Something did not feel right to Colombian mother Adriana when her feminist friends would strip naked and call for legalized abortion on demand.
Adriana told ACI Prensa, a Spanish-language news organization associated with the Catholic News Agency, that she was part of their feminist group, but she felt troubled by some of the things that they encouraged, including homosexuality and abortion.
Last week, the young woman participated in the National March for Life in Colombia, a South American country that legalized abortion in 2022 through a court order. On her pregnant belly she wrote the words, “I defend women, including her,” meaning her unborn daughter, according to the report. The interview is translated from Spanish.
Speaking with United for Life in Medellín, Adriana explained why she quit the pro-abortion feminist group and became pro-life. Initially, she said she became involved in abortion activism through a group of women in her home town who “connected us to the entire feminist organization.”
She participated, but did not like some of the things that the leaders encouraged, such as stripping naked and painting their bodies during public protests.
“In many of the demonstrations that we were at, because I was very active in the movement, they urged me a lot to strip down, to paint my body for the demonstration, which, thank God, I never agreed to because I didn’t see the reason to violate my privacy, my dignity,” Adriana told ACI Prensa.
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She said she supports women’s rights, but she never thought aborting unborn babies was one of them.
“The issue of their supporting abortion so much never sat right with me because it doesn’t seem right to me to attack an innocent baby, because we, their moms, are the only ones who can defend them, so I decided to get out of the movement,” she continued.
Recently, Adriana said she became pregnant during a difficult time in her life. She said she did not have a job and her child’s father abandoned them both.
“I was desperate all by myself and I said to myself, ‘What am I going to do?’” she said.
Then, she found help through the pro-life Catholic ministry Lazos de Amor Mariano (Bonds of Mary’s Love). Adriana said the missionaries there showed her “complete support,” and she dedicated her life to following Jesus, the report continues.
“It was very hard, very difficult, but I love my baby and I am infinitely grateful to God for giving me this gift of being a mother,” she said. “Being a mother is a gift, it’s not a right, because many want to and cannot.”
She said she decided to participate in the pro-life march this year, joining tens of thousands of others, because she knows that abortion is wrong.
“There are many options such as adopting, but the baby is not to blame. There is no reason, not for rape, or deformities, to not to give life to a baby,” Adriana said. “… We don’t have authority over life, God does. He’s the one who decides who dies or lives. We don’t have that right, especially if we have this great gift of giving life. How can you take it away?”
Until 2022, Colombia protected unborn babies’ right to life in most circumstances. It allowed abortions only in cases of rape and incest or threats to the mother’s life. Most South and Central American countries have strong pro-life Roman Catholic populations that support protecting unborn babies from abortions.
However, in February of last year, the nation’s highest court responded to lawsuits from pro-abortion groups by decriminalizing abortions for any reason up to 24 weeks in a ruling similar to Roe v. Wade in the United States.