Reclaiming Our Children

Silent No More

 

So, this  is probably the 3rd time in  25 years that I have missed the March for Life. I was planning on attending, but it looks like God had other plans for me as I threw out my back.

I am actually looking forward to viewing it from home, because I am sure that I will get to see many things I miss when I am there. I especially cannot wait to see all the Silent No More marchers leading the way.

It is so wonderful to know that those who are post abortive lead this March now. We have come a long way in the 25 years since I began to march.  Like with my healing, not much was out there for the post abortive in those days, but I am sure, like me, there were many women and men marching who had experienced abortion first hand.

Perhaps what I like most about all this, is that we are marching not as pro lifers or as we are often called "anti -choicers", we are marching as the mothers and fathers of the 53 million babies who have died from abortion since Roe vs Wade.

Not everyone is called to this very public ministry, but I am grateful to God that those who are have the courage to put a face to the devastation of abortion which often remains hidden in the deaths of our children and in our guilt and shame.

So you GO women and men out there reclaiming your children and speaking the truth of the harm of abortion..you rock!

God and Creature

"Isn't it true that the only possible exchange that can take place between God and a creature is receiving His forgiveness and His mercy 'in return' for surrendering our sins and misery to Him?" (God Alone Suffices, pg. 106)

The Twisted Pro Abortion Movement

As much as I hated to I felt I had to respond to this article from The Daily Beast, that blames Gosnell's existence on the shame of abortion and it being excluded from public health care. Even after all these years the rhetoric can still amaze me...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-01-20/philadelphias-abortion-murder-the-need-for-safe-abortions/full/

This is what I submitted back to them..lets see if it gets printed...

I have to hand it to Michelle Goldberg for her unique ability to twist the horror of abortionists Gosnall’s clinic to blame the exclusion of abortion from public health care and the shame surrounding abortion. She definitely wins a prize for manipulating a situation to expand abortion. Bravo!

For the general public, her rantings may seem to make perfect sense, but for those of who have been personally touched by the horrors of abortion, we see right through her agenda. Countless clinics she would deem “safe” have done damage to countless women. Ms Goldberg needs to do her homework so she can report accurately the women damaged and killed by supposed “safe, legal abortion”.

Like Marisol C (NY County Supreme Court index 7346/1992, 101971/1993) who suffered serious injuries from an abortion performed in NY at Planned Parenthood, or Yvette D who suffered a perforated uterus (which Michelle would like us to believe only happens at clinics like Gosnells) at Planned Parenthood (C4030-Bronx County Supreme Court Index 17463-1982). I can go on and on, but you get the point, not the mention the deaths here in NY, like Dawn Ravenelle, Dawn Mack, Tamika Downey or Nicey Washington.Should I go on?

Blaming the existence of these clinics on “the stigma and secrecy around abortion” is so absurd it’s ridiculous.  

As far as the National Abortion Federation, if they cared so much for women, why didn’t their inspector report the atrocities she saw when she visited Gosnell's clinic in 2009? Goldbergs says, that perhaps “they did not recognize the extent of the illegality”, but that Is not what the inspector noted, she, in fact, said there were several unsafe practices and yet she never reported them.  Like with everything else (including this article) the safety of women is overshadowed by the desire to expand abortion.

I have been working with post abortive women for years and I am post abortive myself. I am disgusted at the manipulation o f this event to somehow increase coverage of abortion and expand its realm.

I know women unable to conceive who never went to Gosnell but instead to one of the clinics Ms Goldberg would consider safe.  In Fact Gosnell's practices of stabbing the baby would be completely acceptable to those who approve of partial birth abortion as long as the baby was still partly in the womb.

So, Ms Goldberg, you can try to fool the public based on lies, just like the one that legalized abortion in 1973,Roe vs. Wade, but you cannot fool us who have been injured in some way, and let me tell you, that silence and secrecy is disappearing for us too, so that the truth of the horrors of abortion can be revealed and women can really be safe.

Theresa Bonopartis

As an afterthought, I cannot believe she is more worried about making it harder for vunerable women to get "the care they need", then she seems to be about the atrocities that were committed and found.

Amazing Grace

E-mails and notes are still coming in from people who saw the "Morning of Prayerful Remembrance" on EWTN January 15th from St Patricks Cathedral in NY. Many watching could identify with the testimonies given and shared with me how touched they were by the service.

Here are a couple of my favorites:

 "The Morning of Reflection at St. Patrick's this past Saturday
was wonderful.  I couldn't be there but I watched it on EWTN---I have to
say, both my husband and I cried throughout most of the service (so, in a
way I was glad to be home).  The grandparents could easily have been us and
after almost 25 years, we still find it very difficult to talk about.  God
bless you and the Sisters for the good work you are doing to bring about an
awareness of the need for healing and forgiveness."  A

      " Peace, I, want to THANK YOU for this  awesome morning of Prayer &
Holy Mass. it soothed my soul and helped me to  forgive myself."
In Our Lady's Love
Patricia, Canada

For me, aside from educating those who may not know first hand the impact of abortion on so many, I pray this survive touched those who have been living in silence with the suffering, like the grand parents quoted above.

God works in many ways, and one thing I have learned through the years of writing retreats for Entering Canaan and developing events like the Prayer service, they often are just as much for me as the people we serve,so, I would like to share a personal story with you.

 

Everytime I used to have something in the paper about life,an Op-ed or letter etc., an older cousin of mine used to make a point to tell me how good it was and how proud he was of me for speaking out. We were not particularly close, so it always seemed strange to me that he would make it a point to say something.

Come to find out years later, he had gotten a GF pregnant and my dad had paid for her to get an abortion. I was so upset, to find out not only did my father have his grandchild aborted, but also my cousins baby. it left me feeling like God only k nows how many abortions my dad had been involved with.

My cousin died a few years ago of a heart attack. I could no thelp but wonder when I learned of his death, if he had had some kind of reconciliation with God, his baby and within himself.

Knowing what I knew,I made it a point to tell his brother and his wife about the EWTN show at St Patricks. Yesterday I got a note from them saying they had watched it and how it had touched their hearts. This was perhaps my biggest gift from this day...that they could remember thier neice or nephew through the show and receive some healing.

There are so many casualities with abortion, not just the baby and the mom and dad, but grandparents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles...everyone! This prayer service brings light to that fact in a beautiful solemn way.

God continues to amaze me by the things He places things in my heart  and asks me to carry out.  But neither the ministry of Entering Canaan nor the prayer service or my work at Lumina are about me, but they are always  about Him and what He does.  He never fails to astound me with His mercy!

Praise be to God...now and forever!

 

New Castle’s Light a Candle for Life

Nice to see women speaking up all over the place!

http://www.ncnewsmedia.com/archive/2011/Marci_Deal/image1.htm

EXHALE:the most pro-choice group of people I've ever met

"As an organization, Exhale presents itself as neither pro-life or pro-choice, but from the inside it's the most pro-choice group of people I've ever met. In counselor training, we were warned about pro-life zealots calling in to test us and test Exhale's stance on abortion. "Never give your opinion," we were told, "hang up if you have to."

Not that we needed her to tell us this because we already knew ( just look at their resources alone!), but a former EXHALE counselor tell us what she saw there.

Read it here:http://www.tressugar.com/Politics-Exhale-After-Abortion-Hotline-13252292

Trust Women Pins

So the pro abortion women's groups have a new initiative ...they want women to wear "Trust Women" pins from Jan 22-Feb 22(the slogan of late term abortionist George Tiller)...hmmm...if we did not have to pay for them I would say that all of us at the Supreme Court Monday should wear them while holding our "I Regret My Abortion" signs...that can trust that is the truth....

→ Español

Time To Trust Women

Since the recent election, the opponents of reproductive health care and women’s rights have claimed they speak for America. They do not.

It’s time to express the true voices of America.

It’s time to come together and show our strength.

We need to stand by each other and claim our rights to the legal health care to which we’re entitled.

Join the Silver Ribbon campaign to Trust Women, for Reproductive Rights and Justice.

1. Wear a Trust Women Silver Ribbon

   Order your  engraved with the credo: "Trust Women," >> for a $5 donation, and wear it through Feb. 22.

2. Spread the word
3. Take action!

   January 22 is the 38th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. Our Silver Ribbon partners will be organizing a series of calls to action leading up to this anniversary. Check our Take Action section for the latest updates from our partner organizations.

http://oursilverribbon.org/

Silent No more - March for Life

 

“Safe & Rare” or “Normal and De-stigmatized” - New York City & Abortion

I tried to get this printed in a few secular papers to no avail...

Challenging the claim of wanting abortions to be “safe and rare”, Bishop Dolan along with other members of the clergy from different denominations, held a press conference  to address the alarming statistics coming out of New York City for 2009, where 41% of pregnancies have ended in abortion

The disregard for life evidenced by this staggering number makes it clear that abortion is being used as a method of birth control, but the damage does not end there. Countless mothers, fathers, siblings and other family members are suffering as a result of abortion and only time will reveal the damage it has had on our society.  With these staggering numbers, everyone knows someone who is suffering because of a past abortion.

Planned Parenthood, NOW and other organizations, while pushing condoms (which are not fail proof), and promoting sexual activity (just visit their PP’s Teen wire site) try to blame abstinence for the high numbers.  NOW in fact, protested the news conference by standing outside with signs saying “Family Planning is OK”, and Planned Parenthood touts abortion as part of women’s health, but in fact, the truth is that they, along with groups like EXHALE, a pro abortion post abortion service, have no desire to make abortion ‘rare”, instead, they are trying to make abortion “normal” and do much to, as they say, promote “de-stigmatizing” it.  In other words, they want abortion to be a normal practice accepted by everyone as a part of women’s health care with no regard or responsibility for the unborn child, or for the countless people abortion impacts on multiple levels.

Unfortunately, with the help of the leadership of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and Council member Jessica Lapin, new legislation is in the process of being passed for Crisis Pregnancy Centers in New York City, that will attempt to limit access by implementing ridiculous rules, such as hanging signs in English and Spanish stating they do not perform abortions.  These new demands charge CPC’s with false advertising and lack of confidentiality, none of which was proven at the November hearings, making it more difficult for pregnant women in need.

 As the director of Lumina, a post abortion healing program, I wonder why the City Council is not as concerned with the many women who have been physically injured and died from supposed “safe and legal” abortions here in New York City, and, I question why they are not seeking legislation and truth in advertising at abortion clinics, like requiring them to hang signs in Spanish and English telling women they could be injured and even die from abortion. Instead, they have chosen to go after crisis pregnancy centers, in spite of the fact that their very names “Expectant Mother Care, Sisters of Life, Pregnancy Care Center” shout of their mission to help pregnant women in need.

It is time we wake up to the truth of abortion and the agenda of those who promote and make money off of it like Planned Parenthood or Jessica Lapin a former abortion clinic escort.  “Safe & Rare” or “normal and de-stigmatized”? Which will New York choose? Remember, the blood is on our hands.

Men & Abortion

I think I have seen this article before but I think it is worth posting again. It is  written by a man who obviously was conflicted about an abortion he participated in years before. Written from a pro choice view, it is interesting to see how he has fallen into the justification so many women do, and looking for solutions to the pain he is in and how to take care of his "brothers" who are sitting in the waiting rooms of abortion clinics.

The entire site is a source of contradiction to me, although many of his insights are valid and true, his attempts to rationalize are no different then other pro abortion sites addressing abortion.

If you want in-your-face evidence that a good many guys are not "rocks," spend a little time with over 500,000 males annually found in the waiting rooms of the nation's nearly 400 abortion clinics (about half of all abortion-seeking women generally have a man sitting by in the clinic or doctor's waiting room).  And if you want to help move "many" out and into the ranks of most (feeling) men, please join me in an on-going effort to reinvent the clinic experience of the waiting room men."

you can read the rest and check out the site here http://menandabortion.com/index.html

One of the hardest things I find to understand in rationalizing is a statement I found on their testimonies page which is also used by a lot of women. One man states in justifying his abortion:

"I worry more for Sally. I know this is the right choice for her, for me, but most of all for our unborn child."

I can never get how thinking killing your unborn child was a good choice for them.

The chart at the end of the article is interesting. Most described themselves as "supportive". I think that says a lot. Funny thing is, if you asked the women who then regretted their abortion they would probably say they were sorry the man did not do more to stop them. Of course, this fits into the whole confusion of  a man feeling like he has no say, "my body my choice", but then when they allow the woman to decide and then fin dher regretful they turn into the bad guy for not doing more to stop it.

I would love to get these men to come to our next men's retreat where they would learn true peace and come to terms with the reality of their abortions, not the rhetoric of the pro choice movement...

http://www.postabortionhelp.org/Men/men%202010.pdf