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WEST CHESTER, PA, February 7, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A woman considering abortion says that God used a broken-down transmission and the fervent prayers of sidewalk counselors to keep her and her husband from aborting their 18 week old son.

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Cartier, 21, and her husband live in a government housing project in Pennsylvania. They already had four children when Cartier discovered she was pregnant again and feared they’d be kicked out of their apartment because of an occupancy limit of six people. They decided to go to a Planned Parenthood facility in West Chester, near Philadelphia, for an abortion.

This was the second abortion for Cartier, who had the first in 2012. As she told Christian News Network, “I went to Planned Parenthood because I was stuck in my own world doing everything that I wanted to do. I was going to go get another abortion.”

When she and her husband arrived at the facility, sidewalk counselors were outside, praying and ready to offer alternatives to women. Cartier says she and her husband avoided the counselors as they entered.

Once inside, Cartier soon discovered she could not have an abortion at the West Chester facility because she was already 18 weeks along in her pregnancy. She would have to go to a clinic in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, instead.

About an hour after arriving, sidewalk counselor Mary Ellen Caris remembers seeing the couple exit the building. They got in their car, prepared to make the drive to New Jersey but suddenly, the transmission in their car would not work, dying right in front of the sidewalk counselors. Cartier’s husband started the car again and made it around a corner, when the card died once more and would not budge.

Cartier and her husband could not believe it. They had just spent $500 on car repairs the week before yet now they were having issues they should not have been experiencing.

Cartier said, “The whole time that my husband and I were in the car, we kept saying, “What if it’s God? What if He’s trying to tell us something?”

The counselors said they could get the couple home but made them promise to visit Chester County Women’s Services in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, first. Cartier reluctantly agreed and soon they were on their way.

Many prayers were said for the couple as they made their way inside. Lisa Thomas, director of the women’s center, spoke to Cartier in her office. Suddenly, Cartier broke down. She decided to text her mother to tell her she was pregnant and was surprised to receive a reply congratulating her. Cartier had not expected such a positive response.

Once Cartier was given an ultrasound at the visit, she knew she could not choose abortion. She told her husband, “Oh my goodness, I can’t do it.”

The logistics of keeping their baby boy seemed daunting. Neither Cartier nor her husband was employed. Now, they did not even have a vehicle.

So, they prayed for God to meet their needs.

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Tangible aid came quickly. They were given a van when someone heard that their car had died. Cartier received a call saying someone at the church they had begun attending wanted to have the church bless their baby. “All you have to do is be here, and people are going to buy you everything you need for the baby,” Cartier was told.

The couple continued to receive help. “Every time we didn’t have food in our house, somebody’s bringing over groceries,” Cartier says. “Every time we’d think, ‘How are we going to get here?’ because we didn’t have any gas in the car, someone would say, ‘Oh, the church gave you a gas card, so you can put gas in your car.’”

Baby Roman was born on December 4th. Cartier and her husband, who have become born again Christians, say they owe it all to miraculous setbacks and the love of His people.

Caris offers encouragement for Christians who wish to care for others who are in her position, who may be considering abortion.

God will work in the hearts of the people they pray for, so they are ready to accept the help that is offered. “While praying in our prayer closets and praying about abortion in our homes and churches is really important, being a physical presence at the gates of Hell is just undeniably one of the most powerful things you can do,” she said.