A Maryland woman’s response to a TikTok prompt has gone viral after she shared how she chose to keep her baby after becoming pregnant after being sexually assaulted. Today, Angela Harders is a homeschool advocate and founder of PAX ministries, a ministry that seeks to “provide education, information, and inspiration for physical, mental, emotional, relational, educational, financial, and spiritual health and wellbeing for people of all ages,” according to its website. But nine years ago, Harders found herself at a crossroads. Responding to a prompt on TikTok that asked, “What’s one small, unimportant decision that you made that changed the whole trajectory of your life?” Harders responded with a five-minute video describing how, nine years ago, she had been sexually assaulted, leaving her pregnant and uncertain. “You can imagine my horror when I, the girl who had never dated before, the good Christian girl, found myself pregnant,” said Harders, who was a virgin at the time of her assault.

Having been raised in a Christian family, Harders considered herself staunchly pro-life. But the fear of carrying the child of her attacker brought new doubts to her mind. “Even though I was pro-life, my gut reaction was to schedule an appointment at Planned Parenthood for that Friday afternoon,” she said. Two days before her appointment, Harders decided to call an out-of-state pregnancy crisis center for help. Harders’s father was the vice president of a local pregnancy center, so she was afraid someone might recognize her voice if she called locally. The woman on the other line listened to Angela as she cried and shared her story. The woman responded with words that would change her life forever. “She said to me, ‘Sex doesn’t make babies, God does. And for some reason, God is choosing to give you a life out of this terrible circumstance,'” Harders recalled. Those words gave Harders “an overwhelming sense of peace.”

She called Planned Parenthood on the day of her appointment to cancel. The worker she spoke with encouraged her that an abortion would help her better serve God. “She said, ‘Angela, you know that if you go through with [the pregnancy], you will never be able to travel again, or be a missionary, or do any of those other things that you said you wanted to do. We can take care of this problem for you so you can live your life and fulfill all the dreams that God has given you,'” Harders recalled. She stated Planned Parenthood made her feel that her baby was “a problem to get rid of.” Nine years later, Harders shared she was thankful she didn’t go through with the abortion and that, contrary to the warnings of Planned Parenthood, she has been able to travel the world and do the things she was told a baby would keep her from doing. As for her baby? Harders said, “My daughter is no problem. She is the greatest joy of my life, and I will forever be grateful to the stranger on the other end of the line from a random pregnancy center in New York who told me I could do it.” 

Harders has received numerous responses from other women with similar stories, some of whom did not go through with their abortions and are now celebrating grown children, and others who wish they had been told they could handle single parenthood. “I think that’s the other big thing, too, just hearing the overwhelming regret from moms that wish they had done something different,” she said. Harders went on to graduate from Liberty University and earned her master’s. She is now the mother of two children.