Brittany Smith - Unplanned Grace: A Compassionate Conversation on Life and Choice

What people are saying about

unplanned grace

Unplanned Grace is my new favorite book on helping people understand why every life is sacred. There are accidental parents, but there are no accidental children! Your parents may not have planned you, but God didand he had a purpose for your birth. This book is biblical, practical, loving, and warmhearted.

Rick Warren, DMin, author of The Purpose Driven Life

Unplanned Grace fills the reader with hope and healing as it uncovers the personal side of abortion: the scariness of an unplanned pregnancyoften amid abuseand the unbearable cultural and family pressure that women feel to choose abortion. Individuals and churches will discover dozens of practical tools to help those with unplanned pregnancies.

Jeff Myers, PhD, president of Summit Ministries

Between the stirring stories and straight-forward statistics, Unplanned Grace is a compelling tapestry of grace, showing the pregnancy-help community stepping up to love people facing difficult decisions. This book reveals the bigger picture of the Spirit of God at work with empowering grace.

Jor-El Godsey, president of Heartbeat International

Unplanned Grace exemplifies what it truly looks like to lead with love and compassion. Its not just about being pro-life; its about being ABUNDANT pro-life. If youre someone whos pro-life but not sure how to get plugged in, this is definitely the book for you.

Ashley Bratcher, actress (Unplanned), producer, inspirational speaker

Pro-life advocates are often wrongly accused of caring for the baby only until he or she is born. This book demonstrates through story how pro-life men and women across the country care about the whole personthe moms, the dads, and the babiesthroughout the pregnancy and after.

John Stonestreet, president of the Chuck Colson Center, cohost of Breakpoint radio; Sarah Stonestreet, cohost of the Strong Women podcast

Unplanned Grace will help Christians more thoughtfully engage the pro-life conversation in society today. It helped me not only empathize with the complexities women (and men) face during unplanned pregnancy but also grow more confident in the creative ways the church can show up in the lives of those affected.

Rebekah Lyons, bestselling author of Rhythms of Renewal

Unplanned Grace is a beautifully written practical guide to understanding the crisis facing parents with an unplanned pregnancy, how pregnancy centers support womens health, and the powerful impact we must have on protecting the most vulnerable.

Karysse J Trandem, DO, OB-GYN, CEO of Canopy Global Foundation

Foreword by Lauren Green McAfee

Brittany Smith & Natasha Smith

UNPLANNED GRACE

Published by David C Cook

4050 Lee Vance Drive

Colorado Springs, CO 80918 U.S.A.

Integrity Music Limited, a Division of David C Cook

Brighton, East Sussex BN1 2RE, England

The graphic circle C logo is a registered trademark of David C Cook.

All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form without written permission from the publisher.

The website addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a resource to you. These websites are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of David C Cook, nor do we vouch for their content.

All stories are based on real clients, though some names and details have been changed to honor the confidentiality and protect the identities of the persons involved.

All Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.TM Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.TM

Library of Congress Control Number 2021932640

ISBN 978-0-8307-8211-6

eISBN 978-0-8307-8212-3

2021 Save the Storks

The Team: Michael Covington, Stephanie Bennett, Judy Gillispie, Leigh Davidson, James Hershberger, Katie Long, Susan Murdock

Cover Design: James Hershberger

First Edition 2021

To all women and men who face the unplanned, who experience struggle and fear. May you find hope, healing, and life. To those who heroically choose life and to those who bravely seek healing from past choices

To all pregnancy resource centers and pro-life organizations that exist to support, educate, and empower those facing an unplanned pregnancy. To the health care professionals who volunteer their time to ensure that more women have access to free pregnancy care in the hope they will choose life

To the church and the people of God, who are called to love and care for those who are vulnerable including moms, dads, and babies. May this book serve as a catalyst for even more empowered change and lifesaving choices in and through your church.

Chances are, if youve picked up this book, you consider yourself pro-life and you proudly champion human dignity for all life. But if youve picked up this book and do not consider yourself pro-life, chances are you too would champion the idea that every person has dignity and value. People on both sides of the pro-life/pro-choice issue care about lives; where we disagree is in the details.

Real-life examples of the complex decisions required in tough situations can often bring us closer together. Through personal stories, we can connect. This book is significant because it moves beyond tweets and sound bites into actual stories of women seeking pregnancy services. It gets beyond the echo chambers of talking points and highlights the very rubber meets the road realities that women and men face.

On a chilly night in November 2012, I had a rubber meets the road moment of my own, and being pro-life was going to cost me something. Growing up in the Midwest, I was surrounded by people with similar values, which included the pro-life cause. People in the church cared about the sanctity of life, and as a young person I never heard anyone talk personally about abortion. I knew I considered myself pro-life, but I had never truly grappled with that belief.

In my twenties, I suddenly found my beliefs being tested, but not in the way most people might think. The cost came when a government mandate began to force my familys privately held company, Hobby Lobby, to pay for abortive drugs and devices. If our family did not comply, the fines would be steep and unsustainable for the business. My entire career and livelihood were wrapped up in the family business. The options came down to (1) comply with the government mandate to pay for abortive drugs that went against our convictions about life or (2) resist and face crippling fines that would likely shutter the business.

It was a shift in my experience as a pro-life advocatemy convictions were going to cost me something. If nothing else, they were going to cost my comfort. Was I willing to pay?

I decided I was. In the end, the companys case went all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States, where the court ruled in Hobby Lobbys favor.