Chapter 40

Connie Peterson got to the office early Monday morning and began checking emails. Along with the regular concerns of the support group, she had four emails in response to the one she had sent regarding Carissa. All of them wanted to hear more about what Carissa was hoping to accomplish and how they could help. Two group leaders sent back their own personal stories that matched the story of Carissa’s parents, along with confirming that there were several more similar stories in their local chapters.

It was starting to look like this was a bigger problem than Connie thought, and these stories were only coming from parents who had chosen to give their children life despite the terrible prognosis. How many moms and dads had actually gone through with the abortions based on such information? She would probably never know.

She decided to email Annabelle and Carissa to let them know what was going on. They’d be excited to hear of the support. First, though, Connie needed fuel. She stepped over to the coffee pot and put some on to brew. She made it strong this morning. She would need a lot of energy to get this ball rolling. When it was done, she poured herself a cup, black, and sat down to write the first email.

Dear Carissa and Annabelle,

You’ll be excited to hear that I’ve received several responses back from the email I sent regarding the law we’ve been talking about. This problem seems to be widespread in our community, and I suspect we’ll never know how far it truly reaches. Many parents probably take the information given to them as truthful and choose to abort, and we may never know how many fall into that category. Everyone who has responded so far, though, seems interested in getting the ball rolling in this area, and I expect to hear from more this week. Carissa, for eighteen years old, you sure are a mature young lady. I suspect you’ll take this far. Annabelle, maybe you could give us some insight into how we get this to Austin? I look forward to hearing back from you both, and can’t wait to be behind you in this endeavor.

– Connie Peterson

She sent the email off and got to work responding to the rest that had come in over the weekend. It took her most of the day to respond to everyone who was interested in helping Carissa with her idea. There would be no shortage of boots, or wheels, on the ground for this.