{"id":43085,"date":"2013-03-01T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-01T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/surrogate-mother-refuses-abortion\/"},"modified":"2013-03-01T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T18:59:47","slug":"surrogate-mother-refuses-abortion","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/surrogate-mother-refuses-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Surrogate Mother Refuses Abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#39;s not often that a woman is paid to consider an abortion, but then, Crystal Kelley&#39;s pregnancy wasn&#39;t typical to begin with. A single mother wanting to help someone, and in need of cash, Kelley had found a couple with fertility difficulties who were looking for a surrogate mother to carry their child. Shortly afterwards, she was pregnant. All seemed well until testing revealed that the baby would be born with severe heart and brain abnormalities. The parents wanted to abort their child, but Crystal refused, even when offered $10,000 in cash. After driving to Michigan, where the child would be hers by law, Crystal delivered a baby girl who is now with an adoptive family willing to care for her health issues.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead2\"><em>Possible Preaching Angle: <\/em><\/h2>\n\n<p><em>This story is a beautiful, though far from perfect, picture of choosing another&#39;s needs above your own, even when they can&#39;t give you anything. Though the baby Crystal carried was unable to offer her anything in return, Crystal protected and nurtured the child. Sounds a little like Jesus, who even when we were enemies chose to give us life.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3361,3493,3572,4184,4520,4546,4692,4869,4872],"tax_ctp_topics":[390,395],"class_list":["post-43085","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-abortion","tax_ctp_tags-bioethics","tax_ctp_tags-choice","tax_ctp_tags-human-worth","tax_ctp_tags-national-sanctity-of-life-day","tax_ctp_tags-news-that-illustrates","tax_ctp_tags-pregnancy","tax_ctp_tags-sacrifice","tax_ctp_tags-sacrificial-love"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Surrogate Mother Refuses Abortion - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/surrogate-mother-refuses-abortion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Surrogate Mother Refuses Abortion - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It&#039;s not often that a woman is paid to consider an abortion, but then, Crystal Kelley&#039;s pregnancy wasn&#039;t typical to begin with. 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