Chana Reuven, an Ethiopian Israeli, got pregnant at the darkest point of her life. She refused to listen to her friends and family, telling her to choose abortion. Thus began her story of success.

Today, Chana is 35 years old and the picture of success. She is studying for her Master’s Degree in government and law and runs a business as a motivational speaker. Her videos have garnered millions of views. She is a single mother to two young children, a ten months old girl and a nine-year-old boy named Yair. When Israel365 News asked her for the secret to her success, she immediately presented photos of her children.

“I began to succeed when they came into my life,” said. “They made me a mother and gave me the strength, lifting me up to succeed.”

Chana, 35 years old, lives in Kfar Saba. Her parents came to Israel 40 years ago in Operation Moshe.

“My family is religious and traditional, very conservative,” Chana said. “My community was tight-knit.”

“If I am a success, it is because I made a deal with God,” Chana said. “Yair was born during Hanukkah. His name means the one who gives light, And from the moment he was born, that is what he did. My children lift me up. Only after my baby was born did I feel that my luck and fortune opened up.”

She has been engaged as a speaker by city councils, the army, government agencies, and companies like Microsoft to address the issue of “people with fewer opportunities.”

“I read articles by American feminists and can’t understand what they are talking about,” Chana said. “My main message in life and business is to not to decide out of fear. They tell women that they are so weak that if they become a mother, they will be a failure. That is not true. They can choose to succeed.”

Chana almost fell into that paradigm. After serving in the IDF, she went abroad and started a business that ultimately failed. Dejected, she returned to Israel, her dreams shattered.

“I was in the lowest place in my life,” Chana said. “I was young and stupid. I didn’t have the resources or good advisers. I was disappointed in myself.”

She was struggling to recover, emotionally and practically. She began to study music and returned to her ex-boyfriend and became pregnant.

“Everyone around me was concerned but their form of support was to tell me that for the sake of my future, I had to get an abortion,” Chana said. “I had no education or job and was living in a one-bedroom apartment with my mother. I can understand why they didn’t think it would be good for me to have a baby. They thought it would finish me and if I had the baby, he would have a horrible life.”

Chana made an appointment for the abortion.

“I made the appointment but it wasn’t what I really wanted,” Chana said. “It was not my desire or my true will. I gave in to the pressure. I didn’t make a decision based on knowledge. It was a decision based on coercion, albeit coming from good intentions. I was a grown woman but it didn’t help. I was so weak spiritually that I thought that if someone told me that they didn’t want the baby, I would need to go an get an abortion. I did not feel like I had the right to have the baby.”

“They succeeded in convincing me….almost,” Chana said.

Chana found support in unlikely places.

“The father did not run away,” Chana said. “He said that even though the whole world was telling us not to keep the baby, God will send us help.”

Chana was torn and had a deep, soulful conversation with a friend, an older woman, who told her about EFRAT, an organization that gives support to women considering abortion. The people at EFRAT listened to Chana and give her information about what it meant in practical terms to be a mother.

“Abortion is a medical procedure and they told me all that is involved including the physical and mental process of healing afterward,” Chana said. “They told me what to expect as a mother, financially and mentally. They never told me not to get an abortion. They gave me information and let me decide.”

And they offered practical help.

EFRAT offers concrete help in the form of a crib, a stroller, a baby bath, bottles, diapers, and clothing. Other various essentials are also taken care of like bedding, monthly packages of diapers, wipes, and formula. Everything the mother needs for two years after the baby’s born. Everything is brand new in the box, brought with the messenger service to the woman’s door EFRAT buys in bulk and has a central warehouse so the cost is low. The staff is volunteers. Thanks to EFRAT, the cost of saving a baby’s life stands at $1,200.

“It used to be the family and the community that helped single mothers to get back on their feet and live a successful life,” Chana said. “Now it is the society and the government which does so, with a hidden interest in keeping the mother dependent.”

Ironically, all those who advised her to not have the baby are lining up to babysit.

The number of abortions reported annually has dropped from 20,000 annually to about 17,000, despite the population growing. EFRAT spends very little money on advertising and most of the mothers find them through a friend. EFRAT has saved over 83,000 babies since 1977.

For more information check out EFRAT’s website.