Answer to "Concerned Citizen"

Recently, on the blog, After Abortion, a person calling themselves, Concerned Citizen, wrote and said in part that a thirteen year old should not be forced to give birth to a child if she became pregnant. The Concerned Citizen, like many, believes that an abortion would permit the 13 year old to have a normal life after the abortion.

Truly, this seems, on the face of it, to be a compassionate response to an unwanted pregnancy. Many people also feel this way. But the fact that an abortion terminates the life of a human being, and that the mother of that life has to live with the fact that she has had a hand in the killing of her child, the issue is far more complex than it appears.

I wrote in response to Concerned Citizen ... here, and I am also psting this letter on this blog in case anyone believes that abortion is a compassionate way of dealing with an unwanted pregnancy.


Dear Concerned Citizen - I welcome you to this blog, too! You will find that this blog is very open to all sorts of opinions and has great discussions among those who write on it.

I had an abortion when I was a teenager - I wanted the baby and was planning on giving him up for adoption - my parents had other ideas for me - they wanted the baby killed so I could go on and have a 'normal' life.

Well, Concerned Citizen, my life has been anything but normal. I have not been able to have children since my abortion, I have had thyroid cancer,endroometriosis, I am currently in testing for a cancer and I have a higher risk for breast and ovarian cancer due to my abortion.

That is the physical side of my abortion.

The emotional side of my abortion is living with the fact that I permitted someone to actually end the life of my own child. Yes, even as a teen, I was aware that I was pregnant and that pregnancy meant that I was carrying a child in my uterus.

I went numb and stopped feeling anything when my parents told me that I was to be taken for an abortion. I had never heard the word before ...

When I saw fetal models in a museum in New York, years later, I thought I would absolutely loose my mind. I could not believe that my baby had been perfectly formed and so beautiful at the young age of 16 weeks.

I was told the baby was just a clump of cells.

Yes, he was cells - perfect human cells and a perfect human....and yet, he was killed so that my parents would not be shamed.

The downside to all of this is that I turned to drugs and alcohol to numb the pain. I did not care what happened to me and I was promiscuous...all in the hopes of blotting out what had happened to my baby.

My baby was wanted, Concerned Citizen - even more, he was formed in the image and likeness of God and I spat in God's face when I permitted him to be disposed of in such a horrid manner.
My baby suffered burns to his body - he was burned to death in my womb and then he was removed from me while I was under anesthesia.

I have no idea what they did with my baby's body. There is no grave for him...and that haunts me.

No, Concerned Citizen, to tell any woman or girl that an option to a unexpected or unwanted pregnancy is abortion is not the answer.

Her life will NEVER, EVER be the same. Trust me - I work with women who years and years (one woman, 67 years later) bought into the lie that abortion was the answer and they regret their decision.

I pray that if you have had an abortion, Concerned Citizen, that you will seek help through Rachel's Vineyard, a post abortive healing ministry. I would love to continue to dialogue with you and welcome you to continue posting.

God Bless you, Concerned Citizen.