Couple (illustrative)
Couple (illustrative)Thinkstock

In a series of articles about the “Efrat” organization,Arutz Shevapresents a number of personal stories and anecdotes relating the group's life-saving activities. This week’s article centers on a young student’s surprise pregnancy, and the help and guidance she received from Efrat, which enabled her to find new strength, resources and courage to bring new life into the world.

“I met Eran in school, and after a few short months of dating, I found out I was expecting,” Rachel recounts, recalling how she shared the news with her boyfriend, and his initial facial expressions, which could not conceal a state of deep and utter shock.

“Neither of us had considered marriage as a final step for our relationship. We were enjoying dating and spending our university experiences together. The pregnancy hit us like a bolt of lightning on a clear day. I had no clue what Eran thought of the whole situation and what the future had in store for us and for this unexpected pregnancy.”

Rachel remembers Eran slowly distancing himself from her, each time using a different excuse to cancel dates, stave off conversations and spend time by himself or with others. She began to think that even though, in the past, she had not considered marrying him, based on the current progression of their lives, the future would be much harder for her without Eran in it.

“I thought that since he had not proposed marriage, he had no intention of doing so. On the other hand, we were still technically together; he had not broken things off between us.”

Rachel was not comfortable with the idea of terminating the pregnancy, and so she turned to Efrat, after coming across the organization’s work on Facebook, via a link sent to her by a friend. Rachel spoke with an Efrat volunteer, who counseled her and suggested discussing the matter with Eran. After all, it was only fair that he be let in on her doubts regarding pregnancy and abortion.

“We decided to meet at neutral place. I told him that I felt that the pregnancy was distancing him from me, and that that was not what I wanted. That I felt that if we wanted to continue to be together, I guessed I would have to have an abortion.”

To Rachel’s surprise, Eran shuddered at the mere mention of terminating the pregnancy. “What are you talking about?” he said. “I will not allow you to hurt yourself for my sake.” Rachel was immediately touched by Eran’s words.

The two continued to talk, eventually discovering that neither one of them had wanted to pressure the other into a shotgun wedding, although both secretly considered marriage. The subject had therefore not been brought up at all.

Rachel picked up her phone and called her assigned Efrat volunteer. She told the volunteer that she was grateful for having listened to her advice and that she and Eran had decided to marry. Because both bride and groom were penniless students, they requested post-natal aid from Efrat, and received constant encouragement and accompaniment throughout the remainder of the pregnancy.

“My assigned Efrat volunteer made me feel like we were doing the right thing,” Rachel exclaimed.

Unfortunately, a few weeks later, Rachel suffered a spontaneous miscarriage. The recovery was very difficult for her. “I couldn’t help but think, that if I felt so awful from a natural loss, then how horrible would I have felt if I would have forcibly terminated the pregnancy?”

Despite the difficulty experienced, Rachel and Eran did not cancel their plans to marry. The newlywed couple hopes that just as their relationship took the highroad to success, so too, their future will lead them towards successful, healthy pregnancies and children.