After spending several years as a pro-life client advocate in AZ and PA my heart goes out to those women who have suffered guilt, shame and regret over their “right” with reproductive freedom to choose abortion.
It’s ironic that the first definition under freedom is defined as the condition of NOT being in prison or captivity. I wonder if the young woman who spoke to me after her first medical abortion in which she took the two doses of mifepristone and misoprostol would agree. She was sent home with the medications and was told she might experience some cramping. She was not prepared for the extreme abdominal pain that ensued as her uterus was trying to expel what was described to her as “tissue”. Nor was she prepared for what she found through the blood in the toilet. Reproductive freedom allowed her the gut wrenching choice of what to do next: Does she flush? Or fish out the tiny human?
Either choice does not bring about the emotional or mental freedom that one would assume follows terminating a pregnancy. Many post abortive women described to me how their “due date” was a black mark on their soul and how seeing children the age their child would have been were a constant reminder of their choice. These abortion pills are available up until 12 weeks of pregnancy.
You’ve all seen the pictures of the developing embryo and fetus. We know that by 6-8 weeks brain waves are detected and at 8 weeks the unborn fetus has functioning organs and by 10 weeks the fetus can feel pain. It’s been said if you change the language you can change the culture. We can call it “choice” or put it under the blanket of “reproductive freedom” but deep down we all know it’s a tiny human child.
For any woman suffering through a recent or long term effects from an abortion, please contact Tender Care Pregnancy Center. Post Abortive counseling is available.
Featured image caption: (l-r) Todd Orndorff, Vince Pacelli, Susan Feaga, Sean Fitzgerald.