Wildcat Tracks: Meredith George Hall ’91
Many Westminster alumni found their future calling through participating in senior service, but for Meredith Hall that calling came during chapel. “Probably the most impactful thing I learned in high school was about life in the womb and the effect of abortion on our world”, she said. “During a chapel, we watched ‘The Silent Scream’. The movie featured a sonogram recording of a baby around 18 weeks trying to get away from the forceps of a physician before it took his/her life. That was the beginning of my awareness of what abortion really is and what it means to be pro-life.”
Today, Meredith is the director of clinic services for Thrive Women’s Clinic in Dallas. “Since high school, I have been a part of the fight for the unborn. My first job was as a nurse in the NICU where I witnessed how amazing these tiny little lives were. I even assisted in a delivery where the mother was headed to an abortion clinic but didn’t make it, she ended up having her baby at 24 weeks. I took care of that little baby girl until she was discharged to her adoptive family, who I had the privilege of getting to know.”
For Meredith, her job and her faith go hand in hand—a partnership that was reinforced when she became a student at Westminster. “I loved Westminster! My family moved to St. Louis from Denver, Colorado when my dad took a job with Anheuser Busch. It was a hard move but ended being so worth it for the friends made at Westminster.
I loved the teachers and the impact they made on my education. Mr. Baldwin’s Church History class was so rich. His class allowed me to grow in my understanding of the history of my faith, but also deepened my relationship with Jesus by teaching me how to have prayer and quiet time.”
Her faith has seen her through what, at times, is a difficult job. “For over four years, I have been a part of loving on women in unexpected pregnancies. Our clinics offer free pregnancy tests and walk women through their pregnancy options. We explain what abortion is in a non-judgmental, medical format. We give free sonograms to show the life forming inside, we provide classes for our families to help them live successful lives, and we have a mother-baby store that provides everything moms need to get a healthy start”, she said. “Our clinic operates under the medical license of an OB/GYN and we have six physicians who volunteer their time and services to see our women. We have four clinics in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with nine staff nurses assisting women during their pregnancies and helping them get the services they need. Our mission is to extend Christ-like love and compassion that values the family and empowers women and their partners to choose life.”
Meredith explained her days at the clinic are never typical. While she does perform duties such as patient care, scheduling medical staff, ordering supplies, and reviewing charts, the nursing work she does isn’t like any other nursing. “It’s a mission, a ministry, and a battlefield. Every day when our nurses come to work, it’s to save lives.”
“This doesn’t sound different from the ER or the ICU. Saving lives is what we do, that’s what we signed up for when we decided to put the letters R and N after our names. But this type of nursing is fighting for the life of a human who doesn’t have a voice in whether they live or die. Think Holocaust. Think Civil Rights Movement. My typical day is letting women see and hear their child’s heartbeat. That baby’s heartbeat is their voice! My typical day is showing that there is life growing inside of them and that abortion is not only unnatural, it takes the life of another human being. The challenge is that I must also do it in a way that is loving, compassionate, and filled with both grace and truth. There are some days where I get to ring the “life” bells over the intercom because a mom has chosen life. But there are days I hear from clients that they had an abortion. Or nothing I’ve done has made a difference and those women leave still determined to abort their child. If it weren’t for fervent prayer, the closeness of our staff, and constantly giving every woman, child, and family over to the Lord, I would have quit a long time ago. But God is good and I am so thankful He called me to be on the front lines of this war.”
For those women Meredith is able to reach, the end result can be miraculous. Desperate people come to her seeking help and they receive it. Sometimes it’s not the answer they thought they wanted, but in God’s plan, it’s what He intended.
“I wish I could tell you all the amazing stories that have come out of our clinic. It’s hard to pick just one to share, but I’ll share about ‘Sarah’. She came to Thrive with the end goal of having an abortion. She didn’t know how far along she was in her pregnancy but she already had three children and had a new boyfriend who didn’t want any children. Sarah wasn’t sure she wanted to be with him or have his child.
After performing the sonogram, we discovered she was 19 weeks pregnant. In Texas, before the heartbeat bill passed this September, abortion was legal for up to 21 weeks and six days. If you don’t know anything about fetal development, by 19 weeks babies have all their organs, their bones have calcified, they feel pain, they smile, hiccup, everything all humans do. One thing we noticed on Sarah’s sonogram was that her baby boy’s intestines had not enclosed inside his abdomen. It’s called gastroschisis. I had taken care of babies with this condition when I was a NICU nurse. We talked her through her options. She came for another visit with our medical director for another sonogram and to walk her through the next steps.
Ultimately, Sarah decided to carry and parent her little boy. We were able to connect her with a high-risk physician to ensure she and her little boy were well cared for. Baby Ashton was born at 34 weeks and ended up in the NICU where I used to work. He spent three weeks there while his intestines were repaired. Ashton (pictured above) is now three years old and completely healthy! ‘Sarah’ accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior at our clinic and has become a pro-life advocate for Thrive, devoting herself to helping other moms in similar circumstances with their pregnancies.”
This is just one of the many amazing stories about a life that was changed through the grace of God and the tireless work by Meredith and Thrive clinics. “If you go to our donor website, vinekeepers.org, you can watch other amazing stories about women and their partners who have chosen life. You can donate on that website or get involved in other ways if you live in the Dallas area. If you don’t live in the Dallas area, I encourage you to reach out to your own local pro-life clinic and dive into the fight for the pre-born, their mothers, and their families! Talk with your church about what they’re doing to get involved in the fight for the pre-born! There are so many ways to get involved!”
