Bonopartis

Theresa Bonopartis, 60, was 17 or 18 when her parents forced her to have an abortion. 

“Some people say that it’s a free choice, but most of the time you are really getting some kind of pressure from some place,” she told Our Sunday Visitor. 

Her “thick headed” father gave her no choice, and after a son was delivered by saline abortion at four months gestation, Bonopartis’s father kicked her out of the house. They didn’t speak for years, and when they finally did, they avoided talking about it. 

“It becomes that monster in the room that everybody pretends is not there,” she said. 

It took her 15 years to talk about the abortion, and she found healing through spiritual direction from a priest and a therapist trained in post-abortion counseling. Eventually, Bonopartis learned that her mother had not supported it. 

“But she was intimidated by my dad and did what he wanted to do,” Bonopartis said. “She said to me that it was her sin. Everybody in my family was touched by it.” 

When it was out in the open, her father said little to her about it, even after she was hired as director of Lumina Hope and Healing After Abortion in New York City. He even said that he didn’t need to confess what he had done. 

“But in the end, he did see a priest for confession,” Bonopartis said. “The night before he died seven years ago, we talked about the abortion and I told him to give my son a hug when he got to heaven.” 

That was a huge step for the father and daughter, an act that she called a beautiful blessing from God. 

As part of her healing journey, she named her son Joshua. She has two other sons.

http://www.osv.com/tabid/7621/itemid/8863/Abortion-leaves-emotional-scars-on-family.aspx

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