By Lou Baldwin
Special to The CS&T
It was what they call an unplanned pregnancy. “Jane” was in her late teens and unmarried with a baby on the way. The best thing, she thought, was to have an abortion. But she kept putting it off; maybe part of her was repulsed by the idea.
Finally, in June 2008, when she calculated she was about six months pregnant, she visited Planned Parenthood in Bristol for a first consultation. Afterward she decided to shop around by calling other facilities that perform abortions.
One of her calls was to Bucks County Community Women’s Center, which she discovered, is definitely not an abortion center. It’s a center that provides options for women who decide against abortion.
Jess Chominski at the center counseled Jane over the phone. Jane was hesitant, and said she’d call back.
All abortions kill a baby, but there is something horrific about late term abortions, which this would be. Jess called pro-life friends on a prayer chain, asking for prayers for Jane and her baby.
Among those she called were Geoff and Helen Mazur.
The Mazurs were a thoroughly pro-life young couple. They were both active with the Pro-Life Union of Southeastern Pennsylvania, veterans of the annual March for Life in Washington, and Helen was development director for Generation Life.
Members of St. Helena Parish, Collegeville, they’d been married since 2003. They wanted a child but hadn’t yet conceived, and had been thinking about the possibility of adoption. It did cross their mind that if Jane wanted to put her baby up for adoption, they might be interested.
“We prayed about it and were very welcoming to an adoption.There was no hesitation,” Geoff said.
At any rate Jane didn’t call back to the Bucks County Community Center for another two weeks. In the meantime she’d gone to a clinic in Cherry Hill, N.J., that routinely performed late-term abortions, where she had all of the preliminary tests but backed out at the last minute.
She called the center and told Chominski she would have the baby but didn’t want to keep it and would be willing to put it up for adoption if the right couple could be found.
A meeting was arranged. Jane was satisfied the Mazurs would make good parents, and an agreement was reached. The Mazurs accompanied Jane for her first pre-natal checkup, and all involved were startled to learn she wasn’t six months pregnant; she was at least eight months pregnant.
Four days later, Sunday, July 27, 2008, Geoff and Helen were on their way to church when the call came. Jane was in labor at Lower Bucks Hospital. They turned the car around, rushed to the hospital and got to the delivery room four minutes after a beautiful little girl was born. The nurse took the baby and was going to give it to Jane to hold, but she told them to give it to Helen instead.
The adoption went smoothly, thanks to the services of pro-life lawyer Jim Owens. The Mazurs named their little blond-haired girl Marianna.
Jane met with them a few times after, just to make sure she made the right choice in parents for the baby.
Now Helen is a stay-at-home mom, and she and Geoff have relocated to Tioga County, where her family lives. They were back in Philadelphia with little Marianna for the annual Stand Up for Life Dinner in November, and in all likelihood, come January, the family will be on a bus with other members of their parish, St. Thomas the Apostle in Elkland, headed to Washington for the March for Life.
“Ironically, she looks like Geoff in his baby pictures. God set up the right family,” Helen said.
Lou Baldwin is a member of St. Leo Parish and a freelance writer.
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