Stephanie, Vermont – ES

Abortion hurts everyone involved, EVERYONE! 

In 1969, at age 18, I chose to have an abortion. I was single and promiscuous; when I became pregnant I chose to abort the baby because of pressure from my child’s father and his family. I was told that what the doctor would be eliminating from my body was only a lump of tissue, not a baby. This was told to me by not only the clinic, but also by Planned Parenthood from whom I had sought help.

The clinic where the abortion took place was a former hospital and was clean, but we were treated like an assembly line. When we woke up following our abortions, there were six of us in a room. We found ourselves in a former nursery decorated with baby wallpaper. I was devastated to be lying there looking at this nursery wallpaper having just gone through the procedure. I believe deep down inside that was when I first KNEW that it was truly a baby. 

The choice to abort my child has affected me through the years with nightmares, the failed marriage to my child’s father, as well as the premature births of my three sons. Two of whom died shortly after birth. I was told that the premature births were more than likely a result of damage from the abortion. 

My healing began at a spiritual renewal weekend, when a word from the Lord came through a minister who said, «Someone in this room has had an abortion, and God wants you to know that He has forgiven you. Now it’s time for you to forgive yourself.» It has been a 10 year process but I know that Jesus died for my sins, including my sin of killing my child. 

The most important thing about abortion that I think people need to know is that it not only kills a child, but it ruins the lives of everyone involved. I suffered for over 30 years because of that decision, my former husband is still suffering as he has never healed from it, and my surviving son has suffered because of never knowing his siblings. EVERYONE involved suffers.