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Women Who Regret Their Abortions Rally at March for Life
LifeNews.com ^ | January 23, 2004 | Steven Ertelt

Posted on 01/23/2004 3:11:04 PM PST by Federalist 78

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The post-abortion movement is picking up steam and women who are sharing the tragedies of their abortion experiences are rapidly becoming the face of the pro-life movement and encouraging young women not to make the same mistakes they did.

Led by actress and model Jennifer O'Neill, women who regret their abortions participated in the March for Life, where they held hundreds of signs saying just that. They also planned their own rallies to promote their message.

O'Neill was joined at a rally at the Supreme Court on Thursday by actress and singer Melba Moore and Dr. Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Luana Stoltemberg, a 43 year-old from Iowa, attended the rally. She said she began regretting her abortions when she realized they had robbed her of the ability to have children. Later, she adopted children.

"I've had three abortions and that hurts women like me,'' she told the Associated Press. "It devastates us physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally.''

Similar rallies were being staged by the group across the country.

Vikki Raymond attended a rally in California and told how she was 22 and already had one daughter when she decided to have an abortion.

"They put us on gurneys and lined us up in the hallways," Raymond, now 43, told the Press Enterprise newspaper. "I remember lying there, and we couldn't even look at each other because we all knew what we were there for."

Raymond grew up in a family that backed abortion but said, "I wish someone would have told me about the shame and guilt and remorse."

The Silent No More Awareness Campaign is one of many organized efforts to focus on women's negative abortion experiences.

It is a joint project of Priests for Life and the National Organization of Episcopalians for Life, seeks to raise awareness about the harm abortion does to women and their families, and about the many healing programs available.

Another organized post-abortion effort is Operation Outcry. They also held numerous events across the nation Thursday.

"We represent women who are not yet ready to break the silence: women who are suffering from their choice to end the life of their unborn babies but who cannot yet face the pain, the hurt, and the guilt they feel and have caused themselves and others. Shame and fear keep them quiet. Others are alone and convinced that they are the only ones hurting," said Joyce Zounis, Colorado state leader for Operation Outcry.

Susan Renne Mosley, director of Women's Outreach for Operation Outcry, who had an abortion at age 15 shares, "It's time to speak honestly about the pain we've lived with. Abortion hurts and it is a much harder choice to live with after the fact than adoption or child rearing. I know because I have lived with all three.

Mosley said her group wants to help women and men who are hurting from abortions to find peace.

"This effort will let them know they're not alone; they don't have to live their life in pain anymore," Mosley said. "There is hope and healing after abortion. We've found help and they can too. They need to know about the programs, books and resources available to help them."

Related web sites:
Silent No More - http://www.silentnomoreawareness.org
Operation Outcry - http://www.operationoutcry.org


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: alvedaking; dralvedaking; marchforlife; marchforlife2004; melbamoore; noel; operationoutcry; postabortivewomen; priestsforlife; silentnomore
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To: Lexinom
That doesn't mean that they KNOW what they're doing. If they did, they wouldn't do it.
21 posted on 01/24/2004 6:13:44 AM PST by Triple Word Score
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To: Lexinom; Triple Word Score
The statement that females , of any age do not understand the meaning of death and killing someone , is a popular excuse for self centered , selfish behavior for people who have no self control.

My 5 year old knows that when you kill someone it is forever, and that murder is wrong. He also knows that sex causes babies.

What hogwash!

These women do a good thing by talking out, but nothing is ever going to relieve their guilt. Tough. They should have thought about that before they killed someone.

I have no pity for them. I respect them for reaching out to help others not make the same mistakes, but I can not forgive.

It is not for me to forgive.

Their guilt is something they will have to live with. Just like anyone else who kills another person.

Making excuses for their lack of understanding , is playing into the pity party of selfish , lazy, self centered women.

A woman who is pregnant has already had her choice , she chose sex.... a woman who is a victim of a crime,should not be victimized twice, as hard as it it to accept.

Not understanding about sex , is not the same as rape.

Please don't make it sound like women are victims just for being young or being female, because their flirty little brains could just not comprehend that sex can mean babies.

22 posted on 01/24/2004 6:27:09 AM PST by Diva Betsy Ross (Every heart beats true for the red ,white and blue!)
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To: Federalist 78
Who is better to talk about this than the women who have seen the light. This is great.
23 posted on 01/24/2004 6:30:42 AM PST by aodell
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To: Triple Word Score
That doesn't mean that they KNOW what they're doing. If they did, they wouldn't do it.

....Jennifer O'Niel mentioned that when she had her abortion years ago, the abortion clinque told her it was just a blob and not yet alive , of course we know better now.

24 posted on 01/24/2004 6:50:14 AM PST by GrandMoM ("Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit," says the Lord Almighty. {Zechariah 4:6})
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To: GrandMoM
Then why didn't she do some research of her own, ask her parents, ask women who have had babies , seek information.

Just because she has someone else to place the blame upon ,doesn't mean she isn't at fault for not understanding her body, her motivations for sex, the outcome of murdering someone, the outcome of killing her own baby, (on and on)

Women are responsible for their own actions , their own bodies and the ramifications if they kill their own child.

A woman who is pregnant knows that the fetus growing inside her is not blob, if someone gives her an out and she wants to be selfish, she will take it and place the blame anywhere else.

Sure the abortions mills have led people astray.. they have led the willing astray.

25 posted on 01/24/2004 7:11:29 AM PST by Diva Betsy Ross (Every heart beats true for the red ,white and blue!)
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To: Diva Betsy Ross
Publik Skools teach kids otherwise, and most kids are publicly educated. Even their church leaders are starting to be pro-abortion. They're taught they can have sex if they want to, and get abortions if they have to; they're taught that condoms mean Safe Sex. You can't know better than what you've been taught or learned by hard experience. If you're told it's a blob of tissue and it's okay to remove it, it's your RIGHT by the SCOTUS, you're going to make the wrong choice in a panic situation.


It's sad that anyone has contempt for that. I've never had to wear a sign proclaiming my dreadful sins for all the world to see, and I've certainly never done it voluntarily. They are brave and wise. They learned the hard way and they learned it so well they're trying to atone for their sin. And still people throw stones!

By the way, though you won't believe it, I'm praying for your father, and not seeking you out to attack you on the forum for your opinions during a difficult time. Every one of these women learned the hard way and they are using their hard-won experience to try to prevent the murder of more babies. They're trying to tell young women that it's a baby, not a choice.
26 posted on 01/24/2004 7:37:56 AM PST by Triple Word Score
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To: cyborg
In Atlanta there was a HUGE number of men there.
27 posted on 01/24/2004 7:52:11 AM PST by hilaryrhymeswithrich (Herman Cain for the U.S. Senate.....this Georgia man is in YOUR future!)
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To: hilaryrhymeswithrich
Why don't we heard about these men more often? It seems to me that women get everything heaped on them. We have to be sorry about spreading our legs, we have to stay virgins, we can't get pregnant, we have to repent of our abortions. I don't see men repenting of much.
28 posted on 01/24/2004 7:55:11 AM PST by cyborg
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To: cyborg
I see your point, but was impressed with the number of men there and the passion they put forth. I suppose in some ways, men really don't have much say. If a woman wants an abortion there is NOTHING a man can do to stop it. That is truly tragic.
29 posted on 01/24/2004 7:59:57 AM PST by hilaryrhymeswithrich (Herman Cain for the U.S. Senate.....this Georgia man is in YOUR future!)
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To: ppaul
Excellent post, especially the pics of the young people.
30 posted on 01/24/2004 8:04:03 AM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist (EEE)
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To: hilaryrhymeswithrich
If a woman wants an abortion, you're right there's nothing a man really can do. I think that is tragic. I'm all for prevention. More abstinence programs flooding schools and churchs,etc. If people weren't having sex to pregnant in the first place, we'd not be having this conversation. I know I would never have an abortion, so if I ever got pregnant it would not bother me (even if it was an 'accident').
31 posted on 01/24/2004 8:06:00 AM PST by cyborg
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To: Triple Word Score
"Publik Skools teach kids otherwise, and most kids are publicly educated. Even their church leaders are starting to be pro-abortion. They're taught they can have sex if they want to, and get abortions if they have to; they're taught that condoms mean Safe Sex."

Yes, those things are true. That is why adults need to speak up and tell children that it is not OK to have un protected sex at too early an age, and that there are ramifications to their actions.

Adults should not make the excuse that women who have abortions do not know better.

It is up to everyone to speak out against abortion. You and I are society. If a society makes a stand, young confused girls here that as well as what the abortions mills and liberals have to say.

These women , who have had abortions do a service to society by speaking out. But for them it is too late. They have to live with their guilt. I don't feel sorry for them, but I commend what they are doing.

Good people make mistakes, but it is time for people who believe abortion is murder to stand up and make some noise.

IF these girls have no parents to guide them, knowing how society has to say is the way young confused girls will know it is not acceptable to have adult relationships before they are ready to handle the consequences.

Any woman with a fetus growing inside her knows that she is the giver of life , and that taking that life is selfish, no matter what anyone tells her.

I am just not willing to let young girls off the hook so easily. I was a young girl once, so were you.. having reverence for life and the instinct to protect your child is not something anyone anywhere gives us. It is an innate drive and is difficult to be ignored, unless you really really want to quiet it.

32 posted on 01/24/2004 8:11:44 AM PST by Diva Betsy Ross (Every heart beats true for the red ,white and blue!)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist
Why do some people want to go back to the barbaric abortions of the past?

They don't use impulse-control, they don't use birth control, then they run to get an abortion and don't want anyone else to be able to get one in the future?

Whatever happened to Personal Responsibility?

33 posted on 01/24/2004 8:11:55 AM PST by katya8
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To: Federalist 78
Nothing enrages a pro-abortion feminist than to suggest that there are emotional/psychological consequences to having an abortion.
34 posted on 01/24/2004 8:18:58 AM PST by Guillermo (It's tough being a Miami Dolphins fan)
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To: Diva Betsy Ross
I thought that teaching girls that in the home and church sufficed. Then my youngest sister-in-law got pregnant by a black boy. My conservative, rural, Catholic "No fish on Friday" in-laws were all ready to have that baby aborted because it was truly inconvenient--'what would the neighbors think' was the principle priority going through their panicked heads. All they could see or think about was the father's race being introduced into the family--and they'd have denied being racist before this actually happened.

Our offer to adopt the baby saved her life, gave them all time to calm down, even though in the long run her mother kept her and had two more by the same high-school dropout who couldn't keep from stealing from an employer long enough to actually get a paycheck. (He isn't in jail right at the moment, and they actually got MARRIED. Of course my in-laws all hate him and blame him for their daughter not living so well--they're completely incapable of seeing that she too has made choices.)

Choices, choices, choices. Life goes on. That little family has a lot of strikes against it, but they're all alive. NO THANKS to the conviction my in-laws didn't show when the chips were actually down and an "Oreo baby" was on the way.

It's all well and good to preach against abortion. It's what you do when you're actually confronted with the reality of an unplanned pregnancy that really shows your values. The in-laws look down on us because we're not Catholic and tell us our babies are going to go to hell because of our choices. But when they were going to murder my niece, my husband told them, "That's my blood too. You want to shed it, I'm going to come stop you." That's what finally stopped the plan to suck my niece into a sink.

She's a pretty girl and maybe she'll overcome her screwed up beginnings. Many people do.

Glad your father is better. It sounded very serious.
35 posted on 01/24/2004 8:45:17 AM PST by Triple Word Score
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To: Triple Word Score
Gotta add, abortion was brought up when the second and third ones were on the way--even though by then they loved the first.
36 posted on 01/24/2004 9:10:12 AM PST by Triple Word Score
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To: Triple Word Score; Diva Betsy Ross
Objectively, with far-fetched exceptions such as a mentally-retarded girl being impregnanted by rape, Betsy is right about girls not being ignorant IMHO. Would that more share her courage to speak with that kind of unwavering conviction. NOTHING justifies killing an innocent person, except that awful and heartwrenching decision to save one life rather than lose two.

Logically and legally the baby should only be killed if he/she could be convicted of a capital crime or if the victim is not human (and therefore not really a victim). I've never quite understood how a "right to privacy" magically confers to one the right to kill: if I take someone into the privacy of my bedroom, am I suddenly exempt from murder charges if I plunge a knife into their chest? And why does this only apply to women?

The only other way to justify abortion is as the Nazis justified the holocaust and American slaveowners justified slavery: rob the victim of its humanity. Evolution, with its implication (and outright dogma) of man as an animal, has made this second approach palatable.

In the case where a woman, caught up in the PP propaganda and the lack of judgement of one owned by fear (young, poor, pregnant, whatever), she can and should be accepted if heartily repentant. To do otherwise is to overlook our own moral shortcomings. Her burden, in this life and the next, is between her and God.

I'm suspicious of women who are regretful only because of phyisological consequences (i.e. "I'm sterile now").

37 posted on 01/24/2004 12:23:25 PM PST by Lexinom
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To: Lexinom
My Grandmother was convinced by doctors that she had to abort her second child. It broke her heart. Her doctor's believed that she had Cancer, and her life would be sparred only if she aborted the baby. The family decided it was for the best, and she the baby was taken.

They found out later she did not have Cancer or any other medical urgency to take the baby.

It was a boy.

My Grandmother had a nervous breakdown, from which she did not recover for a long time.

She had a third child and suffered postpartum depression ,so great she was hospitalized for almost a year. She never was able to break the constant guilt and depression that resulted from the loss of her son.

My mother, her third child missed the bonding experience of her mother, and my Mother suffered from those repercussions her entire life.

OF course there are some cases where taking the child does save the mother's life... And in the case of rape, where the woman should be given a choice.

These cases are hard to grasp, but IMO, the reality is there are few cases where I could understand the loss of a baby.

Anything less to me is an excuse, and has far reaching consequences.

Teenagers who acidently get pregnant need to be told to see it through, or they will suffer their entire lives.

38 posted on 01/24/2004 12:46:06 PM PST by Diva Betsy Ross (Every heart beats true for the red ,white and blue!)
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To: Diva Betsy Ross
It's usually the ones who should be telling them to see it through who arrange for abortions.
39 posted on 01/24/2004 12:52:00 PM PST by Triple Word Score
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To: Federalist 78
Doesn't every person who aborts a baby have regrets?
40 posted on 01/24/2004 12:53:22 PM PST by Principled
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