How Abortion Hurts the Heart

Years ago, I worked as a volunteer for a pro-life organization. It was my privilege to help women contemplating abortion to recognize the evil of abortion and to assist them, both materially and emotionally, through their pregnancy and the birth of their children. Those who chose to carry their babies to term faced many challenges. But despite the challenges, not one of them faced a lifetime of guilt and emotional torment for having killed her baby.

Since that time, I have seen the awful anguish of women who chose, for one reason or another, to abort their babies. In most of these cases, no one told these women of the emotional and psychological aftermath of their choice, not to mention the physical aftermath. No one told them that for the rest of their lives, they would be tormented with guilt, remorse, fear, depression, and a host of other emotional and psychological afflictions. No one told them of the agonizing longing they would feel to hold the babies they had killed. The only thing they were told is that they owned their own bodies, that they had the right to do what they wanted with their bodies, and that abortion would free them from the burden of raising a child.

Of course, pro-choicers didn’t call the being within their womb a child. That would be too upsetting. Rather, the being was simply a fetus, nothing more than a mass of lifeless tissue as disposable as a hangnail. Such slippery semantics supposedly salved the conscience.

Or did they?

Time, however, told the truth. No one heard the blood-curdling wails of these post-abortion women weeping in the night, especially on the anniversary of the murder of their child. No one understood the relentless depression that dug its claws into their very souls, threatening many of them to the point of suicide. No one felt the pain of their empty arms that yearned to hold their aborted babies.

Alone. These women were left alone to suffer the consequences of their heinous acts.

Some of you reading this may be among those hurting, tormented women. Some of you may be so overwhelmed with guilt and remorse that you long to die. Some of you may have buried the guilt only to have it surface in physical illness, chronic depression, or irrational fear.

If this describes you, I urge you to listen to me. Listen as I tell you of the One who knows your pain. The One who heard your sobs in the night. The One Who not only heard but wants to forgive you and heal you. Who is this One? His Name is Jesus. He died for your sins, including the sin of abortion. He died to set you free from the guilt and remorse of your past. He died to give you a new lease on life.

So, how you do get this life? You sincerely acknowledge that your abortion was a sin; you ask God to forgive you of that sin; and you receive His forgiveness and cleansing by inviting Him into your life. You may say, “Is that all I have to do?” Yes, that is all you have to do.

Once you’ve received His forgiveness, He will begin to heal your emotional and psychological wounds. He will begin to put back together the broken pieces of your life. He will give you beauty for ashes (Isaiah 61:3). It is His promise to you.

Don’t take my word for it; take His. Listen to what He says: “I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten” (Joel 2:25); “Behold I will make all things new” (Revelation 21:5). “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

You will never forget the abortion you had, but Christ will take away all the pain left in its wake.

Questions: How can you help a woman suffering from the emotional and psychological aftermath of an abortion? What if you are that woman? Do you believe that Jesus Christ loves you and wants to heal you? You may leave a comment by clicking here. To receive future posts on Matters of the Heart right in your mailbox, please click here.