Joyce Titular almost got an abortion twenty years ago.
Twenty years ago, the beauty queen, model and actress Joyce Titular tensely entered an abortion clinic. In her early 20’s, she was pregnant for the second time, her marriage was in trouble, and she couldn’t see how she could support her one-year-old son if her modeling career stalled.
Joyce, from the Philippines, was determined to get the abortion. But the doctor checked her over and then surprisingly said, “Iha (child), I won’t do it. You’re already four months and you might die. Tell your family about it. I’m sure in the long run they will be okay with it.”
For some reason, which she can’t explain even today, Joyce felt a great sense of relief in hearing the doctor’s words and decided to carry her baby to term. She recalls leaving the abortion clinic that day with her friend who had accompanied her. “Maureen and I left that cold and dreary clinic grinning like high school kids skipping all the way to her car. What started out as a dreadful day had suddenly become bright and hopeful.”
Today, her story is told on the popular Philippino fashion blog, Definitely Filipino, in the story, “Confessions of a Beauty Queen: My Brush with Abortion.”
The baby, a girl, was named Diandra and was not told about the incident until she was 16 years old, when her mother was asked by someone from her church to share her story publicly. Joyce recalls, “I asked for her forgiveness, and after an hour of us crying, plus the peace negotiating of her step-dad Ron, she forgave me.”
Today, the two-time beauty queen is a TV newscaster and radio announcer in the Philippines, as well as the proud mother of a daughter who just celebrated her 20th birthday. Joyce is convinced that she made the right decision on that fateful day many years ago and she does not look back.
Women in Berwyn, Cicero, Stickney, N. Riverside, Forest Park, Maywood and other nearby suburbs in the western Chicago, IL area who need more information about the emotional and physical effects of abortion should call WomanCare Services, at 708-795-6000. Or go to http://www.womancare.org
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
