News from the Front Line

Maria spotted our mobile unit on her way to work one morning. She primarily speaks Spanish and understands very little English. Our counselor and ultrasound tech do not speak Spanish, which presented an added challenge to our encounter. When we showed her the positive pregnancy test, she explained through her broken English that she wanted to have an abortion because she was too old to have a baby. She is 39 years old, and has three other children, the youngest being 15 years old. The thought of starting over with a baby at her age was just too overwhelming for her. Because of our communication barriers, we were not able to thoroughly educate her about abortion procedures or risks associated with them. However, our counselor encouraged her to wait until her ultrasound to make her final decision. She scheduled an ultrasound at our brick and mortar center where she could speak with a client advocate who also speaks Spanish. The last thing our counselor said to her before she left is, “just wait” using her hands to signify “stop and wait.” Maria nodded in agreeance that she would wait until her ultrasound to make her decision. It was a little discouraging watching her disembark the van, unsure of how well we were actually able to communicate.  Two weeks later when she came for her ultrasound, she shared with the client advocate that she had decided to choose life for her baby.