This iReport is part of an assignment:
Have you had an abortion?
Set Free
When I became pregnant just after graduation from high school, I felt I couldn't go to my parents. The advice and pressure I received from the father and others was for abortion. By that time (1976), abortion had been legalized. I justified it because it was legal; that helped me go through with it. It was an awful experience and I felt sick after the abortion, from the procedure itself and the recognition of what I had done. However, the truth would stay hidden for the next 25 years. During that time I suffered with depression. I just didn't deal with the abortion. It was years later when my mother let me know she thought I had been pregnant and then didn't know how to deal with it when she realized I had an abortion.
The realization that I had suffered in silence for so many years in order to keep the secret from my parents just escalated my depression. Thankfully, I received counseling and was able to break through all the anger, pain and suffering the abortion and my decision had caused. I'm still grieved by the things I've done but I know God forgives and heals. If not for God, my situation may have ended even more tragically.
I have met other women who may not choose to come forward with their story on CNN but who have sought help dealing with their guilt, shame and incredible remorse. They came to realize that they had believed a lie - it was not just a blob of tissue - they had ended a life. It may not happen immediately after an abortion but the time will come, perhaps years later, that they understand: Abortion hurts women.
The realization that I had suffered in silence for so many years in order to keep the secret from my parents just escalated my depression. Thankfully, I received counseling and was able to break through all the anger, pain and suffering the abortion and my decision had caused. I'm still grieved by the things I've done but I know God forgives and heals. If not for God, my situation may have ended even more tragically.
I have met other women who may not choose to come forward with their story on CNN but who have sought help dealing with their guilt, shame and incredible remorse. They came to realize that they had believed a lie - it was not just a blob of tissue - they had ended a life. It may not happen immediately after an abortion but the time will come, perhaps years later, that they understand: Abortion hurts women.
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