Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2009 / Pregnancy center director will tell her own story at Mass for Unborn
Pregnancy center director will tell her own story at Mass for Unborn
by Kristin Lukowski of The Michigan Catholic
Published January 9, 2009
Pro-life events planned to mark Roe v. Wade anniversary
DETROIT Following are some of the events hosted by Catholic parishes and schools to commemorate the anniversary of Roe v. Wade:
The Project Rachel Memorial Mass for the Unborn will be celebrated 11 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 18, at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, 9844 Woodward Ave., Detroit. Msgr. Michael LeFevre will be the celebrant. Light refreshments will be provided following Mass. For information, call (313) 237-5905.
From 2-3 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 18 Madonna University in Livonia will host the annual Right to Life Lifespan Rally for Life. The event will feature guest speakers, music and refreshments. Madonna University is on Levan Road, just off of the I-96 expressway. For details, call (248) 478-8878 or (734) 422-6230.
At 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 13, Mary Lockwood, a post-abortive woman who has experienced God's love and mercy after her abortion, will give a talk entitled "He Forgives You," about her experience. The talk is at St. Michael School, 11441 Hubbard in Livonia.
St. Aidan Parish's annual interfaith "People of Life" prayer service will take place at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 18. St. Aidan Parish is at 17500 Farmington Road in Livonia, between Six Mile and Seven Mile roads.
An interfaith memorial service for the unborn will take place at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 18, at St. Cletus Church in Warren, at 26256 Ryan Road. The service will include music and a homily. For details, call (586) 774-6050.
A March for Life and prayer service will take place in Wyandotte beginning at 12:45 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 18. Participants begin at either St. Stanislaus Kostka, 2nd Street and Antoine, or at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 10th Street and Superior. They march to Mount Carmel Cemetery, 9th Street and Northline Road, where an indoor prayer service is held.
Pro-life activists will gather at Christ the King Parish Center, 4000 Ave Maria Drive, in Ann Arbor Township, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 10, for a pro-life summit. Speakers include Bishop Earl Boyea, Professor Janet Smith, Fr. Frank Pavone, Al Kresta, Ed Rivet and Deal Hudson. Registration is $35, with discounts for students, and free for clergy and religious. Phone (517) 546-3092. | Lathrup Village Michelle Yax tries to help all of the women who seek help at the Problem Pregnancy Center in Lathrup Village. "I have not encountered a situation where abortion is the best option ever," she said.
Of the options a woman is faced with when dealing with an unwanted or unplanned pregnancy, abortion's the one that brings no joy to a woman, she said. Not only does the baby die, but a family that might be looking to adopt is left with empty arms, and a part of the woman dies with the baby.
Yax, executive director of Mother & Unborn Baby Care, the nonprofit that funds Problem Pregnancy Center, said that best decision means steering them toward parenting the child or making the baby available for adoption. One of the reasons Yax is so passionate about her work guiding women toward parenting or adoption her office bookshelf is crammed with books about fertility and stopping abortion, and she admits she could talk for a week on the subject is that 26 years ago, at age 18, she herself was facing an unplanned pregnancy that ended in an abortion.
Yax, a member of St. Raphael Parish in Garden City, is speaking at the upcoming Project Rachel Memorial Mass for the Unborn at 11 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 18, at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit. She said she loves that the Catholic Church is stepping up more and more to be a strong voice for the unborn, raising awareness along the way. "I'm really proud to be a part of it," she said of the Mass. "I'm so grateful to the Church for reaching out to women."
As a teenager, about to graduate from high school and looking forward to a future that included a college scholarship, a football standout boyfriend and possibly some modeling, she made what she called a quick, rash decision to terminate her pregnancy at seven and a half weeks, without considering any of the consequences. In the next four years, she felt shame so intense she found she couldn't share it with anyone, and suffered silently. It came to a head when she attempted suicide but, even in her despair, felt the hand of God on her, pulling her out of the pit she was in, she said.
She doesn't know why God saved her, but believes it's because her father has prayed the rosary every day of his life since he was 7, and faith of her uncle, a now-retired priest and that the grace of God came through them as a response to her needing their prayers.
Once she hit bottom and started healing, Yax became active volunteering for the pro-life cause. After losing her airline job after Sept. 11 she started working for Right to Life of Michigan, where she was also introduced to the full scope of information out there about how damaging abortion really is. "I see over and over again, through the choice of abortion, women bring into their life depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, difficulty bonding (with others)," she said. "It creates such turmoil down the line."
She began sidewalk counseling, began speaking out about abortion, and finally attended a Rachel's Vineyard weekend, a retreat for those healing from abortion. She said if she could say one thing to women healing from abortion, it's that if they are resisting going to a retreat or healing experience stop resisting and go. "I came to insights that weekend I never would have on my own," she said.
Her work can be grueling emotionally, she said, partly because she relives all the steps she was going through as she helps clients, and partly because sometimes, women choose to terminate a pregnancy regardless of counseling. But, "nothing compares to holding a baby that you know was about to be aborted, and is here because of some part you played in reaching their mother at that time," she said. "Nothing compares to them coming back and saying thank you. It keeps you going." When a woman calls the center for help, Yax is upfront in saying they don't perform abortions, and won't refer them to a place that does. But last year, of the several hundred women who came to the center, she knows of only eight for sure that went on to have abortions.
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Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic
Michelle Yax, executive director of Mother & Unborn Baby Care in Lathrup Village, is able to show expecting mothers images of their baby with the center's ultrasound machine. She holds a model of a 26-week-old fetus. |
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Kristin Lukowski | The Michigan Catholic
Michelle Yax will be speaking at the Jan. 18 Project Rachel Memorial Mass for the Unborn. | Part of their success rate comes from providing such compelling information on how abortion is traumatizing both emotionally and physically. That education is key, Yax said both before an abortion, to hopefully prevent it, and also afterward should an abortion take place, to let women know they are not alone.
The Mass for the Unborn plays a large part in healing because it gathers together all people who have been touched by abortion women and men who have lost children; parents who might have encouraged their own daughter to have an abortion and now regret the loss of their grandchild; friends who might have accompanied someone else to an abortion, thinking they were doing the right thing, and now regret it. "This gives us a chance to come together to grieve the loss of those children, especially women still locked in shame, grief and guilt," Yax said.
Volunteers for Mother & Unborn Baby Care are always needed. The next training session is Thursday, Jan. 15, from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. and Friday, Jan. 16, from 9 a.m.-noon. Call Laverne at (248) 559-7576.
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