ClinicQuotes

Renée Smith had an abortion when she was 18. She writes:

“While I soon healed physically from the procedure itself, it has taken many years for me to heal emotionally and spiritually. Not long after having the abortion I became depressed and withdrawn. It became difficult to engage with my daughter or find joy or fun in anything. I also quickly jumped into another relationship within a few months with a man old enough to be my father…

I was looking for a way to drown out the memory of the abortion. Life had little meaning for me; I was trying to dull the pain of what I had done…

Two years later I got pregnant again. This time I gave birth to a baby boy. Financially, I was in no better place than when I became pregnant the prior time. But, having had an abortion before and still dealing with the emotional turmoil that the abortion brought about, I was determined not to abort my baby this time.

I never spoke about the abortion to anyone, not even my two children. Now, over 20 years later, when I hear certain sounds, like that of a vacuum sealer for food, I am immediately transported back to that moment when I ended my baby’s life. Some things don’t ever go away. Sometimes, I’ll think about him/her and what age they’d be, what type of child or young adult they would have been. Whenever I see another child who is the same age as my unborn baby, I think that could be my child. Every year around the time of the abortion, I could feel a sense of sadness overtake me.”

Renée Smith Hope beyond Abortion: A Story of God’s Redeeming Grace (undated)

A woman named Bella writes:

“My boyfriend married me. We are still together. Now he regrets our decision then. I still feel the pain. I suffer every time I see a baby, a pregnant woman. I wonder if it was a she or he. What the baby would look like. And sometimes when we fight, I tell him how much I still hurt and how much of a coward he was. I don’t advise abortion to anybody.”

Martha Jensen Abortion: Information and One’s Own Journey (2020)

A woman named Liz told her story:

“I had been married to my ex-husband for only a few months when I discovered I was pregnant, even though I was on the pill. We hadn’t planned on having any children so soon, if at all… We weren’t well-off financially, and my income was our primary income.

My ex was against me having the baby, so, much so that he enlisted his mother’s “help” to convince me to get an abortion. At one point his mother offered me $1000 to do it, but I couldn’t entertain the idea. Fortunately, my parents backed me up, my mother especially. I knew it would be wrong in God’s eyes and in my own heart to destroy my own child. My pregnancy went well despite my ex-husband’s whining about it until the last eight weeks.

I got extremely ill (preeclampsia) and had to be on bed rest. My son was born 11 days early, healthy and perfect even though I had almost died while in labor, and he had to be delivered through an emergency C-section. I went into seizures later that evening after the birth, and had to be resuscitated three times that night… As my ex was nowhere to be found, my dad had to sign papers claiming responsibility for me. Granting temporary custody of my son if I did not live through the night…

Sometimes the decision for life is a hard one. Even though my ex made life difficult throughout my pregnancy, and he was even worse once my son was born. This is the reason why divorced him. I wouldn’t have traded my son’s life for “pleasing” my ex and his mother. I’m especially grateful to God for the gift of my son and his timing because I have medical problems, due to high blood pressure, arthritis and a known tendency for preeclampsia that make pregnancy difficult or impossible, and the risks increase with age. On medical advice, I chose permanent sterilization and cannot have any more children.

If I hadn’t had my son when I did, I doubt if I would have been able to have any children at all…

A man who despises and would willingly kill his own child is not worthy to be your husband!…

My son is 11 now… Don’t let “well-meaning” so-called friends or relatives try to make you do something you know is wrong.”

Martha Jensen Abortion: Information and One’s Own Journey (2020)