Melissa Coles allowed her fears to drive her to an Indiana abortion facility one day in 1993.
Just 18 years old, pregnant and unmarried, Coles told CBN News that she felt guilty even considering the abortion, but she did not know what else to do. It seemed the “easiest” option.
But on the abortion table, Coles chose life for her unborn son. Later, she made an adoption plan and chose a loving Louisiana family to raise her baby boy. The mother and son recently were reunited, and they have been sharing their story across the nation to raise awareness about the power of adoption.
“You think pregnancy, baby, you think happy. And I didn’t. I didn’t feel that way. And then I felt guilty because I felt the way I felt,” Coles remembered.
She told CBN News that she walked into the abortion facility with her heart racing, still unsure of her decision. The abortionist never spoke to her or explain the abortion procedure, she said.
He just “came in and washed his hands, put on his gloves,” Coles said. “… He didn’t ask me how I was. He didn’t explain to me anything with the procedure.”
Then, just before the abortion, something happened that changed her mind
“Right as his hands went in to touch me, his glove hit my left leg. I heard this voice say, ‘It’s not too late, get up.’ I know it’s the Lord, 100 percent. And I just said, ‘I can’t do this,’” she continued. “The doctor gets up, rolls his eyes, rips his gloves off, and leaves the room and left me.”
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Coles made one vitally important decision that day, but she had more to make. Still unmarried and struggling financially, she remained uncertain about parenting her baby. Eventually, a social worker encouraged her to consider adoption, and she did, according to the report.
The young pregnant mother found an adoption agency and began looking through profiles of prospective adoptive parents. One in particular touched her heart, that of Susan and Jimmy Scotten, of Louisiana. Susan Scotten shared how she had lost two very young children to severe disabilities and how she kept praying to God for a healthy child, the report continues.
“I just fell in love with Susan. She starts, you know, telling me her story. And she’d been through a lot of pain herself,” Coles said.
The young woman chose the Scottens to parent her son, David James, before giving birth in December 1993. She said she held David briefly before he went to his adoptive family.
“I’m glad I did. He didn’t cry. He was just peaceful,” Coles told CBN News. “Deep down I knew I did the right thing. I knew he was safe, and I knew that they were giving him everything I couldn’t.”
Years went by and Coles married and had more children, but she said she still thought about her oldest child every day.
Eighteen years later, she and David reconnected for the first time, and she learned how happy and grateful he was for the decisions she had made.
David told CBN: “She made a brave decision and a courageous decision that wasn’t easy. That was the whole reason that we were coming there, was to thank her and reaffirm her that her decision was the right decision.”
Their story recently was the subject of the documentary “I Lived on Parker Avenue” and the Kirk Cameron film “Lifemark,” which earned more than $2 million at the box office last summer.
Looking back, Coles said she can see how God worked in her life for the good of them all.
“God has had His hand in this from the get-go. And He carried me through. He molded everything,” she said.
