By Sarah Terzo
One woman named Patti M tells her abortion story:
“John [the baby’s father] suggested we get married and keep the baby. I wanted to wait and do it right. I counseled with a woman at a Planned Parenthood clinic and told her that I wanted an abortion. She gave me a list of abortion clinics… I did ask about the development of the fetus, and she told me it was just tissue at this point.…
The abortion wasn’t physically painful, but I was surprised by my emotions – I could not stop crying. Tears rolled down my face the whole morning and I didn’t know why. I wanted this abortion; I was glad I didn’t have to have a baby when I wasn’t ready.
I met John in the waiting room when it was over, and he asked, “Why the tears?” I laughed it off… We never discussed the abortion. It was over.”
When her 3rd child was born, after she married John:
“One afternoon while I sat rocking Daniel, the realization of what I had done hit ne. I cried, wiped my tears, and went on with my duties as wife and mother.”
When she told a friend about the abortion 3 years later:
“She accepted me, cried with me, and loved me. Later, as grief rolled over me, I couldn’t stop the flow of tears. I cried every day, all day, even in the night. I finally sought professional counseling to deal with the fact that I had killed one of my babies.…
My husband and I still cannot discuss it; it is too painful for us.”
Wendy Williams, Ann Caldwell, Empty Arms: More Than 60 Life-Giving Stories of Hope from the Devastation of Abortion (Chattanooga, Tennessee: Living Ink Books, 2005), pp. 30-31.
Editor’s note. This appeared at Clinic Quotes and is reposted with permission.