An emergency call to the office this weekend reminded me of another emergency call we took one weekend several years ago.

Nicole* didn’t understand what was happening when her mother and stepfather took her to a pregnancy clinic. Testing revealed that the 11-year-old girl was 12.5 weeks pregnant with a child of her own.

For years, it turned out, Nicole had been sexually abused by her uncles. This time she was pregnant.

The clinic called the South Carolina Department of Social Services (DSS), which immediately removed young Nicole from her home, and almost as immediately scheduled her for an abortion ... whether she wanted one or not.

Nicole, and the foster family with whom she had been placed, were given less than 24 hours' notice that DSS would be aborting her child.

"You mean to kill my baby?" Nicole asked her foster parents. The girl was horrified and began to cry. Despite the horrors she had been through, Nicole did not want an innocent baby to die for her uncles’ crimes. But the State of South Carolina was trying to FORCE Nicole to have an abortion against her will. Her foster parents called Liberty Counsel.

SC DSS never explained to Nicole that she had a choice as to whether to abort or give birth to her child. Instead, they simply scheduled an abortion and had every intention of ensuring that abortion happened, despite Nicole’s protestations.

Liberty Counsel stepped in and represented Nicole in an emergency filing with the court, requesting a permanent injunction that would prevent the State of South Carolina from forcing an abortion on this pregnant child.

“I am being required by South Carolina Department of Social Services to terminate my pregnancy (to have an abortion),” Nicole wrote in her sworn deposition. “I do not want to have an abortion. I want the option to continue my pregnancy. I will decide later whether to give my baby up for adoption or keep him or her.”

“Unless this Court intervenes and protects me, I understand that at any time, DSS will come and take me to have an abortion against my will,” Nicole continued in her deposition. “I am afraid that because they are bigger than me, they can hold me down and kill my baby, even though I resist them.”

Liberty Counsel worked around the clock that weekend, and the court granted our emergency request. Nicole gave birth to a healthy and handsome baby boy who was adopted by a loving Christian family. Nicole stayed with the Christian family that fostered her, receiving all the love and counseling necessary to recover from the horrific abuse she had received as a child. She is now a beautiful young woman with a bright future ahead of her.

Little Peter, Nicole’s child, isn’t so little anymore. He’s 10 years old now and growing like a weed, according to his adoptive parents. We keep a picture of this precious child, taken just moments after he was born, in our office.

Without your direct financial support of Liberty Counsel, Peter would be dead, and Nicole would have a scar on her soul from being forced to abort her precious little boy.

As to the emergency call this weekend — it's a different situation in a different place, but just the same, it is a matter of life and death. Please pray for all involved, and I will update you when I can.

Every day — and on weekends, too — Liberty Counsel’s attorneys fight for the sanctity of life, defending Planned Parenthood whistleblowers like Sandra Merritt, sidewalk counselors arrested for praying outside abortion clinics, and helpless young women being coerced into abortion by government bureaucrats.

Every day, we fight for the lives of the unborn and the natural family our Creator designed. We never charge our clients, as few could afford to take on a government gone mad. Instead, our clients rely on friends like YOU, faithful Liberty Counsel supporters, to ensure liberty for future generations. Support our legal fund today and a special Challenge Grant will DOUBLE the impact of your donation.

Proverbs 31:8-9 calls God’s people to be a voice for the voiceless, a defense for the defenseless. Thank you for enabling Liberty Counsel to fulfill this God-given mandate.