Angelina Davis was preparing to attend college on a full-scholarship when she discovered that she was pregnant.
Davis was a star athlete in golf, and her father had high hopes for her future. But at age 18, Davis said she also was very rebellious and reckless. She said she never really considered the chance that she could get pregnant.
I had nearly every reason people mention when considering abortion: I had no money, I was further straining my relationship with my father, my unborn baby’s father wanted me to get an abortion, and I would be giving up a possible future playing women’s golf or at the very least, a free ride to college. I am also the youngest of three, and I was very self-absorbed and independent. I had never even held a baby; I had zero warm and fuzzy feelings about being a mom.
She went to a pro-life pregnancy center called Rachel’s House that confirmed her pregnancy and reassured her that she could be a mom.
“Though my heart was not set upon abortion, I was still desperate and vulnerable,” she wrote. “Who knows what kind of counseling I might have received elsewhere? I may have considered a much different path.”
It was a story that Davis read online that began to change heart for her child:
I began researching what abortion actually was, and that is when I came across pro-life websites that described it in detail…it was hard to read. I recall sobbing as I read story after story about nurses who worked in abortion clinics and the truth of what they saw. I am so thankful for their testimonies – they further stripped the option out of my head.
CLICK LIKE IF YOU’RE PRO-LIFE!
For a short time during the early phase of the pregnancy, I did consider adoption. I thought I had nothing to offer this baby, so it seemed like the kindest option for my baby.
Then, when she heard her baby’s heartbeat for the first time, she stopped wavering and chose to parent her unborn son. Davis said she still lacked financial and emotional support, but she decided to care for her baby, “no matter the cost.”
Davis said she turned to God in prayer to get her through the fears and loneliness during her pregnancy. She said she prayed for her baby’s’ birth father and her own father, that their hearts would be softened toward her son. After Davis gave birth to her son, Ben, her prayers were answered. Her father had a change of heart and welcomed his grandson into his life.
“My mother was out of town on business, and I lived with them and couldn’t get Ben to stop crying,” Davis wrote. “My dad finally came to me to find out how he could help…he ended up going to the store and buying every bottle he could find, and he’s been hooked every since.”
Davis eventually moved out of her parents’ home and enrolled in cosmetology school. Later, she married her husband, Austen, who loves and accepts Ben as his own son. Davis said Austin plans to legally adopt Ben this summer. The couple also is expecting their first child together in June.
Just as Davis found hope in stories of other women considering abortion, Davis shared her story with a message of hope for other expecting moms: “I will never regret keeping my son, but I would have always regretted letting him go. Life is precious and miraculous!”
