Regret versus abortion stigma !

A number of websites have been created by the abortion lobby to sell abortion as a good thing for women.

Now, a new effort is under way by advocates of abortion to encourage women who have abortions to share their stories, in an attempt to erase “abortion stigma.”

Pro-life leader, Kristan Hawkins, who is the president of Students for Life, addressed the issue of “abortion stigma” in a recent op-ed published by The Blaze, “How can abortion not be stigmatized when it clearly ends a human life?” Hawkins writes.

“Abortion hurts women – and kills a child – and that is something that needs to be brought into the open and talked about,” she said.

Hawkins quoted a study which showed that 31 percent of women who have had abortions report suffering physical health problems and said that 65 percent showed symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. She said that two other studies showed that suicide is six times higher in women who have had abortions than give birth.

Life Dynamics has documented that there are hundreds of women who have been killed from legal abortion. In addition, Life Dynamics has published reports that prove some women are coerced under threat of violence into submitting to abortion while at the same time pedophiles are using abortion to conceal child rape.

Hawkins said what needs to be destigmatized is that there are many women who need help following their abortions, “It’s okay for them to seek help. It’s ok for them to talk about their pain. The pro-life movement has many resources available to women who seek help after an abortion that are non-judgmental,” Hawkins says.

“Taking a life can never be destigmatized,” Hawkins concludes, “no matter how many people come forward to say it was no big deal to do so.”

Despite the obvious, the abortion lobby continues to hammer away at trying to erase “abortion stigma.”

A project called The Sea Change Program, is one of those efforts. Their mission statement says they are,”dedicated to transforming the culture of stigma around abortion and other stigmatized reproductive experiences…We seek a world that upholds the dignity and humanity of people as they move through their reproductive lives…”

Truth be told, if they were serious about, upholding the “dignity and humanity of people,” they would join us in opposing abortion. But, instead, they promote it.

A video, recently uploaded by the pro-abortion group, is narrated by a person who one would assume cares for children, a school teacher who shares her “abortion story.”

“My name is Karen Thurston I work in an elementary school,” the video begins.

Karen uses her elementary school children to explain how she discovered that story telling is miraculous and connects people to each other through their common experiences, “into a warm and cozy intimacy,” she says.

“On most mornings you can find me reading a story to a group of six-year-olds clustered at my feet. Today I read a story about a dog visiting a vet. As I paused, to turn a page, a little girl spoke up, ‘my dog barks like crazy when the doorbell rings,’ she said – setting off a chain reaction among her peers. Soon we all were sharing our pet adventures and the threads of our common experiences stitched us into a warm and cozy intimacy. This happens every day in the classroom so it’s easy to think it’s no big deal. But in truth, story sharing is miraculous. I know this because I have a story I could never tell.” Karen says.

Can you guess where this is going?

Karen continues, “That forbidden story is about abortion. It’s about how I came to be pregnant twice in my teens, how choosing not to become a mother was the best response for me.

“Today, I’ll tell you another story, it’s about how I came to live, for decades, in silent torment and how choosing not to live like that anymore was the best thing I ever did.”

The reality that Karen fails to grasp is that “choosing not to become a mother” meant choosing to kill her baby in the womb.

Karen, who says she is 54-years-old allegedly had her abortion at the age of 13, “from the time I was 13, I believed I was a bad person,” Karen says, “I’m 54 now. In all these years I’ve only heard one kind of story about ending unwanted pregnancy: abortion is evil and people who have them are slutty-selfish-baby killers destined for Hell. This cruel message has been thrown at me from all corners of my middle class suburban life…”

Janet Morana, founder of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign which publishes testimonies of women who speak out in regret of their abortions, told Life Dynamics News that she has never heard of a women who had an abortion being called a slut, “Of all the women I have ever spoken with or who have written and given testimonies, I’ve never heard one say they were referred to as a slut. They do say, I feel shame after my abortion.”

Morana said that the thousands of women she has talked to, tell her about being shamed at the abortion clinic. Women tell Morana that they never even met their abortion doctor until they have the procedure, “I mention in my book, Recall Abortion, how women are told by their abortion doctors degrading things like: spread your legs like cheerleader honey,” Morana says.

Since 2002, the Silent No More Awareness Campaign has held 1,394 Gatherings in 17 countries & 48 states with 5,802 women and men sharing their abortion testimonies. There are 2,173 testimonies posted on the Campaign website, with 333 that are shared via video! Currently there are 15,639 people registered with the Campaign representing 77 countries.

According to Morana, women are often deceived into viewing abortion as a giant eraser. She said that while Planned Parenthood and the abortion lobby tell women abortion is easy, testimonies her website publishes reveals the opposite, “These days, women say abortions didn’t solve their problems. So many women tell us they suffer physical damage after abortions. Some use drugs and alcohol and suffer eating disorders after abortions.”

Morana said that today, post-abortive women are speaking out to let others know there is hope and healing and forgiveness. In addition, the women she speaks with want desperately to warn girls considering abortion to think about it before making such a life altering decision. She says that as women face their abortions and receive healing they will demand a platform to tell their story of abortion regret, “Planned Parenthood acts like they are the platform of all women. But, experience trumps rhetoric,” Morana said, “More and more women are coming forward, and every day we get more women to our website to share their stories. ”

Morana said that of all the websites on “abortion stigma” she has looked at, she has seen a small number who have spoken up in favor of abortion.

She says those numbers pale in comparison to the ones speaking on abortion regret, “We have thousands. The proof is in the pudding, more women regret it than those who think it’s dandy.“