Serena was a happy young lady who had just finished her clinicals as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA). She loved working with people, and her new job would allow her to do what she enjoyed – helping folks who needed it most.
To add joy to her life, she met a man online, and they seemed to hit it off quickly. They communicated for a couple of months and then decided to meet and go out on a date. The date went fine, then when she thought he was driving her home, he took her to his apartment where he raped her.
Following her assault, Serena started having weird food cravings like pickles and sandwiches but would get sick to her stomach after eating. This went on for a while, so she finally decided to take a pregnancy test, and that’s when she discovered she was pregnant.
Her immediate thought was, “I’m a failure. And me, being a black woman, I felt like a statistic, and I hated it.” In that instant, she decided, “I need to get rid of this. I can’t do this because this is not planned.”
Serena didn’t want to be a single mom. “I wanted to bring children into this world in a way where they were brought here by love. I really wanted that two parent household, something I didn’t have growing up.”
She had everything planned out, and this pregnancy didn’t fit her plan. She required “A husband, a house, and a car in order for me to bring children into the world. And because I didn’t have all of those things, I thought the best thing to do would be to choose another option – abortion.”
So, she looked online for an abortion and called a Human Coalition clinic. She said, “I just cried my eyes out and told them, ‘I’m out here by myself. I don’t have family. I just started my career, and my biggest thing is I don’t want to be a statistic.’”
Her phone conversation with our call center agent was special, “I remember the kindness, the communication, the fact that they listened to me, and allowed me to vent, and feel my emotions.”
Serena was referred to a mobile clinic. “It was one big van. It was pretty cool,” she said. “I got a sonogram, and the person who gave it to me was pregnant. So now I’m really emotional, because here I am wanting to get an abortion, and this beautiful woman is here carrying this child, and it tore me to pieces. And I just remember telling her how beautiful she looked, but it’s just not for me at the moment.”
Becky, her Human Coalition social worker said, “I remember her coming to the clinic. She was really abortion determined. She had a lot of things going on in her life she felt were obstacles that were causing her to seek an abortion, like: housing, employment, food, and other financial hardships.”
One of the biggest barriers was Serena living in temporary housing, which was quickly coming to an end. She also didn’t have a lot of support from her peers nor from the father. She was frightened.
Then she heard her baby’s heartbeat. She shared, “It really got me, hearing that there’s something alive inside of me. That was another like, whoa, this is real!” Once she got the baby’s picture printed out, “I ultimately made my decision to keep my child.”
When Serena decided to keep her baby, she said, “Not only was I comfortable with my decision, but I was going to have the support from a bunch of people who are geared towards helping women save their children.”
“Becky was my support specialist,” Serena said. “It was just, anything that I needed, Becky made it happen. There was a list she would check off – resources, conversations, words of wisdom, appointments. ‘You need to go here. You need to go there.’ Becky was there to support me all the time. That was one of the best things that Human Coalition could have provided me was Becky.”
One day later in her pregnancy, Serena started cramping badly. “Becky shot right over, picked me up, and took me to the hospital,” Serena explained. Her water sack had ruptured, and she was sent home to be put on bed rest.
The next day the birthing process really got started, and after 20 long hours of labor, Serena delivered a healthy baby girl. “I named her A’reyah – a ray of sunshine. I’m just looking at her for the first time, ‘You are yellow like the sun. You’re like a ray of sunshine.’ I will never forget that moment.”
“Watching a child enter this world that was once possibly destined for something else was one of the most incredible, magical moments I’ve ever experienced. You could feel the presence of God in that room,” Becky explained.
Years later, Serena and A’reyah are doing well. “I am very grateful for how things have been turning around, because I have dealt with a lot of hardships,” Serena said. “Me and A’reyah, we are in a three-bedroom house, which I’m very grateful for. We have a vehicle to travel around in. I am still a CNA, so I work full time at a facility that I really love and enjoy. So everything’s going well.”
Reflecting on her life, Serena thoughtfully said, “Deciding to keep my child, and then having her, I realized she was that anchor to kind of keep me stagnant, and not in a bad way. I was always the boomerang child. So, I would go, come back, go, and come back – spontaneous. I guess you can say, having A’reya, helped me learn stability within my own life, because now I have to be responsible for someone else, and not just myself.”
To all of the people who had a hand in helping Serena through her “crisis” and beyond, she said, “You guys not only saved my daughter, but you really helped a woman mature, grow up, and ultimately make a decision that has changed my life for the better. My daughter is in elementary school now and doing great! And you guys are still making a big impact in my life. I just ask that you guys continue doing what you do, giving people like me the free opportunity to have resources and support. From the deepest part of my heart, I truly, truly thank every single person. God bless all of you!”