Bishop John Noonan | Diocese of Orland website

Desperately eager to learn if she was pregnant or not, 22-year-old Ediana Valdez didn’t wait to get home to take her pregnancy test. Instead, she ran to the store bathroom. It was positive. She burst into tears, not knowing how she could possibly keep the child when she and her partner, Louis Venta, were already struggling to feed themselves and their 2-year-old daughter. The couple shared a twin bed in a small room at the home of Venta’s parents. Their daughter slept in a cramped playpen next to them. Scammed out of their life savings from a business venture gone awry, they moved back to Orlando to be near family. Life was a far cry from the early days of their courtship.

"We were doing so much to have a better life, but we kept getting pushed back further. I couldn’t take the situation anymore," Valdez recalled. "It was a struggle mentally and emotionally."

On the night she went to get a pregnancy test, she found herself crying uncontrollably and begging Venta to buy her a pizza. He could barely afford it. It was the intense craving that made her realize she might be pregnant. But the discovery brought no relief.

"I’m not going to bring kids into this life to struggle," she told Louis. "We’re far from getting our own place, and we don’t have space where we are, let alone adding another kid. I can’t have this kid. I’m so sorry," she told him.

She asked God for forgiveness. She thought to herself, "I know I wasn’t raised like this. My family is Catholic."

She said, although she thought she couldn’t have another child, her heart kept telling her she couldn’t have an abortion. "My heart was telling me, ‘You’ll figure it out. You have to have this baby. You’re meant to do this. You did it with your first, you’ll do it again.’"

But fear overcame her, and the next day she called Planned Parenthood. They didn’t have an appointment for two months. Not knowing how far along she was, she feared she would exceed the 15-week time frame during which a woman in Florida could have an abortion at the time.

Unable to see her, Planned Parenthood sent her to another abortion clinic. There she could be seen in one week, but she would have to pay $500 upfront for a sonogram and the abortion. As she had no money, they sent her somewhere that would help her financially. Despite getting $250, she needed more. The couple tried to pawn belongings, but nothing would sell.

Discovering she could get a free sonogram at a local pro-life pregnancy center, she decided to go. At least she would know how far along she was and if she could go forward with the abortion. On their way to the sonogram, Valdez told Venta, "The only way I’m keeping this pregnancy is if I’m having twins."

She said she wasn’t sure where the idea had come from, except that she had been caring for fraternal twins at home. She believed it was the Holy Spirit at work.

"After having the twins and moving to our casita, I’ve been the happiest I’ve ever been in my life," she said. "It’s just us, our three kids and our dog. And our life has started getting better now."

By Glenda Meekins of the Florida Catholic staff, May 08, 2024