*Publisher's note: this personal testimony is being reprinted in light of the upcoming vote in South Dakota on Initiated Measure 11 and the recent statement by the American Psychological Association that abortion does not threaten women's mental health.
By Julie Thomas
Georgia State Leader
Operation Outcry
On a rainy, windy day in March 1978, I was lied to by an abortion facility in Atlanta. I was informed that I was too far along in my pregnancy to have a D and C (dilation and curettage) abortion and that I would have to deliver a dead infant. As I was leaving, having changed my mind about the abortion, I was told that they had made a mistake – they could take care of my “problem” and I could be on my way shortly.
Several weeks later when I called the abortion facility because I was bleeding heavily, I was informed that this was normal.
Women consent to abortion because we are deathly afraid and we lack information, concern, and wise counsel. We are afraid to tell our parents or husbands, afraid we can’t support a child, afraid our marriages will fail, afraid we will have to drop out of school or give up a career, afraid our lives won’t continue as we had planned.
Like many women, I believed the lie that abortion is safe, quick, and will make the problem go away. I believed that I had no other choice. I made the desperate “choice” of abortion as a last resort – not because I really wanted an abortion. My abortion took my daughter’s life, and it took part of mine.
The terms used by an abortionist are very misleading. Words like pregnancy termination, menstrual extraction, products of conception, and blobs of tissues. They only contribute to our confusion. All of these terms dehumanize what is being destroyed to deceive us, and so we can deceive others. Abortion hurts, deceives and destroys!
When going to the dentist to have wisdom teeth pulled, we are told of the possible complications that can occur. I was not told about the possible physical health risks, lifetime of depression, fear, anxiety, grief, guilt, and remorse or shame. I was not told of complications that could cause infertility.
It took me over 24 years to allow God to teach me how to forgive myself. I didn’t feel that I deserved to be forgiven. I deserved a lifetime of punishment. After completing a very intense Bible study, I learned how to start healing. Make no mistake – the road to healing can be long and hard. I made the choice and I paid the price, but Jesus Christ bears my burden now.
After 24 years, I am free. Christ is the answer for grieving women to be free from the past. He is in the business of taking broken lives and making them whole. I now know there is peace and healing for women hurt by abortion. I am now deeply concerned about other women who feel forced to do what I did. I will be “Silent No More.”
Julie Thomas is the State Contact for Georgia. She is a long time employee of a major Airline. She is a single mother of two, a daughter who is a teacher in the Atlanta area and a teenage son. She is a member of Sharon Baptist Church in McDonough, Georgia.
*Reprinted by permission of Operation Outcry.
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Friday, August 22, 2008
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