By Dave Andrusko
What a story! Patrick Madrid, a Catholic apologist and best-selling author, hosts his own radio program, The Patrick Madrid Show. I’ve never been in the situation he found himself in earlier this month; I learned a lot. You can read about their conversation here.
The ambivalence “Alicia from Chicago” shone through immediately:
“I was looking for a sign today. I was randomly – this radio station came on, and I just started listening to it.”
“And right now I am calling because I am actually on my way to get abortion pills at a clinic,” Alicia told Madrid. “And I truthfully don’t know what to do.”
Madrid was warm and welcoming and thanked her for calling. He asked her the ages of her kids.
“I have a two-year-old and a seven-year-old,” she answered.
“So you are busy, you got your hands full,” the host observed. “No doubt about that.”
As the father of eleven children, Madrid understood. He and his wife had felt similarly busy when they were raising a young family:
But one thing that really struck me, and I wonder if you had the same experience, was that as busy and as focused as we were on the first child, our son, when the second child came along, it didn’t change anything. It just made it better.
We were about as busy as we had been before, and we had another little beautiful baby to love and get to know.
And what I experienced, Alicia, was that it’s not like you’re dividing – let’s say you got a pie, and you’re now cutting it in half – it’s like it multiples. Your time multiples, your love multiplies.
He continued, “I can’t help but think about, in this decision that you are making right now, that in order for those things to happen, somebody has to die.”
“Planned Parenthood [says] it’s just cells dividing,” Alicia said, adding that she was only five weeks along. “But I can’t help but feel like it is a life, or that it isn’t ‘just a pregnancy’ as they say.”
“Planned Parenthood, of course, is in the business of making money by doing abortions,” Madrid pointed out.
So naturally, they’re going to say anything they can to keep that money going. We’re all a clump of cells. You and I are both a clump of cells. We just look different now than we did when we were that age.
He inquired if she had prayed about this life-and-death decision. Alicia said that she had read and prayed a lot, “just asking God for a sign, for something.”
“Think of it this way. You asked for a sign. I don’t think you would be calling if you didn’t deep down inside realize there’s something really wrong with having an abortion.”
“That’s your conscience speaking to you,” he added. “And that’s true. The voice of God is speaking to you through your conscience, saying don’t do this.”
He didn’t minimize the difficulties nor that fact that if she chose abortion it would be ending a child’s life. Madrid referred to Matthew 6:33, saying “God will give you everything you need… Put first the Kingdom of Heaven, and everything else will be added unto you.”
“Do the right thing, always put Jesus first, always put the truth first, and everything else will fall into place,” he said:
She said she never heard of Madrid’s radio show before. “I was looking for a sign … and I wasn’t expecting to find you today,” she said.
“I’m really glad you did,” Madrid replied. “I’m really glad that God had our paths cross this way.”
He referred Alicia to a Pregnancy Resource Center in her area that could help her prepare for the birth of her child.
“Thank you so much. I really needed this,” she said. “You really changed my heart, and changed my mind, and gave me what I needed to hear.”
“Thanks be to God,” Madrid said.