Nonprofit helps teen mom in Rwanda choose life day before abortion
'Saving a life which was set for slaughter — it is the greatest treasure'
A Catholic pro-life organization reportedly offered a 17-year-old mother in Rwanda the resources that convinced her to keep her unborn baby daughter just a day before she was scheduled to abort her.
Human Life International (HLI) Rwanda, a nonprofit that teaches high school students in the country about the benefits of abstinence and educates them on the dangers of abortion and some contraceptives, ministered to the girl named Laurence who was faced with an unplanned pregnancy.
Laurence was reportedly pressured by the baby's father to abort her daughter, but she wanted to keep her baby.
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When she approached HLI staff with her predicament after seeing one of their presentations in her school, they spoke to Laurence about her unborn daughter and ensured that she would have help with medical bills, baby supplies and navigating a leave of absence from school.
Dr. Brian Clowes, who serves a HLI's director of education and research, said in a statement provided to The Christian Post that Laurence's story is an example of the many young women in African countries such as Rwanda who have been led to believe that abortion is their only way out.
"Laurence was faced with an unexpected pregnancy in her native Rwanda," Clowes said. "The only option offered her by Western population control groups was abortion. But then she heard a pro-life presentation by Human Life International the day before her abortion was scheduled, and she chose life for her baby."
"We are strongly reminded of the biblical wisdom of Proverbs 18:17, which says, 'He who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him,'" he continued. "This is the task of all of the pro-life groups all over the world: to offer life-affirming options that the groups marketing abortion deliberately do not mention."
HLI Rwanda Director Aloys Ndengeye said in a statement provided to CP that Laurence "is now happy being a mother, and she is thankful to Human Life International for saving her baby, a girl she named Keilla."
Ndengeye also noted how proponents of population control such as International Planned Parenthood Federation and Health Development Initiative Rwanda (HDI) often speak at schools to push abortion or contraceptives, which he said has led to "increasing venereal diseases, sexualizing our youth, and killing innocent preborn babies through abortion."
HLI Rwanda, which was founded in 2021, attempts to offer something else.
"Saving a life which was set for slaughter — it is the greatest treasure," he said.
The HLI chapter in the nearby country of Malawi made headlines last fall after a group of school students reportedly chased away representatives of an international Planned Parenthood affiliate and burned the boxes of contraceptives they provided.
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com
