Some may ask why South Dakota's newly enforceable informed consent law for abortion is so important.
The last I read a couple of days ago, the state of South Dakota was set to begin enforcing this requirement today.
Why would it be so important for someone to inform the woman considering abortion that "abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being"?
Here is just one story:
Kay Painter now speaks at retreats, churches, conferences and other events about her abortion, telling a real-life no-holds-barred story of pain and guilt.
"The instant I heard my baby's helpless body hit the garbage can, I KNEW! I had just killed my own flesh and blood, an innocent life. I was panic-stricken, the nurse callously told me to 'calm down, in a few days all would be back to normal,'" she says.
"Normal? No one forewarned me of the repercussions of an abortion. It was a simple procedure of removing 'tissue,' so why the pain, the sudden emptiness? I awoke night after night to the sound of screams, they were mine!"
When I lived in England, I dated a woman who had an abortion not long before I met her. Now, more than 20 years later, I still remember her agony, her tears, her gut-wrenching regret that usually only came out when she was intoxicated enough to let her guard down.
I remember her crying, tortured words as she told me of the "plop" the baby made as the now-dead child was dropped into what she called "that plastic bucket." How many times she spoke of being haunted by that "plop."
What was going on inside her was so powerful, for me it felt like standing next to a raging inferno. I can't begin to imagine the horror of the anguish she felt.
More on Kay Painter's ordeal:
"The abortion followed me through the next 16 years, bringing isolation, bad choices, horribly ugly divorce, unspeakable shame, terrible loneliness, and … depression," she said.
She finally gave up. "There are no words to express the deep ark hole I found myself in, no phrase to describe the depth of my despair. God placed it on my heart to drive directly to my doctor's office, where I was rushed into a private exam room. There I took the first step to healing by 'telling.'" she said. Daily visits to a Christian counselor were set up, and she eventually regained her life, she reports.
I wonder if the girl I knew in England has ever regained her life, if she's ever found a measure of peace. I hope she has.
Some women may go ahead even after hearing this advisement and elect to abort their unborn child. But at least they will have been presented with the stark truth of what they are considering, and will have had one more important chance to avert a terrible mistake.
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