Reclaiming Our Children

Conversion Story

Not abortion related but Ithought this conversion story of Claudia Koll was worth posting...I guess because she had a similar experience to that of mine:

"I felt as I was tied close to the Cross and I was able to feel complete liberation." Claudia

"The only way I can put what happened next into words, is to say I climbed on the cross with Christ, and instead of the suffering we see when we look at Him crucified, I found the only love capable of taking away that pain. I felt His love wash away my sin and I knew inside of me that the suffering was over" me!

All Praise t o Jesus and redemption of the cross!

Claudia Koll on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje

Other languages: English, Hrvatski, Italiano

Date: November 18, 2010
Category: Testimonies

Famous Italian actress and convert, Claudia Koll, came to Medjugorje in the beginning of November on a pilgrimage. She gave interview to radio station “Mir” Medjugorje and she openly spoke about her life and her conversion. It felt as we had listened to the unwritten story of Mary Magdalene of our days. She told us about all of the troubles and difficulties she had while she was growing up, all beacuse her mom had died during her birth. She was raised by her granny and had many identity crises while she was educated and at the end got completely lost in the world of movie production.

After a number of obscene roles in movies, Claudia walked through the Holy door on Basilica of St. Peter in Rome, in Jubilee Year of 2000 and instantly felt that the life she had up to that moment was broken and disappeared. And then, she said: “One day there was this dramatic situation that needed to be resolved and I did not know how to handle that at all. I remember being desperate, I walked the room up and down, and just simply in one moment I started to speak to God. I prayed Our Father and I was squeezing in the palms of my hands a little crucifix that one of my friends gave to me few days prior to that. In those moments, my whole being was turned towards the God, I felt as I was tied close to the Cross and I was able to feel complete liberation. I felt as I was immersed in something like a deep peace. And I rested in that feeling. No longer was I worried, nor afraid; it felt as there was only one feeling of deep silence, something unknown to me prior to that particular moment. It was that silence that spoke to me about God, I did not see Him, but I was able to feel Him. I asked Him, ´Why did You do that, why did you console me, I do not deserve that?’ Then I said: ‘You are my Father, I prayed to you in the prayer of Our Father and I told You that I would like to meet You!’ That was my prayer!”

the rest is here: http://www.medjugorje.ws/en/articles/claudia-koll-pilgrimage-medjugorje/

Common Ground

OK, so I actually think I would like Aspen Baker. She is the woman who began "Exhale" a pro abortion post aboriton outreach. Of course, I do not agree with a lot of what she says, but I think we do have a lot of common ground in our feeling regarding post abortion and people on both sides of the debate and i think we could have some interesting conversations if we could sit down and be honest.

I tried to meet with Aspen once but she declined my request. Still I continue to read her blog etc every once in a while.

Today she had a great post by a stigma researcher Kate Cockrill, who studies stigma and abortion and who had spoken at a conference at Princeton .

here is part of her talk which I definitely agree with:

"Women who have abortions do not live in a world of nonjudgmental support. When their own abortion is at issue they can expect judgment, criticism and rejection.  So many women are very careful about who they share their experience with or who they seek support from. In fact if you do not personally know someone who has had an abortion, it’s most likely because you are not considered a safe person to tell. While politically-motivated public and private disclosure is encouraged by both sides of the debate, the real stories of real women are not adequately supported by either side of the public debate.  So, when women don’t come forward with their stories…we have to wonder if we’re partly to blame."

Of course, Aspen, and probably Kate as well, believe the stigma would be taken away if women spoke out and made abortion a common experience. There is the huge difference between us...I do not feel shame anymore and I am not concerned with the stigma because of the healing of Mercy Himself, Jesus Christ... http://reclaimingourchildren.typepad.com/lumina_a_ray_of_light_aft/2010/11/tweeting-abortion-removing-the-stigma.html

Hearing Article

I thought this was pretty fair coverage of the hearing..

http://www.dnainfo.com/20101117/manhattan/abortion-debate-takes-center-stage-at-city-hall-hearing-on-pregnancy-centers

Post Abortion Group

Post-Abortion Support Group

 

Are you looking to experience healing from emotional effects from a past abortion?

 Meet with client advocates who have experienced healing from an abortion & other women who have experienced similar situations.

 Talk openly about your experience in a confidential & safe environment.

 Call (212) 689-1705 to reserve your spot or for more details!

Thursdays 6:30-8pm,

Registration is required by Dec 8. Classes are eight weeks long and only $10 for the workbook.

 Please call (212) 689-1705 to register

 

Midtown Pregnancy Support Center

110 E. 40^th Street, Suite 706

(between Lexington and Park Ave.)

New York, NY  10016

Testimony to City Council

 my testimony to the City Council  was tweeked a little because of testimony before me. I have a lot to say on today, but to be honest am exhausted so I will save it for later. I did not get to get all of it in..we only had 3 minutes and I was distracted because of the behavior of the council, but I will talk about that tomorrow as well.

Thank you to all who prayed...I think we all did well to spite the fact of the blatant bias .all praise to God

 

Testimony

Here is my testimony to be read before the NYC Council today. Please keep us in pray....I will let you all know how it goes....

 

 

Testimony before New York City Council

File: Int 0371-2010 Limited Services Pregnancy Centers

 

My name is Theresa Bonopartis; I am a post abortive woman and the director of a post abortion ministry here in New York where we get approximately two hundred new people each year looking for help because of the suffering they’ve experienced following abortion. By the Guttmacher Institutes own admission at least 10% of women suffer after abortion that is over 5 million people.  Hardly insignificant.

 After reading both the City Council’s legislative text and NARAL’s report on “The Lies, Manipulations, and Privacy Violations of Crisis Pregnancy Centers in New York City”, of which the legislation is based, it appears that the aim of this legislation is completely misdirected.

 Both the report and the legislation focus on what is seen as the manipulation and coercion of the crisis pregnancy centers. Council member Jessica Lappin, the bill’s primary sponsor, says this legislation is imperative to protect women who go to CPC’s. I would hope the Ms Lappin and the rest of the Council, as well as NARAL, were as concerned with the manipulation and coercion of countless women who are pressured to abort by boyfriends, husbands, and parents, or those who feel they need to abort so they can continue college, where abortion is free and accessible, but child care is not.

 Over the years I have heard accounts of the manipulation and deception of countless abortion clinics: women seeking help to have their babies who are encouraged to abort for “mental health” reasons, women who did not know or were not told the development of their unborn baby, or the details and dangers of the abortion procedure they were about to undergo. I myself am one of those women. Women deserve to know the entire truth about abortion whether they are in a CPC or an abortion clinic. Why is there no legislation being passed to ensure this? You continue to deny women the whole truth of the dangers of abortion yet you appease the powerful political abortion lobby. If we agree that abortion should be “rare”, well then, CPCs help to achieve that goal.

 NARAL would claim that the post abortion stress we feel does not exist and even backs it up by the report from the American Psychological Association verifying, in their opinion, that “fact”.  But, I have sited 35 studies on attachment #1, saying the opposite, and I know thousands of post abortive women who disagree with the APA. They cannot tell us that what we experienced did not happen.

 I wonder if the council is planning to show the same concern towards abortion clinics that they seem to have with CPC’s, where there is no life threatening acts. Will they be implementing standards in abortion clinics, so that they align with the regulations of other health care facilities? ON PP’s site they say abortion is “safe” and legal , I am sure the women I have sited on attachment #2 who have been injured from abortion here in NY, would disagree. Will they be required to post a sign that says abortion lead to injury..

 Also, perhaps those women who have died from supposed “safe, legal” abortion here in New York, like: Dawn Ravenelle, Guadalupe Negron, Sophie McCoy, Dawn Mack, Christina Goesswein, Tamika Dowdy, Nicey Washington, and Alexandra Nunze, as well as the others listed on attachment #3 would have not chosen abortion if they had been told all the dangers. As we all know, women continue to die from abortion no matter how “safe & legal” it’s claimed to be. Will they have to post a sign that says abortion can lead to feath? The Council seems more concerned with signs in CPC’s and limiting their 1^st amendments rights then actually offering women alternatives and regulating abortion clinics that are responsible for injuries and deaths. Where are the signs at the abortion clinics warning women of these?

 One has to wonder why there is such an affront on the CPC’s. According to NARALs own report the CPC’s use the wording, “Abortion Alternatives”. Where is the deception in that wording? “Abortion Alternatives”? There isn’t any. CPC’s offer services free of charge and do not advertise themselves as a source of birth control or a medical facility so why would they have to state what they do not offer?  Do abortion clinics have to state they do not offer services they do not propose to offer? And what proof is there that private information has not been confidential?

 It seems that both the City council and NARAL have become more concerned with abortion itself then the women they propose to be helping. In a quest to keep abortion legal at any time for any reason, they have discarded the welfare of countless women.

 We have been told over and over again that women are capable of making their own choices. It has been one of the main arguments in the pro abortion debate. Why then don’t the council and NARAL trust women enough to be able to make this choice? If they do not want to be in CPC they can leave. How can you say a woman can handle making a potentially life changing decision such as abortion, yet not trust her enough to handle going into a CPC? Either she is capable of making decisions or she is not. Perhaps you are the ones using the fear often felt by women to limit alternatives that would give her the resources she needs to allow her to have her baby. I know countless women who wish they had known of such resources.

 Truth be told, abortion always takes the life of an unborn baby, and can cause great suffering to the mother, emotionally and physically, and even death. If CPC’s save some women from that by the help and support they provide, I say more power to them. As a society that claims to want lower the abortion rate, so should you.

 

 

Enclosures: 3

Tweeting Abortion - Removing the Stigma

An article in The National Catholic Register about the "I Had An Abortion" gangs latest attempts to remove the stigma of abortion by tweeting their experiences. http://www.ncregister.com/blog/tweeting-abortion

 

here is an article I wrote a while ago addressing this issue:

Removing the Stigma of Abortion

 Stigma: a mark of shame or discredit

 Shame: painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming, or impropriety; something to be regretted

 

I am a post abortive woman. For many years I suffered from the guilt and shame of my abortion, and lived in the fear of being “found out”…it was paralyzing!

 Now, years later, I have been freed from the human shame of abortion, not because it is something I have forgotten or do not regret, but precisely because I have acknowledged my sinfulness...the complete horror of the act of killing my unborn child, and the fact that I deserve hell because of it.  I have now walked through the guilt and shame into the arms of Jesus.  If we go before God in truth, the truth will set us free. I have placed my focus on Jesus and what He has done for me. Instead of hiding from my sinfulness I have admitted what is true…we are all sinners in need of Gods mercy.

 Lately, we have been hearing a lot about removing the stigma of abortion. The pro choice side has made several attempts at creating an environment where women would feel comfortable with the fact that they have taken the life of their unborn children. They unceasingly try to prove there is nothing such as “post abortion syndrome”. They continue to strive to make abortion a “normal” experience of life. We have seen “I had an Abortion” tee-shirts, web sites toting “I’m Not Sorry” and a number of blogs to argue the point that not all women regret abortion, thus it should not be challenged, but remain “safe and legal”. Recently, a series of e-post cards were placed on the Exhale post abortion referral site, in an attempt to de stigmatize abortion.

 On the pro life side there also is a continued struggle for a balance between the horror of abortion and compassion for the sinner. At one time, (and in some places this is still true) there is a fear to show compassion for fear that women will think abortion is acceptable. On the other side, there is sometimes so much compassion, the seriousness of the sin seems to be forgotten. Like the pro choice side, a series of e-cards for those who have had an abortion are available through Life Issues Institute, a wonderful group whose good works are numerous, but whose post abortion cards leave me with much the same feelings as Exhales.

 Here are the “sayings” from both organizations…see if you can guess which are which:

 1.   “On those days that grief and sorrow are constant companions, know that I love you and hold you in my prayers.”

 2.   “I want you to know that I care about you and how you are feeling.. My thoughts are   with you”

 3.   “I pray God will grant you peace and healing after the loss of your child.”

 4.   “The promise of God is to be with us in all our transitions. God will never leave you or forsake you. May you find comfort in God’s constant love. Know that my prayers are with you at this time.”

 5.   “Healing is possible. May you find peace after your abortion.”

 6.   “May you Find Comfort in God’s Constant love.”

 Tough to distinguish isn’t it? I personally find both sets of these cards offensive. Neither addresses the responsibility of the woman, who ultimately, no matter what the pressures or circumstances, gave in to abortion. By denying her role in the abortion decision, no matter how small it may have been, we continue to feed into the denial and attempt to make abortion a “normal” experience of life. She knows this is not true, and I believe, we do her a great disservice. All the tee-shirts, web sites and e-cards in the world can never make abortion “normal”. Women, inherently, know this.

 In human terms, nothing can alleviate the pain of abortion or take away its stigma. In truth, they need to be brought to Christ’s love, where they can obtain the courage to look at their abortion in the light of His great love for them. It is there, at the foot of the cross, where they can begin to look at their abortion experience in truth. Abortion is always wrong.

 While at the cross, they will come to internalize His love and the sacrifice of the Cross, learn to understand what happened, ask forgiveness from their children, and forgive others including themselves.

 I do not believe there can ever be a fitting card for abortion. I personally think this is a good thing…no human can erase the stigma or the shame. Would we want them too? If they could, the severity of the act would be diminished and abortion would be “normal”. It is Christ alone, who can heal those post abortive. To remove the stigma of abortion we need to embrace the stigma of the cross, surrender to the Mercy of our God who died for our sins, even the sin of abortion, and rise with Him through His Resurrection. He is the way, the truth and the life and only He can do it!

 

 Answers to quotes:

(1.Life Issues, 2. Exhale,  3. Life Issues, 4. Exhale, 5. Exhale, 6. Life Issues)

The Lions Den

I am sorry I have been very negligent in posting on the blog lately. There has been a lot going on, one of which is the legislation the New York City Council is passing in regard to Crisis Pregnancy Centers.

http://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=777861&GUID=F7F0B7D7-2FE7-456D-A7A7-1633C9880D92&Options=ID|Text|&Search

The hypocrisy of this legislation which claims to want to protect women, while women continue to be injured and even die from abortion, is amazing. Where is the legislation protecting women from injury and even death from abortion? Not only is there none, but they continue to deny women the entire truth about abortion!

NARAL site has this on their site:

In October, NARAL Pro-Choice New York released a report on the deceptive and manipulative practices of crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) in New York City and stood with members of the New York City Council when they announced bold new legislation to regulate these misleading anti-choice organizations in our community. http://www.prochoiceny.org/assets/files/cpcreport2010.pdf

This bill will require CPCs to state clearly whether or not they provide comprehensive pregnancy counseling options—including abortion and birth control—and will help ensure that every woman who walks into a CPC knows whether she will in fact be seeing a medical provider and that her personal private information will be kept confidential. Read more about the bill.

Why would CPC's have to provide abortion and birth control when they clearly state they provide abortion "alternatives" and are not in the business of birth control? It is a political payback and a platant attempt by the pro abortion lobby to put CPC's  of business. 

Anyway,I will be testifying tomorrow at the hearing along with many others. Please keep us in prayer. Although I doubt it will change anything since the Council has strong ties to NARAL and Planned Parenthood, I feel it is our obligation to speak the truth about the lies of abortion and the sanctity of human life. 

if you know anyone either hurt by abortion or helped by a CPC that would be willing to testify please ask them to join us tomorrow Nov 16th at 1pm at 250 Broadway, 16th floor,New York, NY

 

If they are unable to be there but are willing to submit written testimony please have them send it to :

Rachel Cordero
Counsel, Committee on Women's Issues
[email protected]
phone: (212) 788 9073           
fax: (212) 788-9112

"Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.' Matt 10

 

Church Awareness Project

Don't forget to check out this:

http://www.afterabortion.org/churchawarenessproject/

 

Men and Abortion

 

From the Washington Times:

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/forbidden-table-talk/2010/nov/9/are-men-not-allowed-offer-opinions-about-abortion/