A pro-life organisation in the United States has been encouraging thousands of women considering abortions to keep their babies by providing ultrasounds and counselling.
The Houston Coalition for Life parks its ‘Big Blue Bus’ outside an abortion clinic in Houston, Texas, and volunteers encourage women to come inside instead of visiting the clinic.
Incredibly, nine out of ten of the women who get on the bus decide not to have an abortion.
Joy
Over the past four years more than 7,000 have stepped on to the bus.
Richelle Scott, one of that number, said she could not proceed with an abortion after the ultrasound showed the human life inside her.
She said: “As soon as I saw him on the ultrasound and they let me hear the heart, I started crying. That was it”.
Richelle’s baby, Alan, is now the source of her joy.
Life and death
The Executive Director of the Houston Coalition for Life, Christine Melchor, said the free ultrasound available on the bus can literally be the difference between life and death.
Speaking about the mothers, she said: “They usually start crying as we begin and cover their eyes. As we continue with the ultrasound they start peeking out with their fingers”.
She added, “the next thing we know they’re smiling and crying at the same time”.
In a video about the work of the Big Blue Bus, three women share their testimonies about their decision to choose life for their children.
Choose Life
Last month a court in Texas made a ruling that could dramatically cut the number of abortion clinics in the state.
The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a law, approved in 2013, which requires abortion clinics to meet certain hospital-level standards.
However, pro-abortion activists have filed a motion to stop the legislation coming into force which resulted in the Supreme Court suspending the earlier ruling.
To hear more stories of people whose lives have been affected by abortion, visit The Christian Institute’s Choose Life page.