THE CLIENT
Since Roe V. Wade, the number of teen pregnancies has
increased, from 4.94 percent of all teenagers in 1972, to 9.92 percent
in 1990. -- The Index of Leading Cultural Indicators, by
William J. Bennett, published jointly by Empower America and the Heritage
Foundation, ©1993
The Decision
The girls who come to Harbor House make up their own minds
about how to handle their pregnancy using a basic decision-making course,
"My Baby and Me." The decision they make is based on consideration of all
the facts relevant to their own personal situation. A volunteer counselor
will try to help her sort out her feelings from fact. The girl then decides
between parenting or placing her baby for adoption.
95 percent of women who have had abortions said that
their Planned Parenthood counselors gave "…little or no biological information
about the fetus which the abortion would destroy." 68 percent felt "…the
procedure was not described with any degree of depth of clarity." -from
Aborted
Women: Silent No More (© D. Reardon, Crossway Books, 1987)
There are currently two million couples waiting for adoption
in America (© National Commission for Adoption), yet there
are 30 abortions for every one adoption.
The Statistics
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Harbor House has housed 35 pregnant teen girls since January
1995, and to date (mid 1997) 143 babies have been born since the ministry
started in 1990.
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So far this year 13 babies have been born, with 3 of them
being adopted.
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The average client is 18.8 years old, while the average age
of teens in-house is 16.2.
-
There were 21 girls housed and 20 girls took part in the
academic program at Harbor House in 1995.
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Of the clients who were counseled in 1995, 18 made the decision
to parent their baby, 10 decided to place the baby for adoption with another
family and 15 were undecided.
Over 84 percent of women who choose abortion stated that
they would keep their babies under better circumstances. - from Aborted
Women: Silent No More (© David Reardon, Crossway Books, 1987)
Head back home...