Each year, about six million women in the United States become pregnant. Of those pregnancies, nearly half – 45 percent – are unplanned.
Most of the time, teenagers are the focus of such conversation, but many married adult women with children are surprised by unexpected pregnancies as well. They watch their youngest child enter elementary school, or their oldest graduate from high school, then discover they’re pregnant and starting over at stage one. They feel shocked, exhausted, and embarrassed.
Author Leslie Leyland Fields is intimately familiar with these women’s situation. She was 42, teaching full time at the University of Alaska, and raising four kids with her husband. Her youngest, age five, was about to enter school.
Then Leslie took a home pregnancy test.
When the test confirmed her suspicions, she felt a rush of despair and immediately told her husband. They sat together frozen in shock and disbelief. Just a few minutes into knowing about her new child, Leslie felt like a bad mother because she wasn’t excited about the prospects of welcoming a new baby into their family.
At Focus on the Family, we strongly believe that God is the author of life and no child is a surprise to Him. But we also know that not every woman feels immediate joy when surprised by an unexpected pregnancy.
Leslie is joining me on on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly to share her story of facing not one – but two – unplanned pregnancies in her 40s. She also offers comfort and encouragement to women in similar circumstances.
Hear our full conversation on your local radio station, online, on Apple Podcasts, or on our free phone app.
This program touches on a number of issues along the way that may feel tender for you. If so, I want you to know that Focus on the Family has a caring Christian team of counselors, and it would be their privilege to offer you a free consultation. Call us, leave your name and number, and they’ll get back with you just as soon as possible. The number during business hours is 1-800-A-FAMILY (232-6459).
Before I close, one of the best things you can do to support life is to participate in our Option Ultrasound program. Abortion clinics are interested in abortion. Pregnancy resource centers are interested in the woman, the man, the baby, the family. They minister to everyone involved.
Focus supports these centers through our Option Ultrasound program, which provides grants for sonogram training and technology. To date, more than 800 ultrasound machines have been placed around the country, and more than 500,000 babies have been saved.
We’re working hard to raise that number to one million babies saved sometime in the near future. With that in mind, I’d like to extend an invitation for you to become a special partner with us through our monthly “Friends of Focus on the Family” program. What’s amazing is that it only takes $60 to save a baby’s life by providing ultrasound machines and additional resources.
You might also be interested in Wait No More, our foster and adoption effort here at Focus. Over 3,500 families have started that process, usually adopting more than one child.
Thank you for touching others with the love of Christ.
