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TeenSpeak Essay Contest Winners!

Annie awards Sarah HalburAgain, here is the essay question: Think Again: What can you do to help another teen reconsider his or her thinking on abortion? And the winner of the $1,000.00 scholarship? Sarah Halbur of Joliet, IL. Have a read. It think you’ll agree she did a splendid job. Congratulations, Sarah! Second place, a $500.00 scholarship, went to Mary Hatfield also of Joliet, IL. Her essay follows Sarah’s. Well done, Mary!

First Prize: $1,000.00

Your Mom Chose Life . . . Will You?

A 17-year-old girl runs down the street, clutching her arms around herself. Not because of the chill, but because it’s the only sense of security she has. Sobbing, she collapses on the ground behind an old building. The events of the last two weeks haunt her memory . . . Top of her class and popular at school, Catherine had found out she was pregnant. Fear gripping her heart, she told her boyfriend. He said she must have an abortion. Their parents wouldn’t even find out. Reluctantly, she made the appointment. In the waiting room, Catherine met a pretty girl with blonde hair. Their eyes conveyed the same message, “I’m scared too.” The blonde played with her fingers nervously while she explained. “My boyfriend and I were only able to scrape enough money together for the procedure. So we don’t have any for anesthesia. I hope it doesn’t hurt too much.” As Catherine lay on the table waiting for an ultrasound, she asked questions. Instead of answering her, the clinic worker leaned over. “Turn away from the screen, Honey. You don’t want to see this.” Catherine turned away, frightened. The next thing she knew, the dull colors of the room were fading away. Catherine woke to someone screaming next to her. She realized she was in the recovery room. The blonde girl was wailing hysterically: “It was horrible. I couldn’t stand it. They had to call my boyfriend to pick me up early. It was so horrible. . .” The blonde girl looked ill. Her skin was gaunt and yellowed; her beautiful blue eyes sunken into the sockets. Catherine began to vomit. When would her boyfriend be there? . . . another salty tear slipped down her cheek as Catherine played over the events in her memory. The relationship with her boyfriend had simply crumbled…he had walked away, leaving her to deal with the emptiness alone. Afraid and ashamed, she felt she had no one to turn to. She was living a nightmare, and only wished she could wake up and it would be gone. Based on the actual experiences of a friend of mine, Catherine’s story doesn’t end there. Fifteen years later, breast cancer afflicts her body. Catherine’s loving husband and five beautiful children suffer with her as Catherine lives on the brink of death. Chemotherapy, radiation, and the surgical removal of both breasts rack her physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Through research, she learns that her abortion significantly raised her risk of breast cancer. Catherine lives with the fear that cancer may prematurely take her life. She lives with the emptiness of her baby’s death. She shares her story to save other girls from this suffering.

Others Suffer Too

“…Legal abortion promised what it could not give. It promised women a freedom to participate more fully in society, but it took their children and broke their hearts. Countless women have suffered because of abortion; many have even lost their lives. Many men, too, mourn the loss of their children, while others carry the heavy burden of having persuaded their daughter, wife, or girlfriend to have an abortion.” Carna Spinella from Seattle, Washington acknowledges the truth of that statement. “Having an abortion was the biggest, most tragic mistake of my life” she says.

The Difference

1979: Lying on the table in an abortion clinic, a young, unwed girl does see the ultrasound of her baby. Tears stream down her cheeks and she runs from the clinic without looking behind. American actor Nick Cannon now thanks his mother for sparing his life and tells his story in the music video “Can I Live?” Another young mother, days away from her scheduled abortion, viewed Nick’s video and saw “the gift and value of human life” . She changed her mind. Instead of the abortion, she had an ultrasound, saw her twins, and let them live.

What We Can Do

Tell your peers Catherine’s story. Tell them Nick’s story. Share the truth. Supermodel Kathy Ireland shares, “I was once pro-choice. The thing that changed my mind was I read my husband’s biology books. What I learned is simply what it states: At the moment of conception, a life starts.”

You Choose

We, as teens of the third millennium, are survivors of the abortion holocaust. Will you work to end this holocaust? Will you choose life?

Second Prize: $500.00

What can you do to help another teen reconsider his or her thinking on abortion?

In today’s world an encounter with a pro-abortion teen is a common event. In my classes at school the topic of abortion is often debated. Unfortunately a lot of teens support abortion because they think that it is a woman’s choice, or they don’t believe that it is a baby. One of the ways that I could help a teen change their opinion on abortion is to educate them on fetal development and address the false notion of a woman’s right to choose.One of the most powerful and obvious reasons that abortion is wrong is because it is killing a baby. You don’t need to be a certain race, religion, or age to understand that killing a human being is wrong. Logically, life has to begin at conception; there is no other alternative. It follows scientific evidence; there aren’t any gray areas in this matter. A baby doesn’t suddenly become human when it is born at nine months; an ultrasound easily proves that this tiny being is alive and growing. Twenty-four days after conception a baby’s entire nervous system is present and its heart is beating. Proving that a human life begins at conception is a product of hard scientific fact. A teen can see this by checking out their biology textbook or visiting a science museum. I would tell anyone who supports abortion to visit a crisis pregnancy center and view a video on fetal development, and see the fetal models. Or to further educate themselves on human development by reading and researching. If they still aren’t convinced they should ask their mom. I bet that their mom has a copy of their ultrasound, still tucked away in their baby book. The photos and ultrasounds of babies inside the womb are undeniable evidence to even a hard-core abortion advocate. Another simple technique to help someone rethink their position on abortion is to ask them “What does it mean to be pregnant?” They’ll have to respond that a woman is going to have a baby. Then ask them “When a pregnant woman walks into an abortion clinic, and than comes out hours later, what happened to the baby?” The teen usually responds with “She got rid of the baby!” Helping the teen to realize that pregnancy is directly related to the life of an unborn child is important. Because than they realize that abortion is directly and unquestionably ending a baby’s life. Another reason for abortion that is often cited among my peers is that it’s a women’s choice or decision. They say that by taking away a woman’s right to abortion we are somehow oppressing women. However, men as well as women do not have the right to kill a human being, especially their own flesh and blood. No American citizens are allowed to kill or be killed simply by one person’s “choice”. What about the unborn baby’s “choice”? When abortion happens we are taking away that baby’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If women have the right to “choose” to kill their babies, Americans might as well legalize murder at all stages of life. There are many reasons why this thinking is illogical. I think it’s important, especially for teen girls, to realize that they can be proponents of true feminism and still be pro-life. A woman has a right to her body but this new being growing inside of her is not part of her body. The baby inside her has a totally different DNA, blood type, and may even be a different sex. I think that when talking to a pro-choice teen, the most important thing I can do is to encourage them to learn about fetal development, and rethink the meaning of the words “pregnancy “ and “choice”.

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