Teen Outreach Using the Internet
Aware that young
people are extremely computer savvy, and that 52% of the abortions in the
United States are performed on girls under 25, The Caring Outreach has
turned to a comprehensive and effective Internet strategy for reaching
this important group.
Targeted advertising sponsored by The Caring Outreach on the Google search
engine drives thousands of young people each month to the
pro-life website, TeenBreaks.com.
Developed by one of our media partners, the Rosetta Foundation, TeenBreaks
was painstakingly researched and developed specifically
to impact Gen Y youth ages 12 to 25
with the pro-life message. TeenBreaks has page after page of useful
and appealing pro-life information on abortion and related issues.
Students in middle school, junior high, high school, and college are using
the site every day, reading the stories offered by other students
and posting their own. Information is offered on pregnancy, abortion, adoption,
abstinence, and hooking up. A special "guys" section has been developed on
the site to answer questions from a distinctly male perspective.
The
feedback we receive from Illinois teens who have changed their minds about
abortion is one way we know our strategy is working. We receive emails that
are a powerful testimony to how hearts and minds are being changed through
our Internet strategy. Because of your donations to The
Caring Outreach, lives are being saved.
 Further evidence of our effectiveness can be found in the numerous contacts
from Illinois to a pregnancy help resource. If pregnancy
is a concern, young people who visit TeenBreaks.com are repeatedly encouraged
to click to, call or write the national pro-life pregnancy assistance
agency, OptionLine. The email link and toll-free phone number offer
immediate 24/7 one-on-one service. Each month, over 300 viewers
from the state of Illinois are clicking from TeenBreaks to OptionLine.
If only 1% of those seeking help are saved from an abortion, that means you
are helping to save three babies each month!
You can be a part of this exciting work by making a secure online
donation now.
Read more about our Internet
strategy (PDF)
Read
how to promote TeenBreaks in your community
here...
Examples of feedback from TeenBreaks.com -
Christina / Illinois / Age 17 - My name is Christina, I’m 17 years
old and I had an abortion. When I first found out I was pregnant, I was
only 15. I told my boyfriend, whom I been dating for a year already. He
was 17 at the time and he was soo excited. He wanted this baby and so did
I. I knew if I aborted, my life wouldn’t ever be the same.
Anyway, when it was time to tell my mother I was already 12 weeks pregnant,
and when we told her she was soo furious. She immediately kicked my boyfriend
out and called the doctor to terminate the pregnancy. I refused to do it
and my boyfriend did all he could to try to change my mother's mind but nothing
worked. I cried myself to sleep every night until THAT day came. It was August
16th when my mom dragged me to the clinic. I caused a huge commotion because
I didn’t want to do it. I cried. I yelled. I did everything but it was all
gonna be done. My mom had the nerve to call my boyfriend and tell him to
come. He did of course and he calmed me down and told me it was gonna be
okay. He held my hand all through the procedure. It hurt so bad. I felt everything.
My boyfriend and I cried when it was all over. Ever since that day our lives
changed tremendously. We see things differently. I can’t even look at a baby
or a pregnant woman without crying. Still to this day I cry at night and
pray to God to take care of my baby. I knew I was young -- way to young --
but we could have made it one way or another. Now we will never know. I regret
it every single day, and if I could go back to change it...I would...I had
never experienced something so horrible and hurtful. I can't believe what
I had done and I would do anything to change it. I advise all teenage girls
that are considering abortion to at least try to come up with another solution
- like adoption. but I’m not here to tell you what to do. I’m trying to
help, I don’t want to see another person hurt the way I do – every day and
every night.
These stories of abuse are received often enough that they warranted a full section on Teenbreaks. They are particularly disturbing because it is supposed to be a woman’s “RIGHT to choose”. Coerced abortions come from many directions, some quite subtle, some circumstantial but they do not really allow a girl/woman/mother to make a “choice”.
We can make information available to youth but in the end we must change
the culture to one that values human life. To do this we must be in the public
arena - making our case and proving that we care about each mother regardless
of age or race or whatever. Teenbreaks give us one very good vehicle - TV
messages another.
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Teneice / Illinois / Age 13-15 - The day I went to have the abortion,
I was so afraid, each step of the process I was thinking… is it too late
to turn back and say no….but the next thing I knew I woke up after the
abortion going crazy. I knew right then and there that I hadn’t wanted
to do it. It hurt me so bad. I still can't get over it. The biggest thing
I'll ever regret. My advice to other girls is be strong about your own
decisions because you can't take them back.
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Mariah/Illinois/16-19 – Hi. I’m Mariah and I am 16 years old and expecting my daughter in about four months. But before all that I was a teenage wreck. I went through six years of sexual abuse by my older brother, which led to depression and cutting. I was a cutter for over half my life, but now I am recovering. I made a lot of mistakes and ended up behind in school. But since I discovered I was pregnant, that has all changed. I found a teen parent service program, and now I am graduating high school a year early! And its all thanks to people like the founders of this webpage – people
who care enough to listen and make a difference! Thanks.
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Kim / Illinois / Age 14 - found herself pregnant by her 17 year old boyfriend.
She ended up being pressured to have an abortion. She writes… my
mom told me that after I had the abortion everything would be fine…when I woke up
after the surgery, I screamed! I couldn’t believe I had killed my son. It’s
been over a year and there is not a day that goes by without thinking about
him. I’ll never get over it….
To counter this pro-choice mindset, and to let mothers like Kim know of the services of pro-life alternative agencies, The Caring Outreach went on television for the first time in the year 2000 with 292 spots specifically designed to encourage new moms to call for help if it was needed. We learned that year that only ABC refused to accept pro-life ads. The message we selected informed women of services available and witnessed to the care and compassion pro-lifers have for both babies and their mothers.
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One young man named Wesley tried desperately to encourage his
girlfriend to keep their baby. He writes….
one evening she told me in two simple words, “it’s gone.”…. Despite the
fact that I would have raised the child with or without her, I couldn’t choose
to be a father… the one thing that I thought would become the greatest
joy in life, has become the greatest pain. It hurts more than words could
ever describe… and I felt helpless--because there was nothing I could do
about it….
It is a fact that fathers have been disenfranchised from the
abortion decision. Many have been caught in the same tragic dilemma, unable
to protect their own sons and daughters when the mothers chose to abort.
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Heather / Illinois / Age 18
- got involved with an older man and did not find it difficult to have her
first abortion at 14. So she had three more before she was 18. Then she got
pregnant again and looked up abortion on the Internet. Amazed at the size
of the baby and pictures of abortions she now realizes that what she did
to her babies was in her words - awful. She writes... all the things I
didn't feel then came back times ten. If I had seen pictures and knew this
years ago, I would not have done it...
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Would you like to help The Caring Outreach continue
this important work?
Click here to make a secure
online donation now.
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