Pro-Life Summit Focuses on Future Actions in Caring for Moms and Babies

This year’s Louisiana Pro-Life Summit explored the next steps in saving babies and helping moms, confronting the mail order abortion pill crisis, and cutting through the controversy in pro-life conversations. 

The July event, sponsored by The Diocese of Baton Rouge, Bethany Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana Right to Life, Louisiana Black Advocates for Life, Louisiana Family Forum, and Louisiana Baptists, was held at Bethany Church.

The  first session of the day, “The Church as a Refuge and Stronghold,” included a panel discussion featuring Deacon Randall Waguespack, director of the Office of Life, Peace, and Justice for the Diocese of Baton Rouge, pastor Gene Mills, president of Louisiana Family Forum, Mike Wicker, co-director of the Louisiana Black Advocates for Life and pastor of Lighthouse Christian Fellowship in Baton Rouge and co-director of Louisiana Black Advocates for Life, and his wife, Tara Wicker, co-director of Louisiana Black Advocates for Life.

Deacon Waguespack spoke about the mission of Walking with Moms in Need (WWMN), a program that develops parish-based support for pregnant women with unplanned pregnancies.  

Waguespack’s office plans to develop WWMN chapters. Each chapter would have a coordinator supported by the diocese and Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Baton Rouge. The coordinator would receive referrals from community partners and link women to church parish volunteers who would help them access the support and services they need.

To effectively serve these moms, pregnancy resource providers and churches of all denominations must be involved, according to Deacon Waguespack.

A panel discussion on the church as a refuge and stronghold featured, from left, Pastor Gene Mills, president of the Louisiana Family Forum, Pastor Mike and Tara Wicker, co-directors of Louisiana Black Advocates for Life, and Deacon Randall Waguespack, director of the Office of Life, Peace, and Justice for the Diocese of Baton Rouge. Photo by Debbie Shelley | The Catholic Commentator
 
“It’s not just a ‘Catholic thing.’ We all need to work together. Our belief is that we can do more together than anything on our own,” said Deacon Waguespack.

In the following session, “Encountering Louisiana’s Mail-Order Abortion Pill Crisis,” Rebekah Hagan gave a riveting talk about how she saved her second son’s life through an abortion reversal pill.

Hagan grew up in California in a conservative Baptist family. They went to church 3-4 times a week, attended Bible studies, her dad was on the church’s worship team, etc.

“I could recite scripture by memory,” said Hagan.

The family, however, avoided talking about sex outside of marriage and abortion. Not knowing what is meant to have a relationship with God, at 17-years old, Hagan developed a relationship with a man who was several years older than her and she became pregnant.

“I was shocked. My father was even more shocked,” said Hagan. “My parents thought teenage pregnancies come from broken homes but ‘not my church’ and ‘not my house.’”

Determined to move forward, Hagan graduated six months early from high school, gave birth to her son, Eli, and enrolled at Sacramento State University.

She was doing well in school and thought she had regained her parent’s trust. However, she had continued her relationship with Eli’s father, who began physically and verbally abusing her. Afraid for Eli’s safety, Hagan talked to her parents, who offered her a “fresh start,” but laid down ground rules and said she had better not “let that happen again.” She accepted their offer and left Eli’s father only to discover shortly after she moved home she was pregnant again.

“I knew my life was over,” said Hagan, thinking she would be homeless with two children and bring shame on her parents. She frantically sought to take control and end her pregnancy and opted for a chemical abortion because it was presented as “much comfier and cozier” than a surgical abortion.

She went to a Planned Parenthood clinic. The rude and unprofessional workers gave her the “DIY drug-induced abortion” with pills that could be taken up to 2 1/2 months gestation. It was marketed as the Plan C “10-week-after pill.”

Hagan took the first set of pills at the clinic and was directed to take the second set of pills the next day at home that would expel the pregnancy. She was told to take the pills in a bathroom, flush the toilet, and not look.

Scared and realizing she was to take the final pills to end her baby’s life on Eli’s birthday, Hagan searched online and found the Abortion Pill Reversal Network. She was connected with a calm, compassionate nurse who walked her through the abortion reversal pill protocol.

Hagan gave birth to her second son, Zechariah, which means “God remembers.” She finished college, married a “wonderful man” and they welcomed two more children.
The speaker urged attendees to reassure women with unexpected pregnancies that “their life is not over.”

“You do not have to choose between giving birth to a child and pursing your dreams,” Hagan said.

During the session "Louisiana Policy and Public Opinion," Benjamin Clapper, Executive Director of Louisiana Right to Life, stated, “We’re really losing a lot of ground from the public opinion side.”

Disinformation is spread to the media, which do their own polls and claim people have changed their mindset and legislators are out of touch. In turn, legislators conducts their own polls, which gives them justification for changing laws, according to Clapper.

“That’s resulted in legislators coming up to us and saying, ‘I’m with you, but it is becoming so much more difficult,'” said Clapper.

He added, “(This) goes back to the fundamental need to change hearts and minds in our community.”

Dr. Angela Parise, an obstetrician/gynecologist, discussed the tough decisions doctors make in saving the life of the mother and baby.

She shared her story of a mother who had a complicated pregnancy and needed to have a hysterectomy to save her life while a baby was inside of her uterus.

“The amazing medical team was looking at the situation knowing that we were going to deliver a baby … but it got so technical many people forgot there was a baby involved,” said Parise.

During the surgery, Parise cut open the uterus and discovered the baby was still alive. She called for help and the medical team wrapped the baby in a blue towel and rushed it to the neonatal unit. The baby was resuscitated and lived two more weeks, which transformed the lives of the family, the nurses, and Parise.

“The Lord ‘screamed’ at me, ‘You can no longer be just pro-life. It’s time to be pro-active,’” said Parise. 

She stressed physicians need more education to understand they can save the mother’s and baby’s life in difficult medical situations.

Ashley Gilliam, Southeast Youth Director for Louisiana Right to Life, spoke at the last session about cutting through the controversy in pro-life conversations.

Because the abortion issue is highly charged, it is important to fully listen to pro-abortion people’s messages and present the facts with compassion and love to show them where their assertions are wrong, said Gilliam.

“If you don’t have the answers, it’s okay to say so,” said Gilliam, who emphasized good, respectful conversations will plant the seeds to change these other peoples’ points of view.