A while I ago I got a request for a talk in which the topic was “Think Outside the Box: A Discussion on Abortion”. I was a little perplexed. What did they mean, “Think Outside the Box”? As I prayed about what the Lord wanted me to say, I realized that thinking outside of the box has been the problem in our society. We have been thinking outside the box for over 40 years, afraid to peer in for fear of what we would find. Perhaps it is time to look inside the box of abortion…a place where we all aide the denial of its impact on us all.
This is the place society does not want to look at, in fact it will go to any means to avoid, for in the box of abortion we will see the emmense damage it has done, not only by killing the unborn, but to the mothers, fathers, grandparents, sibling, friends and to society in general.
In the over 40 years since Roe vs Wade we have had 60 million abortions in our country. It is such a divisive issue, it has even become a litmus test to the appoint of judges to our highest courts or elect the leader of our country. We all know someone who is post abortion.
They are all hiding in that box that no one wants to open, because we have been told to do so would hurt them more, and yet they are there, suffering in silence because no one will allow them to express their grief or to validate their feelings. In fact ther very experiences are often denied. I am here to say do not be afraid to open the box. You can be pro life and still reach out to those who are suffering without judgment
I am post abortive. I was coerced into an abortion by my dad . I suffered for over 15 years before I found the help I needed to work through my abortion. No one wanted to address it. I was told over and over again to “get over it”, “ it is in your past” but the thing is, it was never in my past, it followed me and influenced the decisions I made in my life every day. My story is not so different from millions of other women. I was one of the blessed ones to finally find the right help. But in addition to me, my abortion touched countless other people. My mom, my dad, my sibling and even the future children I would have. It was not until we addressed the issue that my family was able to heal.
Countless numbers of families are struggling because of a past abortion that no one wants to speak of, or maybe, they do not even know about. In my work I have had many teenagers come to saying “my parents know something is wrong, they say I have changed…they just do not know why”. Or a husband who is married to someone who is suffering from an abortion she had before she met him…or the woman whose husband pressured a past girlfriend to abort and is now feeling guilt ridden. And then there are the siblings who feel guilt for being alive knowing a brother or sister is dead. Through their own grief they seek to help their parent who they know is suffering greatly.
Abortion is always wrong, and we should always defend the unborn, but as a Church and people, we should also be reaching out to those who are suffering because of a past abortion. Their souls are just as precious to God. I truly believe that if we reach out to those who are suffering for no other reason than because they are children of God and He longs to have them reunited to Him that God will take care of the rest. Like Pope JPII said in the Gospel of Life “You can become one of the most eloquent defender of human life” Who better to speak for these children that their parents who know first hand the devastation of abortion?
And so I challenge you all to open the box. Do you know someone post abortive? Maybe if they know you know you can just ask them how they are doing and listen.
In the end, there is another box we all need to look to. The tabernacle.
In it dwells Mercy Himself, Jesus Christ, and ultimately, only He can end abortion.
