to give you these other two tokens in the hopes that you will never need them for flat tires again and you give them to your baby one day, telling her the story of how you changed your mind about having the abortion at some gas station because some guy helped you out when you needed it. I hope I never see you down here again.”
She replied, “You won't. I know I can't do it. I know that now. I have another baby at home.”
“That's awesome! Your other child is going to have a sister! Praise God! Thank you for choosing life. Promise me you'll check out the Women’s Care Center, okay? I'll let you go now. God bless you and your baby girl!”
“Thanks, Dan!”
That tire pump token cost one dollar.