Post-abortion survivors speak out at Tallahassee rally

FBW Photo by Sandra Vidak

Eight women assembled quietly, prayed and spoke publicly about their experience with post-abortion syndrome during the Silent No More rally sponsored by Florida Right-to-Life at the State Capitol in Tallahassee Jan. 25.

TALLAHASSEE (FBW)-"I regret my abortion" read the signs held by the women who gathered during the Silent No More rally at the State Capitol Jan. 25. Like a similar event held in West Palm Beach on Saturday, each of the women in Tallahassee spoke publicly about her experience with abortion.

Other Silent No More rallies were held coast-to-coast during the week that marked the thirtieth anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion on demand. Silent No More is a national campaign to raise awareness about the after-effects of abortion and to offer hope and healing to suffering women. About 20 people attended the Tallahassee rally sponsored by Florida Right-to-Life.

"The truth is [after 30 years] women still die from legal abortion," said Mary Hubbard, who served as the state coordinator for the Tallahassee event. She said that post-abortive women suffer from "infection, sterility and breast cancer ... substance abuse, relationship problems, depression and eating disorders."

Standing in the bitter cold for about an hour, the women told chilling stories about multiple and botched abortions and desertion by health care providers. Holding signs and supporting each other, the women became the faces for millions more who suffer daily from physical pain and emotional guilt-the reality of abortion.

From Palm Coast, Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Quincy they came. Though they from came different denominational, social and educational backgrounds, the women, including Nancy Southern, Ashli McCall, Hubbard, Jenny and others who chose to remain nameless, had one thing in common-abortion.

No matter the reason each woman chose abortion or the amount of time since, the regret expressed in each face and voice belied each of the women's choices.

One woman already had five children before she becme pregnant and aborted her sixth child. Another woman, who had four abortions in the four years before and following high school graduation, admitted, "It was an irresponsible, but totally available form of birth control."

Another woman, who is among approximately one percent of women who terminate pregnancy due to health issues, said, "Time, God and helping women are but a comforting salve, for there is no cure for the fierce suffering of child loss that is simultaneously unwelcome yet self-inflicted."

Six years after her abortion, McCall spoke bravely and courageously about helping others "miss appointments to abort the most darling children" and said her faith enables her to live in the present with the knowledge that her child is with Christ.

It has been 25 years since Southern's abortion, but it was not until five years ago she began to recognize what she had done.

"I committed my life to the Lord, and when that happened, He began to reveal to me the truth about my past," Southern said.

After one abortion, Jenny, who gave only her first name, was faced with a second crisis pregnancy.

"I chose life for my baby who has grown into a beautiful nine-year-old girl," Jenny said. "God has blessed me with two precious boys as well."

Happily married now and "grateful for the healing and forgiveness that I found in Jesus," Jenny said she "can never change the decision I made as a teenager," but instead hopes to change the future.

Jenny said her prayer is that women and teens who are facing unwanted pregnancy be told the truth about their unborn babies and the risks and side-effects of abortion. She said she wants those considering abortion to realize the help available through maternity homes and adoption. Her final exhortation was to "stand for truth."

"We have been able to grieve," Hubbard said. "We have learned to forgive ourselves and others involved in our abortion, and we have been able to find peace."

Hubbard encouraged other women who identify with those who spoke at the event to seek the healing and the hope available from more than 3,000 abortion recovery support groups and programs nationwide.

For related coverage, see Sanctity of Human Life Archive