MEND: Ministry That Informs and Gives Choices
By MARIA JONES
Editorial Assistant
MEND BANQUET ATTENDEES: Valeska Littlefield, guest speaker at the annual Mend Banquet, shared the story of her abortion and the consequences she suffered. Littlefield was healed through classes offered by Mend and later led other women through the healing process. Dr. Adam Myers, Board Member and Medical Director for Mend, did a live ultrasound on a big screen. From left are Dr. Myers, Littlefield, Nancy Roe, Director of Mend Pregnancy Resource Center, Inc., and Roberta Potts, president of the board for Mend.
MARIA JONES for GTR News
The month of April is Child Abuse Month. We think about many things when the term “child abuse” is used. This is a part of the story that we rarely think about. A 13-year-old goes to a clinic, fills out some papers, and takes a pregnancy test. Positive!
Thirteen and pregnant, she doesn’t know what to do. She is a child and her daddy says, “You WILL get an abortion.” She doesn’t want an abortion, but everyone says that is her only option. She doesn’t know what else to do.
She finally agrees and a living person is torn from her. Now she goes back to school and her grades drop, she shies away from friends or gets involved with a bad crowd because they treat her better than her family does.
According to the book “You Came to Me: Ministering in Jails/Prisons” by Sydna Masse, page 4, as many as 60-80 percent of incarcerated women are post-abortive, many of whom were teenagers with no other choice.
Is that child abuse? Nancy Roe, Director of Mend Pregnancy Resource Center, Inc., would say, “Yes, it is.”
If the courts found out that a child was pregnant by a family member or a close friend of the family, they would call that abuse, but the psychological repercussions from an abortion are much worse than anything physical, and it is overlooked in U.S. society. One life is destroyed and the other started on the road to destruction.
Women who have had abortions can’t function normally because of grief and shame buried deep inside. Parents are trying to get rid of a problem, but they never count the cost to their daughter. Their problem is solved, but her pain is just beginning, according to Valeska Littlefield, a post-abortive counselor with Mend who went through it herself and now helps other women get their lives back on track.
A class called “Her Choice to Heal” is offered by Mend for post-abortive women. The class is a 10-week Bible study that takes them through the healing scriptures.
“The class is led by post-abortive women,” Roe says. “We facilitate it, but it is the Holy Spirit who does the work.”
Roe started the ministry after her daughter’s abusive husband wanted her to get an abortion. Her daughter chose to have the baby, and Roe says not long after the baby was born, she saw “The Silent Scream.”
“I was holding my grandson at the time,” says Roe. “I saw a bucket of aborted babies and my heart broke. I knew that something had to be done to help young women make better choices.”
That was 18 years ago.
Roe started to try to educate people about abortion.
“After a year, the Lord showed me I needed to do more.” Roe says. “I had $2,000 and rented an office and opened the door. God blessed our efforts.”
Roe says they had garage sales and bake sales to help support the ministry. The vision wasn’t just to save the babies, although that was a major part, but she wanted to minister to the mothers. Mend’s vision statement says, “…We are called ‘MEND’ because Isaiah 61 tells us to ‘…bind up the broken-hearted, comfort all who mourn and bestow on them the oil of gladness instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of despair.”
Through the years, Roe has focused on the needs of young women who come into the clinic, both spiritual and physical. Her goal is to educate young women about abortion and its consequences and lead them to the Lord. She and her counselors present alternatives and give them physical and spiritual support during the pregnancy. They help with maternity clothes, and after the baby comes, with baby clothes, formula and diapers.
“Our first office was a three-room suite, a conference room, a waiting room and a clothing room, the clothes kept in a clothes basket.” Roe says. “We put ads in the newspaper and the yellow pages. We saw one girl a week.”
Last year, Mend assisted 61,00 girls, 500 of which were abortion calls.
When the women come into the clinic, they fill out papers and are interviewed.
“The biggest need they have is to get right with the Lord and we talk about that relationship,” Roe says.
“We ask about their situation and give them a pregnancy test,” Roe says. “While they wait for the results, we educate them with a video on the risks and long-term side effects of abortion and the development of their baby. After the video, they are given the results of the test. They then are counseled. One of the things we ask is ‘How can we pray for you?’ And we pray for them right there.”
The women are not pressured, but informed and allowed to make their own decisions.
“We give the women choices. Some still choose abortion, but they are informed and know what they are doing, and we abide by their decisions,” says Roe. “We don’t help women get abortions because we have seen the effects it has on their lives.
“Some of them come back later and we are able to help them heal psychologically and spiritually. Most people we see who have had an abortion regret it, and feel they were not informed when they made the decision.”
Mend has many resources for the new moms: maternity clothes, ultra sound, baby clothes, formula, diapers, and baby food. They can also earn baby bucks ($5 an hour) by going to approved enrichment classes or watching videos in the office. The baby bucks can be used to purchase items such as cribs, car seats, and strollers – anything that is donated. They also have a referral list of Christian doctors.
Mend now has two locations, one in Tulsa at 6216 S. Lewis, Suite 100 and one in Broken Arrow at 817 S. Elm. Anyone wishing to donate clothes or other baby items can call or bring them to either location.
For more information or to have someone speak to a church or organization, call Tulsa at 745-6000 or Broken Arrow at 258-6363 or visit the web at www.supportmend.com.
Updated 04-26-2005
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