Reclaiming Our Children

Voices of Abortion

A Christian radio program hosted by Joyce Zounis, "Voices of Abortion"
http://www.crusaderadio.com/christianradioonline-mon.html

I have been a guest on it a couple of times over th eyears...a great way to have our voices heard.

Feast of the Archangels

Today is the Feast of the Archangels...I know that I always felt solace during my healing in thinking of St Michale and how he would protect me in the battle of healing from my abortion. Whenever I felt particularly depressed and fighting my demons, whether they be my low self esteem, my self hate or lack of worth, my anger at others, or any of the million other issues surrounding my abortion experience that I had to work through, I would think of St Michael and find comfort.

This week is loaded with my favorite Saints...Therese, who is my namesake, and to whom my aunt prayed for  years for me, the guardian angels, St Francis and St Faustina.I often forget the humanness of the saints and what they had to suffer. They are such a great example of perservering and trusting in God.

Like them may we never waver in our trust in the love and mercy of God who came to call sinners...

Words of Wisdom

"Think everything, say everything, do everything for love of God and neighbor. Anything that stands in the way of this is not of God. That is how you can know if you are in God's Will. Always-always" Mother Teresa

Sometimes we canfind it hard to know God's will in our life. we get upset or distracted by things that happen and oftentimes find ourselves doubting everything and searching for what we should do.
I find the above quote to be so simple and true. A good reminder for me to always keep my focus in the right place...

From Trinity Legal Center

Of course, I believe that women are often given false and misleading information. Personally I was given no information an dI have found this to be true for many over the years. Trinity Legal Center                        Linda Schlueter, President                      www.trinitylegalcenter.org     Supreme Court considers Acuna case   In May, we filed an amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court in Acuna v. Turkish. We are excited to report that on Monday, September 29, the Court will consider whether to take this important case. We expect the Court to announce its decision the following week.       This case and our brief are important for two very significant reasons.   1.     Our brief provides substantial scientifically reliable data that the Supreme Court said it lacked in the 2007 Partial-Birth Abortion ruling. In its ruling, the Court acknowledged --- for the first time --- the detrimental effects of abortion on women.  However, the Court stated that it had “no reliable data” concerning these effects.   This opened the door for us to provide the Court with substantial scientific evidence showing the harmful effects of abortion. You can review our brief and the evidence provided in the extensive research by Dr. Priscilla Coleman (in Appendix B) on our website at www.trinitylegalcenter.org.   2.     The New Jersey Supreme Court ruling in the Acuna case condones a physician lying to a pregnant woman! The U.S. Supreme Court’s action on this case could significantly impact state laws, particularly informed consent requirements. Specifically, the issue is whether a woman can properly exercise her constitutional right to decide whether to have an abortion if the abortionist provides false and misleading information. To obtain informed consent, a physician must provide accurate and truthful information..   Our brief represents Sandra Cano, who was Mary “Doe” in Doe v. Bolton, the companion case to Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion until the day of birth; the American Association of Pro-Life OB-Gyns; and, Alveda King (niece of Dr. Martin Luther King) and other post-abortive women from across the country.                                                                                                                             We ask for your prayers for this case and our brief as the United States Supreme Court is in conference next Monday, September 29.             About 9,000 cases are appealed to the Supreme Court each year, but the Court only takes about 90. If the Court takes the case, we are prepared to file another amicus brief on the merits of the case.  Even if the Court decides not to take this case, our brief provided the evidence it said it lacked in 2007. We will also be filing amicus briefs in other cases to the Court as opportunities arise.               We invite you to visit our recently updated website. You can submit comments at the bottom of the Home page. If you would like your story featured on the website, please let us know.    For questions or comments about this update, contact: Anne Newman, Director Policy and Communications TLC4Anne@aol.com 11120 Wurzbach, Suite 206 • San Antonio , TX 78230                                         210-697-8202 • www.trinitylegalcenter.org Looking for simple solutions to your real-life financial challenges? Check out WalletPop for the latest news and information, tips and calculators.

Some great Resources

from the Elliot Institute

• Portraits of Coercion

• Top 10 Reasons Abortion Is the UnChoice

• Pop Quiz - challenge people on both sides to test their assumptions 

• Key Messages About Abortion's Injustice

• Forced Abortion Fact Sheet

• The Hard Cases: New Facts/New Answers

• Psychological Risks

• Physical Risks

• Research Summary Booklet

• Teen Risks - warn parents who coerce teens or those whose kids are at risk of coerced abortion and post-abortion injury or death

• Other Quick-Reference Resources

Whats In A Name?

What’s in a Name?

 

"Tis but thy name that is my enemy. What's in a name? That which we will call a rose. By any other word would smell as sweet."

 So goes the dialog in the famous balcony scene of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. I think of that scene when I am aware of how much I do not like to be referred to as “pro life” or “anti abortion.”

 

I have tried to make sense of my aversion, especially since, after all, I am 100% pro life.

Perhaps it comes from my frustration in being a post abortive woman.  I have always felt to some degree or another “stuck” in the middle of the debate, not because of the issue of life itself, but because of the understanding, or lack of understanding, there seems to be on both sides about those who are post abortive.

 

Don’t get me wrong it has improved greatly and continues to improve, and I certainly do not blame anyone…how would anyone know? It has been such a deep, dark , secret of shame that no one spoke of for years and years, so, it is not frustration at people, but the issue in general.

 

It may be because article upon article from the main stream media portrays a plot by the “anti-abortioners” in making it seem like abortion hurts women. The new head of the American Psychiatric Association, Nada Stotland, is a feminist who is also on the board of Physicians for Reproductive Health and Choice. In a recent article on Medical News Today, Stotland says abortion is one of the most common surgeries in the

U.S.

, and, according to the Times, physicians have not seen an epidemic of trauma in women or men. Antiabortion groups have "succeeded in convincing the American public" that abortion harms women.

 

You get the picture.

I have to wonder if Stotland has been under a rock, since in recent years more and more women and men are speaking out about the harm abortion has done to them. Not “anti abortion” people, but “post abortive” women and men.  Those directly involved.

 

My aversion may also be because in some pro life circles we are still condemned by those who do not chose to understand why abortion happens. They condemn the sinner instead of the sin without even knowing the circumstances surrounding the personal abortion. Not that it is ever right, abortion is never right, but we can certainly understand how it can come to be. We are also told they are “saving babies” when many times we could not even “save” our own baby.

 

Post abortive people are often not acknowledged or given the opportunity to speak for ourselves and our children. In some ways we have been aborted too, not only by people who may have pressured us to abort, but by a society who refuses to listen to what we are saying. While I recognize many do not speak out because of shame and guilt, there is a reluctance, especially by the media, to give us a voice…or at least a sane voice.

 

But, in the end, I realize it is not really any of the above reasons that cause me to hate being called “pro life” or “anti abortion”. I hate being called those names because they are too general. I have been touched by this war on life in a very personal way. I have lost a son that I will not meet in this world. The name I truly want to be called is “mom” by my unborn son Joshua. That says it all.

This Magic Moment

This Magic Moment As politics tugs at tender wounds, help arrives. By Kathryn Jean Lopez ‘No one knew.” In a book perfect for the season in every way, including the title, Changed, Alex writes: No one knew I was spinning out of control. No one knew I was filled with anger and grief. No one knew but me. What Alex knew was that she “couldn’t stand to be alone with” herself. Just after graduating from college, she found out she was pregnant. Engaged, she wanted to have the baby but her fiancé didn’t. She writes: Ken calmly explained that having a baby right now didn’t fit into our plans. He said we shouldn’t have a baby until we were married, had been working in our careers longer, and were in a better financial situation. Practical Ken. “He tried to convince me that our relationship wouldn’t last if I didn’t have the abortion.” “I thought that if I got it over with quickly — that if I had the abortion early enough in the pregnancy — then I’d be able to cope with it.” Alex went ahead with the abortion. She immediately regretted it. “I felt the loss of our child from the core of my being. I grieved over my child — our child.” The relationship didn’t survive the abortion. It was at a business meeting where she started to confront her grief.

read the rest here  http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=OGRhNzI0MmJjNzU0ZDdkNmVjOTQ0NWE2MTljMTkxNGI=

Speaking of Ads

The Elliot Institute has some of my favorites which can be downloaded for newsletters, parish bulletins, bill boards and posters etc., for free.

It would be great to see some of these out there for Respect Life month in October, reaching out to those suffering..

click here to see some of my favorites

http://www.unfairchoice.info/display.htm

they are very powerful...all you have to do is add a number for PA help in your area...

Out and About

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately. Lots of events happening around here. The first was a dinner honoring Tony Felicissimo...a great guy who does tons of work for life and never speaks without including something for those out there who are post abortive.

Last night I went to the Fordham Forum on abortion by "Abortion Changes You". An outreach to those post abortive by Michaelene Fredenburg. Michaelene has designed the site   http://www.abortionchangesyou.com/  which encourages  work towards healing through activitys on
the site as well as a list of resources in the persons area. It was good to hear Michaelene speak of the impact on others, dads, grandparents, siblings, friends etc, which is something I have been been bringing to the surface for years. Too many times the focus is just on the women when in fact abortion hurts everyone.

Abortion Changes you will also be doing a ad campaign on the NYC subways beginning in October encouraging people to go on their site. Please keep the campaign in prayer!
Michaelene
 

Abortion Trig-ger

Ran into Kevn Burke, co-founder of Rachel's Vineyard at the
"Men & Abortion " conference. Her eis something he wrote about the Palin connector...

Sarah Palin-The Post Abortion Trig-ger?

 Is there a connection between the criticisms of Vice Presidential hopeful Sarah Palin and repressed post abortion grief? 

 
by

Kevin Burke

 

The very personal and often uncharitable criticism of Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin and her family evident in recent media coverage, and the lack of support from many feminist and child advocacy groups, may have a relationship to the collective grief, pain and guilt from personal involvement in the abortion of an unborn child.    When an issue strikes at a deeply repressed sensitive wound in a person, often the initial reaction is anger.  

Every year in the

United States

, approximately 133,000 pregnant mothers will undergo routine pre-natal tests and receive what is called “poor pre-natal diagnosis,” or PPD.  This means that their infant is afflicted with a chromosomal abnormality or a serious defect in a vital organ. 

With the increase in genetic testing and fertility treatments there are growing numbers of couples facing these difficult situations.  More than 90 percent of these pregnancies end in abortion.  Studies indicate that more than 80 percent of prenatal Down syndrome diagnoses end in abortion.   Parents are often influenced by doctors, therapists, friends and family to see these children not as a gift, but rather a burden to be feared and eliminated.  After abortion, the fallout from this loss places a tremendous strain on a couple as they struggle to come to terms with the shock and pain of their experience. 

Phil Pedlikin, president of the Down Syndrome Association of Northern Virginia, said the coverage of Sarah Palin as the mother of a child with Down syndrome has been very mixed.

"We have found it frustrating that, even though Governor Palin has never suggested it, quite the opposite really, the emphasis of many reports has been on the 'burden' that she faces because her child has Down syndrome. Also, she is sometimes portrayed as a hero because of this additional 'burden.' We are not heroes because we have children with Down syndrome. Our children are the heroes," Mr. Pedlikin said.  (

Washington

Times, September 4, 2008)

Governor Palin has been clear that despite the challenges Trig’s condition will present, she and her husband Todd joyfully celebrate the gift of this precious life to their family.  

 

But this very heartfelt, natural expression of love may be striking at a deeply repressed and painful wound in our culture. 

 

Seeing the Palin family, in a very visible public forum, with an uncompromising and public pro life philosophy arouses deeply repressed feelings in post abortive parents, as well as media members, counselors, health care professionals, politicians and others who promote abortion rights, especially the abortion of children with challenges such as Down syndrome.  These powerful repressed feelings of grief, guilt and shame can be deflected from the source of the wound (i.e., abortion) and projected onto an often uncharitable focus upon the trigger of these painful emotions…the Palin family.

 

We have also learned that Sarah's 17-year-old daughter

Bristol

is pregnant and will give birth to her son or daughter.  This information has been exploited to attack chastity programs and the alleged glamorization of motherhood at the expense of contraception and abortion rights.  But this completely misses a more crucial issue that once again our society struggles to face.

 

If Bristol Palin had quietly aborted, Sarah Palin would have been spared the politically untimely focus on this very personal family issue.   The problem would have quietly gone away.   But

Bristol

, like countless post abortive women, would have paid a high price to protect her mother from the political heat that her pregnancy brings to the campaign.  We know from our work with thousands of women who feel pressured to abort for various reasons that she would surely suffer many of the common post abortion symptoms; depression, promiscuity, drug and alcohol abuse, sleep disorders and relational problems.  But she would have suffered in silence; no one would know her secret.   No one would acknowledge that she has reason to grieve or have symptoms after abortion.   Sarah Palin would have lost not only her precious grandchild...she likely would have lost her daughter

Bristol

to the silent ravages of post abortion suffering.   

 

The Palin family’s decision to once again affirm the value of the unborn child, and support a decision to give life confronts the collective grief, guilt and shame of all who have participated in any way in the death of an unborn child. 

 

What we can hope and pray is that Sarah Palin's story does not continue to feed a disgraceful media feeding frenzy fueled by our post-abortive culture and instead becomes a beacon of hope and healing.  The experience of the Palin family offers encouragement to other families facing challenging circumstances to value the gift of a child and to see the blessing and potential they represent, rather than a burden to avoid at all costs.

 

It is important to make the distinction that to affirm the value of the unborn in no way condemns those who have experienced the pain of abortion.    Rather, this presents an opportunity to reach out to all who have been wounded by their participation in abortion with love and compassion.  We must invite our post-abortive culture to leave the dead end road of anger and personal attacks on families like the Palins.  Instead, we need to travel the road of reconciliation, healing and peace as we work together to build a culture of life for all Americans from conception to natural death.

If you or someone you love is hurting after abortion, visit Rachel’s Vineyard - Healing The Pain of Abortion, One weekend at a Time
www.rachelsvineyard.org

 

Kevin Burke

LSW is the co-founder of Rachel’s Vineyard - A Post Abortion Healing Ministry of Priests for Life.