Lumina
Hope and Healing After Abortion
Good Counsel Symposium
Was happy to meet up with Melissa Ohden, of the Abortion Survivors Network yesterday at Good Counsel Homes 40th Anniversary Symposium.Whenever I hear her or other survivors of abortion, I get a mixture of emotions. I was hoping to share some of that yesterday in the panel discussion but it ended before I could get a chance.
Melissa survived a saline abortion which is what I was coerced to have by my dad as a teen in my 4th month of pregnancy, so for me it is very personal. After hours of labor I gave birth to my dead son. I had no idea of the development of my baby or of what was going to happen. I never wanted to abort but was abandoned by my family. I wish I had been stronger but I was a 17yo kid. No one can truly understand the trauma and horror of that experience. It brings such a gratitude to God for Melissas life but also as you can imagine a deep sorrow that my son died.
So often those of us who have had abortions feel unheard just like many of us did when we became pregnant. That our voices are not really given much of a platform in the movement, yet the babies that died are not some abstract babies but our sons and daughters. Yet many times we are not allowed to speak for them. Who knows better than us the loss of abortion, the ultimate failure of love, or the pain of walking the journey of healing for this sin through the mercy and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
I am so grateful to Melissa and the other survivors who are speaking out and giving a voice to the unborn by their testimonies. Giving a voice to my son and the millions of others killed by abortion. I am also so grateful to God for their survival and that they courageously speak out.
I also wanted to thank Savannah Antao who was attacked the other day as she was doing an on the street interview. Although the person who attacked her should be held accountable, Savannah was quick to recognize the fact that her assailant was probably post abortive and called for prayers for her.
We have a very wounded world with millions walking around bleeding from abortion. Yes, it is always wrong no matter what the circumstances but we need to recognize that this horrific sin is totally engrained in our society – a societal sin, and we need to not only seek to end abortion but to heal the wounds so deeply embedded in the hearts and souls of those involved. A wound that infiltrates the very fabric of our society in countless ways without us even knowing it .
Thank you God for people like Melissa and Savannah who get it.
I am so grateful for them