Deyana got pregnant when she was 18 and a freshman in college, just after having moved away from home.
“When I originally found out I was pregnant, I automatically said, ‘Okay, well I want to keep this baby,’" she said.
About a month later, she had a miscarriage.
It was a very traumatizing experience for her, losing her baby, dealing with the hospital, going through what she did and managing all on her own for the first time.
And then a short time later she got pregnant again, but this time she felt differently about it.
“When I got pregnant that second time, I was definitely unsure,” Deyana said. “I was scared. I didn't know what my future looked like, including a child.”
She didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about it.
“It didn't take me long to decide that I wanted an abortion,” she said.
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Deyana and her boyfriend made the several-hour trip from Huntsville, Ala., where they attended school, to Charlotte, N.C. for her to have an abortion.
Her boyfriend was supportive of her decision though he did not want her to get an abortion.
The drive was “incredibly hard,” Deyana told Pregnancy Help News.
When she and her boyfriend arrived at the abortion facility, they were told she couldn't bring her phone in, he could not come in with her, and she even had to take her Apple Watch off.
“I just had to bring me and me only,” she recalled.
In the office Deyana was with a group of other girls.
“They're all telling their stories and I'm hearing different things and it's making me nervous,” she said. “And it's also making me rethink my decision.”
When the doctor came into the room, he handed them each a cup with one pill to start the chemical abortion process.
“We had to take that pill,” said Deyana. “I was still very unsure and very scared. So, I pretended like I took the pill. I just slid the pill in my sleeve and kept it.”
Once that was over, the doctor gave the girls the rest of the pills in a bag, and they went on their way.
When Deyana got to the car, she talked to her boyfriend and told him she didn't take the pill, that she was unsure. She said she knew he wanted to keep the baby, but she was still confused and she wanted to talk about it a little more.
Deyana’s boyfriend remained supportive of her decision, respecting her feelings and telling her he was there for her no matter what.
“So, I took the pill,” she said.
Once they got back to Huntsville that night, Deyana had a dream that she had given birth to a baby girl. The dream was vivid; the birth, the emotions, holding the baby girl.
“It scared me because when I gave birth to her, her face was very distorted,” she said. “Something was off about her face, and it scared me.”
This prompted Deyana the next morning to do some research and she found out that it is possible to reverse a chemical abortion.
Deyana contacted the Abortion Pill Rescue Network, and the staff there connected her with Crossroads Pregnancy Clinic in Fayetteville, Tenn.
She quickly heard back from Amanda Curtis, director of the pregnancy help clinic. Crossroads staff arranged for Deyana to have an ultrasound and connected her with a doctor, who prescribed Abortion Pill Reversal treatment.
Abortion Pill Reversal (APR) involves administering a bioidentical version of progesterone, the natural hormone in a woman’s body necessary to sustain pregnancy. It is an updated application of a treatment used since the 1950s to combat miscarriage. Progesterone counters the effects of mifepristone, the first drug in a chemical abortion, which blocks progesterone.
To date, statistics show that more than 8,000 lives have been saved thanks to the Abortion Pill Rescue Network.
Results are best within 24 hours, but Deyana’s case demonstrates that successful reversals can occur longer after mifepristone is ingested. Deyana said it was a few days before she began progesterone treatment.
“After all of that happened, I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on July 21, 2023,” Deyana said.
Deyana’s story is not without adversity. Her son Kaizen was born a month early due to pre-eclampsia. She went in for a regular appointment and learned she had to go right to the hospital to have her baby. She also had to make a decision about whether to proceed with a vaginal delivery, with the chance she still may have to have a c-section. She ultimately opted for a vaginal birth and was successful. But her son was kept in the NICU for about a month.
“I wasn't ready to leave Baby Boy,” Deyana said. “I didn't want to leave him there. That was really hard for me.”
When she first learned she was pregnant the second time, reconciling the situation with her parents, and herself, took some doing as well.
Deyana was afraid to admit to her mother that she was pregnant again after having recently been pregnant and miscarrying.
“I felt like I was disappointing her,” Deyana said.
“I felt like I was disappointing myself,” she said. “I just felt very, just disappointed in myself all around.”
Through it all, Deyana remains happy that she was able to reverse her chemical abortion and have her son.
“I'm so glad that I did not go through with the abortion because he is definitely a blessing,” she told Pregnancy Help News.
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Deyana had been studying social work when she got pregnant with Kaizen. She took a year off from her studies and is now back in school full-time pursuing a nursing degree while working full-time in childcare. She was a recipient of the Unplanned Movie Scholarship which assists moms who choose life in pursuing their education. She and her son live with her parents in the Birmingham area.
Deyana has high praise for the pregnancy help personnel at Crossroads Pregnancy Clinic because of how they treated her while she was pregnant, away from home at school, and navigating the rocky situation at the time with her mom.
“Amanda and her staff, they really made me feel comfortable and like I was at home,” she said.
“They were like a second group of mothers to me that I really needed at the time,” she said.
“It helped a lot,” Deyana added. “It made me feel so much not alone and I'm just so grateful for them because they helped me a ton. They were the best.”
She speaks with the great fondness and love of a proud mother of her “silly,” independent-minded son, a son who is loving, and who at not yet three-years-old is sensitive to his mother’s emotions.
“He knows when I'm upset,” Deyana said. “He feels it.”
“If I'm crying in front of him, it's almost like he'll wipe my tears and he'll give me kisses,” she said. “He'll cuddle me that night. I just feel like he knows when mommy isn't in the best mindset. He gives me that love that I need when I do have those days.”
“And when I receive that, I almost feel like it makes everything better,” Deyana continued. “It doesn't go away, but in that moment, when I'm cuddling him, it just makes things a little less “loud.”
And while her son can give her a run for her money with the proverbial behavior of a child his age, she said, “I wouldn't trade him for the world.”
Deyana encourages other young women who face unplanned pregnancy to trust God and know they won’t regret choosing life.
“God does things for a reason, and it may not always be the best view, or you might not always understand it,” she said. “But eventually you will, because He's going to do something for you that you need.”
“Anything that God does for you is for a reason and He has a plan,” she said.
It does not have to be negative, she said.
"Because that baby, that child could bring so much into your life and you don't know it, you won't know if you abort it,” said Deyana. “I mean, everybody has their choice, but a child is a blessing, and they bring so much joy into your life. And that's something that I'm so glad I did not get to miss out on.”
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN) and Pregnancy Help News. Heartbeat is the subject of two lawsuits brought by state AGs concerning sharing information about Abortion Pil Reversal.
