Reclaiming Our Children: A Blog About Healing After Abortion

“Courage is
resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” Mark Twain

For
the past few days, the story of Anna Romano has been all over the web.  Anna is a young woman who, despite the pressure
of her married boyfriend to have an abortion, chose not to.  Anna wrote a letter to Pope Francis seeking
his advice, who in turn, told her she was very brave and strong to decide to
keep her baby and even offered to baptize the child himself if she could not
find another priest to do so.

I agree with Pope Francis.  It takes great courage to proceed with a
pregnancy when the father of the child has no intention of taking care of the
baby and pressures the mother to abort.  It
takes a stepping out in faith in spite of any fear.  It takes courage.

I have always wished, looking back at the
past, that I had had the courage to say no to my dad when he pressured me to
abort my unborn son.  I particularly remember
the day when I had told my living children, who had grown up pro life, about my
abortion.  One of them said to me, “How
could you do that?” I responded, “I wish I had been strong enough to say no,
but the truth is, I wasn’t.  I was
abandoned and filled with fear and I gave in to the pressure to abort.” There
is nothing I can do about my decision decades ago, but I know I am not the only
one.  

In my years of doing post abortion
healing work, I have met many women who feel the same way I do.  They wish they had had the courage, the
knowledge, the ability to bring their unborn children to life, but the truth
is, they did not.  

What makes one woman chose life and
another abortion? There are so many factors involved.  Age, ability to provide, emotional support,
financial support, addictions, abuse – the list goes on and on.  Of course, none of these reasons make abortion
okay.  Abortion is a selfish act often resulting
from what seems like self preservation.  Many
women who chose abortion do so because they feel as if they have no choice. 

When I read the story of Anna, I was happy
for her, but I am also
aware that it probably causes deep pain for those who
were unable to stand up for the life of their children.  Already feeling badly about what they have
done, I am sure it screams to them of their failure, of their participation in
the death of their children.  But, they
should not give in to despair or lose hope.

I have no doubt that if they were to
write a letter to Pope Francis his response to them would be one that would
embrace them and one that would call them to the courage of looking at their
abortion honestly.  

Seeking healing requires resistance to
fear, a mastery of fear, not the absence of fear.  Moving forward in spite of the fear will surely
bring about the assurance of God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, and peace.