Came across a book I had gotten a LONG time ago, “How to Talk With Your Children About Your Abortion: A Practical Guide for Parents,” by Philip G. Ney and Marie Peeters-Ney. For more information, contact IIPLCARR/Hope Alive by phone at (250) 391-1840, or email [email protected].
Definitely worth the read!
here is an article from 2004 by Amy Sobie of the Elliot Institute about the same topic. I had forgotten all about it :
Talking With Your Children About Your Abortion
Amy R. Sobie
Theresa Bonopartis vividly remembers the day, more than 20 years ago, that she phoned her doctor for the results of her pregnancy test. She was 18, unmarried, and scared. The doctor’s words confirmed what, despite months of denial, she already knew–she was almost four months pregnant.
She and her boyfriend decided to marry. But then her parents kicked her out, telling her to forget she was their daughter. She and her boyfriend broke up. Her father urged her to have an abortion, which she initially resisted. But without a job, housing, or any support, she felt she had no choice but to give in.
For years, she tried to forget about the second-trimester abortion– a grueling experience involving 12 hours of labor and seeing the body of her unborn child. After marriage to an abusive husband, the birth of two sons, a divorce, and a semi-reconciliation with her parents, she went back to school to earn a counseling degree. But within a year of starting her first job, she was burnt out, struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts.
Although she had returned to the Catholic faith in which she’d been raised, she didn’t believe God could forgive her for what she had done. Finally, feeling she had nowhere else to turn, she sought counseling from her parish priest. For the first time in ten years, she began to feel a sense of peace and healing. But one question still nagged her–should she tell her two sons about her abortion?
“I felt that God was calling me to speak about abortion, but I knew I couldn’t unless my children knew first,” she said. “I was concerned about how it was going to effect them and I thought they would never forgive me. I was terrified they would hate me.”
the rest is here: http://afterabortion.org/2004/talking-with-your-children-about-your-abortion/
