Hurting moms and dads facing an adverse prenatal diagnosis about their preborn baby are often heavily pressured to abort. For some families, giving birth to a baby with special needs may be an embarrassment. They might feel social pressure to hide their “accident.” Pro-abortion people encourage parents to remain in control of themselves and their children by offering what seems like “the responsible way” to solve “nature’s mistakes.”

 In our pain-free seeking society, medical problems that cause emotional and financial pain are feared. Abortion pressure from doctors and even family members is strong. Facing death, or even the fear of seeing someone they love suffer, may be more than some birth parents feel they can cope with. In our society it is acceptable to choose murder (death of the baby) over misery. As pregnancy center staff, you’ve heard clients say many times, “I would rather have an abortion than give my baby up for adoption.”

 Besides, general medical adverse pregnancy diagnoses such as Down Syndrome or spina bifida, substance abuse, rape/incest, HIV-positive or AIDS can also be reasons behind the choice to terminate an unborn baby’s life.

 Seeing the need to offer birth parents the option of life, CHASK (an acronym for “Christian Homes and Special Kids”) was founded by Tom and Sherry Bushnell in Porthill, Idaho. CHASK is a nonprofit organization that has a twofold mission. 

 First, it offers incredible support to parents receiving adverse pregnancy diagnosis of their unborn baby. CHASK shares honest, practical information and resources by connecting the parents to other parents of special needs children. This support group is willing to share in person, over the phone or by written correspondence. Besides encouraging the parents to carry their special needs baby to term, they also come alongside the parents after the birth to walk them through the experience.

 If birth moms and dads cannot parent their baby with a disability, there are hundreds of CHASK families willing to share their lives with a special needs baby. No matter how grave the medical situation, CHASK has Christian parents willing to care for babies at risk for abortion.  Babies that would have otherwise been “thrown away” are valued because a CHASK family has said, “We love this baby.  We want him.”

 If your center staff is presented with an adverse pregnancy diagnosis situation, you can refer your clients to CHASK for loving support to walk them through the challenges of raising a special needs child or to be there as a source for adoption. 

 You can direct clients to the CHASK Web site (www.chask.org) for loads of information for the birthparent facing an adverse pregnancy diagnosis. There are testimonies from CHASK adopting parents and also from birthparents who have worked with CHASK.

 Additionally, your clients can read letters from families who are waiting to adopt special needs children. Another valuable source of information provided on the Web site is a section called “What is it like to parent . . . ?” that covers different special needs situations.

 CHASK can be a valuable resource for your pregnancy center staff as you minister to parents in adverse pregnancy diagnosis abortion-vulnerable situations. 

 If your center’s volunteer peer counselors need a brochure about adverse pregnancy diagnosis, they can download it from the CHASK Web site. You can also request print brochures from the resource area.                  

The folks at CHASK do this through their trust in Jesus Christ and out of love for birth families and special needs children. By offering adoption as an option for any child, regardless of medical diagnosis, including fatal or terminal illnesses, the caring families in the CHASK network are pro-life in the purest sense of the word.

Tom and Sherry Bushnell are founders of CHASK (Christian Homes and Special Kids)in Porthill, Idaho. For more information, log on to their Web site at www.chask.org or e-mail chaskinfo@aol.com.

Used with permission. Some copy taken from “Christian Homes and Special Kids” by Sherry Bushnell and Diane Ryckman. Published 2003 by NATHNAN/CHASK.