Reclaiming Our Children: A Blog About Healing After Abortion

Forgiving My Father For Forcing Me To Have An Abortion, Even When He Wasn't Sorry
Never give up on God's mercy.

Aleteia – Theresa Bonopartis Dec/22, 2014

Procsilas-Moscas-CC

 “Theresa, you need to accept the possibility that your father may never repent of forcing you to have an abortion.” I will never forget these words that my spiritual director said to me. I had been praying a novena to Our Lady of Czestochowa for years  In fact, she is the patroness of the “Entering Canaan” post abortion ministry I developed with The Sisters of Life.

Coerced into abortion as a teen by my dad, I had made it a daily practice to ask her to change his heart and to bring him to the mercy of her Son. The thought that my dad may never open himself up to the grace of being forgiven was something I did not want to accept. I said that prayer everyday for over twenty years.

Forgiving my dad was not easy. I wish I could say that he thought he was doing what was best for me when he forced me to abort, but my dad was concerned about appearances and I later learned that he had been involved in other abortions.

The death of my unborn child altered my entire life, and the struggles with abandonment and forgiveness were not easily overcome. Only through my own healing and the grace of God was I able to begin to show my father the mercy and forgiveness that God showed me.

 The rest is Here