Twenty-four years ago, Virginia native Callie Jett was a 15-year-old pregnant mom who walked into a Planned Parenthood abortion facility with her mother. But a chance encounter with a sidewalk advocate who handed her a pamphlet saved more than just her baby’s life that day. At the time, neither could have known the impact that conversation would have, and now nearly 25 years later, the number of babies saved as a result of that encounter has grown to over six hundred.
Witnessing the beauty of the preborn
In a phone conversation about her experience and the ministry born from it, Callie explained to Celebrate Life Magazine that her mom felt that abortion was the only option for her, as that was “all she knew.” Callie said she felt forced into having an abortion but was so young that she had limited knowledge of options.
When she and her mom approached the Planned Parenthood building, she saw sidewalk counselors outside but had no idea who they were or what they were doing. The entire abortion scene was foreign to her. She explained that the advocates were kind and loving, and one gave her a pamphlet that highlighted a preborn baby’s developmental stages. Callie took it to read inside.
She remembers that the inside of the facility was dark and somber. The staff barely looked at her, didn’t respond to questions, and gave her very little information about what was about to happen. She said they were rude and the whole atmosphere felt like “something was not right.” As she sat waiting, she read the pamphlet the sidewalk counselor had handed her. Inside were images of a preborn baby approximately the age of her baby, and for the first time she thought, “This is an actual human being!”
Knowing deep down that the Planned Parenthood employees weren’t there to help but the sidewalk advocates were, she got up and walked outside to talk to them, and that’s when she learned about open adoption. She said she talked to them for a while and eventually decided that placing her child with a family of her choosing was the best option for the baby. She knew she wanted stable parents—a mother and a father—who were married and could show love and support for her child. And she knew she couldn’t give this to him herself.
Callie left that day resolved to give life to her baby. Her father helped her secure a room in a maternity home, where she finished 11th grade then earned her GED. Soon after she turned 16, she gave birth to a baby boy, whom she placed with a loving family in an open adoption.
She explained that adoption has come a long way, and today it’s more common to have an open adoption where the birth mom can have some form of contact with her child and the adoptive family. How much contact depends on the mother’s choice and can range from simple updates once a year to taking part in regular family get-togethers.
Callie’s open adoption not only allowed her to get to know her son but also to have the reassurance that she had placed him with an amazing family. She told me that she would not change anything, as he grew up with a loving and stable family and is now a fantastic young man.
The founding of a unique organization
Callie, who lived a bit of a wild teenage life both before and after her pregnancy, eventually settled down, found faith in God, and graduated from nursing school. In 2014, while working a job with child protective services, she noticed that near her office was an abortion facility right next door to a church. She explained that it “broke [her] heart” to see that, so one day she went and introduced herself to the sidewalk advocates praying in front of the abortion facility. She told her story and was surprised that they didn’t know much about adoption. She began educating them, and that’s when she thought, “We need to start talking about adoption.”
She began to pray in front of that facility regularly in the hope that she could change the minds of abortion-minded mothers. In so doing, she realized that a lot of the women had exhausted their resources, felt their options were limited, or were afraid of their baby’s father. When she told them about adoption, many embraced the idea and began choosing life.
Feeling it was important to get her message out there, Callie started sharing her story with churches, at moms’ groups, at pro-life events, and even at the March for Life. Moms who said they were ashamed by the decision to place their baby for adoption began contacting her, and she realized that “a lot of people don’t know the ins and outs of” the process.
Callie began to recognize that there was still a lot of stigma around adoption, even though its options had significantly changed over the years. She found that it was still seen as a “bad thing” done by mothers who didn’t care about their babies. She explained, “We need to give women who have chosen this very difficult decision a chance to let their voices be heard too.”
So in 2015, she founded Talk About Adoption, a nonprofit organization created to serve and support birth mothers who had placed babies for adoption. It quickly grew and now also serves abortion-minded mothers in an attempt to help them choose life and see the value of their babies. To date, she and her organization have helped save the lives of over 600 babies.
Callie explained that approximately 25 birth mothers volunteer at her organization. They then go out into the community and tell their stories where abortion-minded mothers are most in need—at pregnancy resource centers and in front of abortion facilities—and they talk about the selfless act of adoption.
Callie stated that they don’t facilitate adoptions; they simply share their stories with women who are abortion determined and mentor women who have placed babies for adoption. She explained that they try not to encourage or push mothers to choose adoption, as they want it to be a decision a woman makes when all options have been exhausted. Callie shared, “When we make the decision of adoption, we make it for what’s best for the child, not what’s best for us.”
If a woman does choose to keep her baby, Talk About Adoption will help connect her with local resources and people who can assist with finances, housing, jobs, and more. Callie explained that she truly believes women thrive with support and need a village to help raise their kids. She shared:
Us mothers, we were not made by God to do it alone. We were not made to be single parents. That’s not God’s will. We were made to be married and to do it together. And because there are so many mothers choosing life who are not married, we [at Talk About Adoption] are very hyper-focused on getting these women a village for them because we find that it helps them to parent, helps them mentally, and gives them the ability to be confident in making a choice to parent.
Part of the assistance that Callie’s organization offers comes from providing a “long-term village” in the form of local churches, a birth mom mentor, and other resources that will help a single mom raise her child.
Callie wants birth mothers to know that “adoption is a brave and loving decision for women who feel like they don’t have any other choice.” She explained that women should never feel ashamed for putting the needs of their child before their own wants and desires.
Today, Callie is living proof that a baby is always a gift and that that gift only multiplies when shared with a loving family.
For more information or to share your story, visit the Talk About Adoption website.
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