Abortion Decision Causes “Many Years of Anguish”

When I was 16 years old I became pregnant and subsequently had an abortion. This decision, which was based upon lies and lack of knowledge, has caused me many years of anguish and will continue to do so for the rest of my life. Here is my story:

August 1977–I was 16 and I was pregnant. I knew this because I had gone to the local Health Department for a free pregnancy test and they had called me back that morning. The counselor on the phone asked me what I was going to do. What was I going to do? I had just began “experimenting” with sex. I wasn’t suppose to get pregnant. That happened to other people, not me. I answered the counselor, “I don’t know, maybe an abortion. I just don’t know.” The counselor picked up on this statement and offered to make an appointment for me at a Dallas abortion clinic. I agreed. I was never counseled towards anything, or offered any alternative other than abortion. My abortion was publicly funded.

A few days later I was taken to an abortion clinic in Dallas. Upon arrival I was “counseled.” The counselor showed me a picture of a six week old “fetus.” This picture looked like chopped liver. I was told by the counselor that at this stage of development, the fetus was not a baby, that it was no more than a “wad of tissue.” I was informed that there was nothing to the procedure. It would not hurt any more than menstrual cramps, and there were few side effects. I was told that I would have to stay there for an hour after the abortion (which I did not do) to make sure my bleeding was not too severe. They gave me a morphine pill to relax me and said I could have a morphine shot with the pill if I wanted it. I did not.

I was taken to an exam room where I was placed in an examination position. The doctor dilated my cervix and proceeded to insert the vacuum aspirator. I felt when the baby caught and immediately began having severe cramps. The doctor finished and they rushed the bottle (which contained my baby) out of the room before I could see it. This tends to disturb the patient when she sees her baby (who only minutes ago was sleeping peacefully in her womb) ripped to shreds in a glass jar. I was then taken to a waiting area to make room for another woman who had made the “choice” to murder her baby. I continued to have severe cramps for the rest of the day. I felt sad and empty, as if a part of my soul had been taken away.

As I look back at my post-abortion life, I realize that so many of the mistakes that I made and created for myself were due to the subconscious image I had created of myself, I had killed my own baby. How could anyone love me when I couldn’t love myself?

I began to drink heavily and use drugs. I had severe depressions in which I contemplated suicide. I had, and still have, horrible nightmares involving babies and people trying to kill me. I still get depressed and cry a lot. I pray at night that God will let my baby know that I didn’t kill him because I hated him. I long to hold him so much now that it hurts, and I want him to know that.

I harbor secret fears that one of my children will be taken from me because of this horrible act that I have committed. This fear was compounded when I almost miscarried one of my children at twelve weeks. I feel sure the problem was connected to my abortion. The problems go on and on. I had never allowed myself to calculate the month that my baby would have been born. Recently I figured out when the baby would have been born and was horrified when I realized that it was within weeks of when both of my children were born. I had felt intense pressure from within myself to become pregnant at this particular time with both my children. And now the realization has hit me that subconsciously I have substituted my live children for my dead child, by conceiving and giving birth at the same times.

I have spent many years trying to push the memory of what I have done to the back of my mind, but it won’t stay there. I have constantly compared my dead child to what he would have been doing had he lived. I understand that most women who choose to abort experience the same feelings. My child would have been in first grade this year. It’s very hard for me to look at a first grader.

I have shed many tears over the last few years and now I’m angry. I’m angry at myself, my family, the abortion clinic, their counselors, the doctors (who can commit murder on a daily basis), and most of all I’m mad at my government, who prints “IN GOD WE TRUST” on our coins, yet has legalized the daily painful, violent slaughter of the youngest members of our society.

I hope and pray that our great nation can turn this thing around before it is too late for all of us. And most of all before we as individuals have to stand before God and confess what we have done to His most perfect creation.

Originally published in The PostAbortion Review 3(4) Fall 1995.

Elliot Institute, PO Box 7348, Springfield, IL 62791-7348

Additional material is posted at www.afterabortion.org

 

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Abortion At Age 19 Leads to Years of Regret And Pain

In 1979, I was nineteen years old. I was sharing an apartment with a co-worker. One night I went out for a drink with my 34 year old step-uncle. After a few drinks we left and the next thing I knew we were back at my apartment. I did not have much contact with him after that until the day that I called him to tell him I thought I was pregnant. His first response was how did I know it was his. His second response was “I thought you were on the pill.”

When the pregnancy test came back positive, I set up an appointment with my doctor. He told me how far along I was, when the due date was, and that he would be happy to see me through my pregnancy. By this time, reality was setting in and I was very scared. I asked him about abortion. His only response was that he didn’t do abortions. That’s all. No information at all.

When I called my step-uncle back to report all this, he told me that he had talked to several of his female friends and they told him an abortion was “no big deal.” I then went to tell my mom and stepfather that I was pregnant. By now I was really trying to reach out to find some help, but I didn’t find any. My mom and stepfather simply told me I was an adult and was my decision. Once again there was no support or information given. I was so scared. I just wanted the nightmare to end. I made the decision to have the abortion.

From the moment that I found out that I was pregnant, I had begun to shut down emotionally. This emotional shutdown became even more complete when I walked into the clinic. The people at the clinic were very cold. They showed no emotions at all; they told me nothing. I was not prepared at all for what was about to happen to me. Again, I received no real support or information.

My mother had driven me there, and she paid for it. Most of the girls there were young, and their mothers had brought them, too. I remember that while we were all having our abortions the mothers all went out for coffee, as though we were in there having our hair done.

I felt so dirty and worthless. I remember after leaving the clinic, I went home with my mother and I remember her saying to me, “You basically had a D & C. You’re young and will get over it. Just forget it ever happened and go on with your life.” I did just that. Or so I thought.

I met my husband, got married. But I didn’t tell him about the abortion. I didn’t think I could tell him or he would hate me and leave me.

We had our first daughter and I never felt the deep love for her I should have. For several reasons, I guess. The first is that I had never grieved over the loss of the child I had aborted. I was also afraid to love her too much. I felt that God was just going to take her away from me to punish me for killing my first child. We then had a second child which I loved deeply.

We were married about ten years, and the pain of my abortion was becoming unbearable. One morning I tearfully told my husband the truth. I remember telling him that I really needed to tell him something, but he would probably hate me for it. I told him about the abortion and was then shocked to hear all the support and compassion that he gave me. I feel that the support that I received, for the first time in my life, had a lot to do with my seeking help. Before this, I never felt that I was worthy of love, nor did I love myself.

I contacted Project Rachel in Omaha, who referred me to a counselor. I saw this counselor about three times. She then told me about a Bible Study group through Project Rachel which I could attend. Going through the Bible Study brought to the surface a lot of feelings which I needed to work through in counseling, which I then received.

We finished our Bible Study group and from there we have started a monthly support group. I have also talked to other groups about my abortion experience and just how it has affected my life. I feel that is so important to tell my story so people might begin to understand the true devastation of abortion.

I lost a very special child, and I will always miss and love her with all my heart. But I truly believe that this same child has shown me that it is possible to love again.

Originally published in The PostAbortion Review 2(3) Fall 1994.

Elliot Institute, PO Box 7348, Springfield, IL 62791-7348

 

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Rape Victim: before I Had Time to Think about What I Wanted, the Abortion Was Over

It was May 19, 1973. I was pregnant from a date rape. I had tried to hide it from my parents but of course they found out. Then the pressure started. “How are you going to go to college with a baby?” “How are you going to support it?” “It is only a blob of blood. It’s not a baby yet.” Before I had time to think about what I wanted, the abortion was over.

The abortion itself was like a living hell. I thought my guts were being pulled out. It was degrading and I was terrified. When it was over, something made me ask the doctor, “Was it a boy or a girl?” He answered, “I can’t tell. It’s in pieces.” The counseling consisted of throwing some birth control pills at me.

Its so hard to put into words how the abortion affected me. Looking back and knowing what I know now, I realize that I was going through almost classic Post-Abortion Syndrome. I became a tramp and slept with anyone and everyone. I engaged in unprotected sex and each month when I wasn’t pregnant I would go into a deep depression. I was rebellious. I wanted my parents to see what I had become. I dropped out of college. I tried suicide, but I didn’t have the guts to slit my wrists or blow my brains out. I couldn’t get my hands on sleeping pills, so I resorted to over the counter sleep aids and booze.

When that failed, I then tried to make relationships work with men, any man. I was driven with a need to have a child and knew if I was married my parents couldn’t do anything about it. Then I married in 1975. While my husband and I are still together, we have had to work extra hard because I married him for all the wrong reasons.

Five months after we were married my first child was born. I was in heaven. I doted on that baby. In three months, I was pregnant again. But this time we lost our baby at 6 months. Then the depression that I had conquered came back full force. I can remember thinking: “I deserve this pain. I killed a baby and now God has taken one from me. I deserve it.” The doctor felt that I had a weak cervix, a common aftereffect of abortion, and that the weight of the baby was too much for it and she just fell out. Four months later I was pregnant again.

It is hard to explain this need to keep having babies, but I did. From 1976 with the birth of my first living child, to 1985 at the birth of my fourth and final living child, I was pregnant a total of eight times. With the birth of my last child the doctor didn’t leave me any choice but to quit having children if I wanted to live to see the ones I had grow up.

In trying to deal with the abortion, I had to face what I had done and beg forgiveness from my God. The hardest thing of all is trying to forgive myself. It is a daily struggle to accept the forgiveness I know the Lord has given me. And I will never forget it. Only now I don’t want to forget it, because it keeps me from getting complacent. I know if it helps others, I can talk about it. It always makes me cry, but if it saves just one mom and baby the pain, it’s worth it.

I joined our local Right to Life and crisis pregnancy center. I have also had to forgive my parents. I can still remember when I walked into my Mom’s house and threw down a picture of an aborted fetus and snarled, “See what you made me do?” She has since become pro-life herself and has told me how sorry she is. I still have to fight against my anger at my Dad, because he still won’t admit the abortion was wrong, at least for me.

Do all these things help? That’s a hard one. Sometimes it does and sometimes the depression is too strong and time has to pass. Not a day goes by that the abortion doesn’t cross my mind. It is a constant struggle trying to overcome my guilt and depression, even knowing I have been forgiven. I dread the day when I have to come face to face with my little child and explain to her why mamma took her life. But I also think I am a softer, more caring person than I might have been. If not for the abortion, I might have turned out “pro-choice.”

Originally published in The PostAbortion Review 2(1) Winter 1993.

Elliot Institute, PO Box 7348, Springfield, IL 62791-7348

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“Abortion Wrecked My Life” Says Woman

I was 18 and dating a man my parents strongly disapproved of. So they “made a deal” with me: they would send me to college if I would break up with him. I agreed, though I never really meant to keep my end of the bargain.

I realized I was pregnant when the smells from chemistry class kept making me sick. A friend convinced me to go her doctor in town. He diagnosed pregnancy immediately, saying, “Such a shame, another young one.” He told me not to worry, that “it” could be “taken care of.” He never once said anything about keeping the baby, but gave me a card from the local abortuary.

Although I had no strong religious convictions, the visit to the clinic for my initial “consultation” left me feeling bad. The nurse told me to come back in a week with the money to have it done.

I had heard some things about abortion, and I knew it was probably wrong. So that whole week, I talked with friends and teachers, looking for advice. One female teacher in particular advised me to have it done. She told me that she had had several abortions, that it was “nothing,” and that I didn’t need this trouble in my life right now.

No one, at any time, told me anything about adoption or keeping the child. In fact, one of my teachers was a nun – and I approached her, too, with my problem. I think now that I really wanted someone to say “No! Don’t do it!” But even the nun told me that abortion was the best route for me.

My boyfriend didn’t have the money, so my parents volunteered to pay for it. When I broke down in front of them, saying that I thought it was wrong to do this, they told me they would kick me out of the house if I didn’t have the abortion. My father said he wouldn’t have any “little brown babies in his house!” (My boyfriend was Italian-Puerto-Rican.) They told me that if I had the baby, I would be completely on my own. I felt like there was absolutely no way I could escape the inevitable.

When the time came, my boyfriend and some friends from school went with me. There were no protesters, no pro-life people. In fact, during the whole time of this crisis, I never heard a word about or from the pro-life side.

I was led to a room with a whole group of girls, just like me, waiting to have their babies killed. No one talked. No one looked at anyone else. They called our names, one by one.

I was very scared, mostly of the pain they said I might feel. With the counselor, I mostly cried. But she just agreed with everyone I had talked to. Yes, this is a bad time to have a child. Yes, you’re too young. Yes, having a child costs a lot of money. Yes, it would be so hard for you to raise a child on your own. Yes, this is the best thing to do.

Waiting to have my name called, I tried to convince myself of these things. I just wanted the whole thing to be over with.

Finally they called me in and put me on a table. The dilation was extremely painful. A counselor held my hand and told me not to cry, it would be over soon.

The suction machine was very loud – a horrible noise. They had a picture on the ceiling for you to look at so you wouldn’t have to think about what was happening to you. The image of that picture is burned into my memory. They took my baby from me while I looked at people walking in the rain.

My boyfriend got drunk while I was in the clinic. He could hardly drive me home. He was late picking me up and I stood on the corner in front of the clinic, bleeding and embarrassed until he came.

When we got back to my dorm room, I was crying. I told everyone how awful it was, and how I wished I hadn’t done it after all. My boyfriend laughed at me – laughed at me! – and said, “Well, that’s what you get for screwing around!” One of the guys from school tried to throw him out, and they got into a fight. It was a horrible scene. I’m sure he got drunk to try and deal with it; he knew, deep down, that it was wrong. He was only trying to blame me for it so the responsibility for it wouldn’t weigh on his shoulders.

In the end, the abortion did not “solve all my problems” as everyone had promised. My parents still kicked me out. I had to quit school. I married the boyfriend. It didn’t work out. He became an alcoholic and a drug addict. He beat me up and brought other women into our bed.

One night during a drunken spree, he held a knife to my chest. I told him to kill me, that I wanted to die. I had nothing. No parents, no husband, really, no baby, and no self-respect. How could he respect me? I had killed our child. How could I look at myself in the mirror every day? I was a murderer. I truly wanted to die. Soon after this, we were separated and divorced.

My abortion was about ten years ago. To me, it’s like a bad, bad nightmare, deep in the past, best forgotten. I still haven’t told anyone in my present life (my husband, my church friends, anyone I respect) about the abortion. I can’t. I know that they would see me differently, and I couldn’t stand that.

I’ve had one child since then, and I’m pregnant again. These children are my joy — and my forgiveness from God. My little boy is so, so precious and wonderful. If I had only known how sweet and wonderful a baby is, I never would have done it – not in 2 million years.

I now picket the clinics in the area, and I write letters to the paper and give money to pro-life groups. This helps a little — I feel that I need to do at least this much.

It’s obvious that the abortion wrecked my life. Emotionally, I was a different person before and after it. It left a path of destruction in my life. My family, my first marriage, my image of myself – all a total wreck. Nothing will ever be the same.

I know now the lies I was told, the truths that were withheld from me, the facts that were glossed over or left out. As a pregnant woman, I go to my doctor’s office and see pictures of babies in tummies. Month by month, I hear my baby’s heartbeat. I’m told how to do everything that’s best for my baby’s health. Why is it legal across town to NOT tell these things?

I am just glad that I’m able to tell others. I’m glad that I can be outside that clinic when no one was there for me. I may not be able to confess my abortion, but I can fight abortion!

Originally published in The PostAbortion Review 1(3) Fall 1993.

Elliot Institute, PO Box 7348, Springfield, IL 62791-7348

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Woman Who Had an Abortion Tells Other Women Not to Make the Same Mistake

9/8/09

My goodness i thought i was alone! i remember the smell, that awful chair!!!! i didnt know any better, they were telling me its just sells. I was so young, i wanted them both! i have lost my mind! i drink to take away my pain… i will never forgive myself for not being strong! when i have kids.. how can i look them in the eyes without thinking of what could have been? NEVER HAVE AN ABORTION NO MATTER WHO TRYS TO FORCE YOU! NICK CANNON- CAN I LIVE.. LISTEN TO THAT SONG !

Chantelle S.

 

This is part of a collection of stories from a pro-life website’s (AbortionTV) mail desk. All of these women have written in after reading the information on the site, which includes women’s stories and photos of aborted babies.

Letters are presented as they are, with no changes or corrections.

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Postabortion Women: Abortion Is Never the Answer

6/26/09

I had and abortion with twins. I was getting married and I convinced myself that it wasn’t the right time. So did my fianc’. He made me do it. I wish I could have changed my mind and just kept them. I got laid off from work we were just starting out and I didn’t want children with someone who didn’t want them. I’m so depressed and I have no one to talk to. He doesn’t want to talk about it with me he just rather forget it ever happen. But I think about it everyday. I try not to because I have two kids that need me but didn’t they need me too. I feel so worthless inside. It’s like no one understands my pain. I don’t know what to do. I can’at tell my mom it would kill her. Abortion is never the answer. Trust me you will feel like giving up, depressed and just confused. That’s how I feel confused. It’s been three months and I still don’t have a job. Everyday I look at him and I hate him sometimes. How he can just walk around like nothing never happened. But who am I to hate him I might as well hate myself while I’m at it. I ask God to forgive me but it seems like I can’t forgive myself. U don’t want this monkey in your back for the rest of your life. Trust me. I need counseling because this cant be a quick fix like and abortion. So if you thinking about doing it think again and again and again. It’s not worth the pain.

M.N.
This is part of a collection of stories from a pro-life website’s (AbortionTV) mail desk. All of these women have written in after reading the information on the site, which includes women’s stories and photos of aborted babies.

Letters are presented as they are, with no changes or corrections.
 

 

 

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Women Who Aborted Twins Says That Abortion Clinic Workers Lied

had an abortion a couple of years ago to twins. I didn’t know anything and they told me that it wasn’t a baby, there was no beating heart so there was no pain at all. They lied to me. I was 11 weeks to twins. I only did it thinking it was not harmful in any way. After finding your website and looking it up on you tube I now learn what happens and the truth. I am broken hearted for what I have done to those two precious babies. I will never forgive myself. I think it’s so important for women to know the truth before going ahead. The clinics lie to you to make you go through it. I was stupid enough to believe them. I am having trouble with life now realizing what actually happens. I now have a 1year little girl and she is the love of my life. I am getting married this year but Every time I look at my daughter I think about those two angels everyday. I really need help, I am struggling to go through this. I cry myself to sleep every night. My fiance doesn’t know what to do. He was devastated to see the procedure as well and said he wouldn’t have let me go through with it if he knew. But I just want to say thank you for telling women the truth. I just wish I found this website before I went through it. It would have saved two gorgeous babies lives. I talk to them everyday. I try to think they are in heaven, but they would hate me so much. I don’t blame them. I wish I could turn back time.

Thank you for doing this for babies sake.

Sarah

Brisbane, Australia

This is part of a collection of stories from a pro-life website’s (AbortionTV) mail desk. All of these women have written in after reading the information on the site, which includes women’s stories and photos of aborted babies.

Letters are presented as they are, with no changes or corrections.

 

 

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Father of Aborted Baby Wonders about His Lost Child

6/12/09
Unfortunately the world is full of story like mine. I could write a book on the flow of emotions me and my girlfriend went and, above all, still go through. I will write only few lines on my life experience, and if only one person who would read me will change idea my life will have been worthier.

We lived and still live in two different cities (Paris and Luxembourg), seeing each other over the week end. We love each other, but this, as you will read below, doesn’t count for what happened. Two moderate salaries and in junior positions, but smart and ambitious. We both study besides work. Sometimes we where speaking about children, we both wanted in the “future”.

She got pregnant. Emotions in order: incredulity, surprise, light happiness for a little miracle of nature, thoughts on money/time/small house/study/work, rising preoccupations, discussion, waves of panic, proposal of abortion, silence, discussions, silence, cries, lack of sleep, decision to abort.

Decision founded on arguments like not enough money, impossibility to pursue our career and studies, living in 2 different cities, apparent simplicity in doing an abortion through a pill, and maybe we are always in time to do a baby in the future.

She goes to abort within 4 weeks, through the RSU pill. It goes smoothly, although with a lot of belly pain in some moments for her. We go back home. We don’t speak for hours, both silent. In the days after we avoid the subject. The nurse at the hospital told us that usually couples realize fully what happens only some time later. She was right.

For me it happened in a subway, when I looked to a mother holding a baby. I looked at the little hand of the child holding the mother’s one. I didn’t see them, but only the hands connection. The reality opened in my guts, cutting them alive. Through that abortion, I refuse to hold that hand, I turned my shoulders to someone having part of my blood in his veins, my skin, my eyes. My face. I didn’t let that face encounter mine.

It doesn’t matter I love my girlfriend, it could have been a one night stand, that was part of me. That little hand looking for mine is haunting each and every single night. Sine one year, and it doesn’t slow down.

I once had lunch with the CEO of my company. He had a son when it was still at university, without any money, he continued to study. He said that keep the baby was the best choice of his life and formed is character more than a MBA.

You can imagine how I felt. No, I think you cannot imagine, and I hope you’ll never feel that. Being aware of you biggest life mistake. Aware you will never do something worse in life, because you can’t.

If the satisfaction, privilege, miracle, of seeing yourself in another human being is not worthy a little sacrifice, what is it, a job like millions, a diploma like millions, a house like millions?!?!? I feel ashamed for the reasons on which we based our decision upon.

Besides, I found out I have varicocele, and my fertility is very low and we will probably struggle to have children in the future.

Just don’t do my mistake, save your sleep, your conscious, yourself into another human being. Think longterm, what is the value of a little hand looking for yours.

Stefano T

.

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Woman Repressed Pain of Abortion for Many Years, Now Mourns Her Daughter

I was 18 years old when I had my abortion, in 1975. I had been dating my boyfriend for over a year and we had been sleeping together for a couple of months before I got pregnant. He had been backing off of our relationship, seeing another girl, and I suppose unconsciously I thought I could hang on to him by sleeping with him. I was a mess emotionally at the time, I was not thinking clearly. We thought it would be okay if we slept together on “safe days”.

I remember telling him that I might be pregnant. He didn’t say much, except that he would marry me if that was what I wanted. After I found out for sure that I was pregnant he was still seeing his other girlfriend, so that made it pretty clear to me that I was on my own. I wanted to talk to my best friend about it, but she would’ve told her mom, and she was a terrible gossip. My sister and I weren’t speaking at the time. I couldn’t talk to my mom, she’d been through so much with my older sister. My parents had taken her to New York for an abortion three years earlier. I knew how much that had hurt them and I didn’t want to disappoint then or have them be ashamed of me. When my sister and I had moved out of the house a year earlier to live together in a house with my boyfriend we had a big blow up with my parents, Mom disowned us, Dad got real nasty. I just couldn’t face any more turmoil. My boyfriend had gotten another girl pregnant right before we started dating, and he had refused to have anything to do with her or the baby, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I felt so stupid for having let myself get into the same situation. I decided that abortion was my only choice. I told my boyfriend of my decision and asked him for half of the money to pay for the abortion. It cost $150 and I couldn’t come up with all of it that quickly. I was really sick to my stomach, scared. I was throwing up constantly. I thought for sure my Mom would figure it out, but she thought it was just because I was so upset about the way my boyfriend was treating me. I got into the clinic as soon as I could. I had convinced myself that if I got the abortion done soon enough, it wouldn’t really be a baby, just a little speck of tissue.

I talked to the counselor at the clinic and told her that my boyfriend and I planned to be married eventually, but we weren’t ready for it yet. She didn’t ask many questions. I was told to bring someone with me to drive me home. I didn’t want my boyfriend there, but I couldn’t tell anyone else, so I asked him to go with me. I don’t remember anything that day until I walked into the room where they performed the abortion. They told me to lay down. There was a bucket on the floor full of red liquid with a sign on it that said something like “This is not blood, it’s plasma.” The doctor come and touched me and told me that I had the eyes of a frightened doe. Then he said something like “You didn’t think it would happen to you, did you?”. He was very gentle, he described the procedure and said that it would hurt for a minute or two. It hurt intensely for what seemed like a minute. Afterwards they had me sit up, I threw up. I was shaking so I had to sit there for a minute to steady myself. I had to go to another room for about 20 minutes so they could be sure that there were no complications, but I don’t actually remember being there. After that we (all the girls who had just had abortions) were taken to a room and told about contraceptives.

I don’t remember leaving the clinic, but I remember taking a walk later and being relieved that it was over. I thought that I could pretend that it had never happened. I convinced myself that it was the only thing I could’ve done – it was over so I should just put it behind me. My boyfriend agreed, he said that we should never discuss it again and we both agreed never to tell anyone. He told me that when I had gone into that room he had wanted to grab me and drag me out of there — I wonder what I would’ve done if he had.

We eventually got back together and got married the next year. I lost a baby by miscarriage three years after our marriage. I really grieved for that baby and it entered my head that I was only a few weeks farther along than I had been when I had the abortion, yet I considered this one a baby. I guess I just pushed that thought away, I couldn’t handle it, I got pregnant again as soon as I could. I was scared that I’d never be able to have children, but fortunately I have.

I thought about the abortion over the years but never in an emotional way. It was like looking at the pictures but never letting the feelings in. I always told myself that my husband and I would’ve never made it through those first few years with a baby, and it’s probably true. He was angry and violent a lot in the early years of our marriage, and I told myself that it was better that there hadn’t been a child involved then.

I turned my life over to the Lord in 1988, but I still wouldn’t admit to myself that what I had done was wrong. It really bothered me when our Christian friends would talk about abortion, I felt that they were condemning me. For 14 years after the abortion I denied the truth until my husband and I went for counseling to work through some problems in our marriage. I had to face what I’d done and how I really fell about it, and it really devastated me. I was so ashamed of what I had done, I couldn’t see how God could forgive me for it. I wanted to just kill myself or hurt myself, but I eventually realized that being destructive to myself would only cause more hurt for everyone. I’m still having a hard time forgiving myself, but I know the Lord is working in my life to heal me, and I hope someday the pain I’ve been going through will allow me to be useful in helping other women.

I found out later that my sister had an abortion about the same time I did, at the same clinic. We would’ve both had teenagers now. In the back of my mind I always thought that the baby I aborted was a girl. We named her Lindsey Marie. I think a lot about what it would be like to have her here with us, what kind of personality she would have. I wonder how much she would resemble our other children. It’s hard to realize how much I’ve missed over the years by not having her here, and how much I’ll always miss her from now on. I take comfort in knowing that someday we’ll be reunited.

 

 

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Postabortion Woman: “My Children Would Be 17 and 16 Now…”

As I lay in my bed tonight, I’m having a hard time letting my body relax enough to go to sleep. Before I started to write down my thoughts, my husband and I were praying, and as so often happens, my mind started to think about the two children I have in heaven that I’ve never seen. That I never had the chance to take to dancing lessons or little league games. That I never got to see grow up and learn to love the Lord as I do now. I think of what a wonderful life they could have now, with parents that are still together and made it through hard times with God’s help.

My children would be 17 and 16 years old now. I would have 4 children instead of 2. Perhaps my daughter would have the sister she always wanted, and my son the brother that he’s begged for all these years. How could I ever tell my two living children that I destroyed all their chances of that ever happening when I had killed their siblings through the act of abortion. When I think about it for too long, I don’t know how I can live with what I’ve done.

Oh, I thought as many of you have that I was caught in a situation of no escape. I was so young, and already had a small child to take care of, and with my future being so unsure how could I possibly bring another life into this terrible world? Certainly the thoughts of a desperate 20 year old, that was caught in a web of lies and confusion. With abortion now legalized, I thought this is my way out. I let the doctor convince me that I was doing nothing wrong. He said just let me do this simple office procedure, which he called regulation, and you will start your period, then everything will be alright. It sounded too good to be true. He told me that it wasn’t a baby but only a bloody blob. That it wasn’t alive, only tissue that could feel no pain.

I’ll never forget the pain that I suffered that day, which was nothing compared to my baby’s pain. He said the procedure was 99% effective, and wanting to believe him, I stopped crying. I put it out of my mind. But why two weeks later was I still sick in the morning and feeling the way I did? Back to the doctor for another visit which confirmed my worst fears – I was still pregnant! I couldn’t believe that the “Bloody Blob” as the doctor had called it was till alive inside me after the terrible ordeal that I had tried so hard to forget. He then told me I had to go in the hospital for them to finish the job. These things happen sometimes, he said, nothing to worry about, just another simple procedure.

Looking back, I know that child must have been fighting for its very life. If I had only known then what I know now about abortion! I heard what I wanted to hear, blacking out the reality of what I was about to do. The doctor said it must be done, and of course I HAD to do what he said, because he knew best. All I remember about that day was the nurse stroking my hair in the hall on a stretcher. After the shot they gave me, I remember crying quietly and mumbling “I want to keep my baby, but I can’t”. If I had only known that the doctor I had so much faith in was about to dilate my uterus, and dismember my baby limb from limb so it would be small enough to suck out of my body with that powerful suction machine, I would have wanted to die right there on the table with my baby. They also had to crush the baby’s skull before it could be sucked out. All I know is back then I thought I was getting rid of something that would cause too many unwanted problems in my life, but what I was really doing was letting someone cut up my precious little unborn baby. I didn’t really know the truth of any of this until years later.

The next time I got pregnant, with the same father, the timing still wasn’t right. You see I was living in a world where nothing mattered but me. I wasn’t ready to have another baby, and besides I was on birth control pills. How could this happen to me again? I was angry at my husband for getting me pregnant for the 3rd time. He was putting me through hell with his lying, drinking, and cheating. After all I had left him once and I was thinking about leaving again. Having a baby would just add something else to my already insane life. I just couldn’t handle it! It was much easier this time. There were all these special clinics available now. The counselors reassured me that I was doing nothing wrong. Again I fell for the lie of abortion and was totally convinced that there was nothing living inside of me. I just knew it was one more burden that I just couldn’t bear. As my husband waited, I went into a cold small room. No nice nurses this time, just a cruel procedure. I will never forget the sound of that vacuum machine as it tore my baby apart, into a jar where it was sent off to make perfume of hairspray.

After my husband and I gave our lives to the Lord in 1977, the overwhelming guilt of what I had done began to well up inside me. I couldn’t talk to him about it because I blamed him in a way for what I had done. I asked God to forgive me, but it wasn’t until last year that I was able to confess my sin and forgive myself. It was inconceivable to me that I could have done what I did all those years ago. I never really knew the horrible truth about abortion until about 1 1/2 years ago, because I was afraid to really know the truth. It has taken me years of mental anguish and sleepless nights of being able to forgive my husband, of fighting an eating disorder, of feeling like a hypocrite!

Afraid my Christian friends would find out and no longer love me. Of feeling the horrible guilt and pain of what I had done. I know there are millions of women out there that are feeling the same.

The truth about abortion is out! Women, it is murder plain and simple. If you have given birth to a child you know how much you love it. You would probably give your life to save it. But yet every day women (1 out of every 4) kill their babies. For every abortion performed there are two victims, one dead and one wounded. This has got to stop! Not only for the tortured babies, but for the mothers who have been the victims of this lie. We all need help, and only God and his word can heal this pathetic world. We have murdered 26,000,000 babies over the past 17 years. There are more babies being aborted each day than are being born, around 4,000 a day in our country alone. I have shared my story with you in the hopes that I can save a child’s life and let an expectant mother know there is a way out. I have lost 6 children that could have been born in my immediate family. I believe many of you would be surprised to know how many of your family members have been taken from you. I find it hard to believe that a 12 year old child cannot take an aspirin at school, or have their ears pierced without parental consent, but in the state of North
Carolina they can have an abortion without their parents being notified. What has happened to our country?

If you find yourself in trouble with no place to turn, please know you have someone who cares. There is a better way, please don’t make a mistake that you will have to live with the rest of your life. There are people that can help you at Pregnancy Crisis Centers across the country. Please call them, they can provide all your needs and help you in making an informed decision. If you’re already suffering with the torment of having an abortion, there is help for you also. Open ARMS (Abortion Related Ministries) will help you recover from the aftermath of an abortion with love and support Look in your local newspaper in the classified section for more information.

I know I have two children I’ve never seen waiting for me in heaven. I wish I could see them now to tell them how sorry I am, and how much I love them. Please find it in your hearts to pray for our country and help get our laws changed to protect the ones that can’t protect themselves. Right now the most dangerous place on the face of our earth to be is in your mother’s womb. If we fight to save the animals of this world, why can’t we fight to save our children?

In HIS Love,

A thankful and forgiven sinner

 

 

 

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