Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

I talked her into getting an abortion. And then I ran into her at the store.
Life Site News ^ | Abby Johnson

Posted on 07/20/2014 11:28:15 PM PDT by Morgana

I used to have a standard line that I would ask people if I thought I recognized them. “Do I look familiar to you?” I would ask. I used to ask that question at least once a week, but I haven’t asked anyone that in at least four years.

Four years ago, I saw a woman in a store and I knew that I recognized her. I could tell that she recognized me, too, because every time we would pass each other she would give me a little smile.

Finally, I just asked, “Do I look familiar to you?”

She started laughing and said that I did, but she could not figure out where she had seen me before. As soon as she started talking, I knew. She had sat across from me at my desk at Planned Parenthood. I had talked her into getting an abortion. I remembered her story vividly. She was crying. I was reassuring her, saying things like, “Just because a decision makes us cry, doesn’t mean it’s not the right decision.”

I remember that I was trying to get her out of my office. We had been talking for at least 45 minutes and that was way over my 15 minute maximum for “counseling.” I knew I must have a stack of charts waiting in my box outside. I finally pulled out the final card to hurry this thing along. I told her, “If you don’t have the abortion today, you won’t be able to come back to us for at least a week and it will be more expensive. You don’t want that, do you?”

Reluctantly she said that she was ready to go back for the abortion. Good. My job was done. Every line was signed and every box was checked.

I am sorry. I am sorry that we did not tell you the truth about abortion. I am sorry that you were deceived by people who you thought you could trust. I am sorry that we didn’t listen to you when you cried in our offices.

I was now, once again, staring this young woman in the face. I had left Planned Parenthood. I was pro-life. I was sorry that I had done that to her. But what do I say now? I panicked and said, “Well, who knows? Maybe I will see you around again.” I rushed off, feeling ashamed.

I really hoped that would never happen again. But, it did. Several times. Each time, I would look into the woman’s eyes and walk the other way. How could I face these women? My sin was staring at me when I looked at them. I didn’t want to look at that sin. It was too real. Advertisement

After a while, it happened less and less. We moved to a different town for my work and I rarely saw people that I recognized from the clinic. And even if I did, I was more confident now. I was okay to tell them who I was and how I knew them. I was now quick to apologize for my part in their abortion. The more I healed, the easier it became.

About six months ago, I received an email that I wasn’t expecting. My confidence was shaken in just a few seconds. A young woman had come to my clinic when she was just 16. Admittedly, I did not remember her. She told me her story through a message and I was heartbroken for her. She had gotten hooked on drugs, dealt with very serious depression and even attempted suicide after her abortion.

She blamed me. “You told me I would feel fine after my abortion,” she said. I told her she wouldn’t have any regrets. But she did. She told me that I was the cause of her pain. And while I read her email, I felt that pain. I also felt that shame that I hadn’t experienced in several years.

I probably read her email at least fifty times. Honestly, I thought about just deleting it…pretending that I hadn’t ever received it. But I knew I couldn’t do that. I had to respond. I had to apologize. After pondering about my response for two days, I finally sat down to write.

I took the blame. I apologized at least ten times in my first response. I didn’t make any excuses. I didn’t justify my words or actions. I just apologized, over and over again. And then I offered help. This young woman, who was now in her early twenties, needed healing. We have now had several conversations through email and phone. I was able to get her connected to a post-abortive healing ministry in her area. She is a different person. And because of her honesty, I am a different person.

I recently asked a few former abortion clinic workers a question. “If you could go back and say something to a woman who had an abortion in your clinic, what would you say?” The responses were somewhat varied, but all had the same theme. They would tell these women that they were sorry. They would apologize for lying, for misleading them.

So here is that apology to any post-abortive woman reading this right now. I am sorry. I am sorry that we did not tell you the truth about abortion. I am sorry that you were deceived by people who you thought you could trust. I am sorry that we didn’t listen to you when you cried in our offices. I’m sorry that you were treated like a number and not the beautiful person that you are. I’m sorry for the pain you felt. I’m sorry for any regret that you felt or continue to feel because of our dishonesty. Advertisement

As much as I wish I could, I can’t change the past. I can’t change the poor decisions that we have all made. But I can let you know that there are many of us who care about your healing. You don’t have to live with regret, pain and shame. If you haven’t yet, please take that first step and find help. Call your local pro-life group and ask about resources in your area. I have found freedom and healing from my past. You can find that freedom, too.


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: abortion; apology; haunted; plannedparenthood; prolife; sorry
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-28 next last
"To any woman I convinced to have an abortion, I am sorry. I am sorry that we did not tell you the truth about abortion. But please know that healing is possible. " ---Abby Johnson
1 posted on 07/20/2014 11:28:15 PM PDT by Morgana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Morgana

2 posted on 07/20/2014 11:51:39 PM PDT by kcvl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

It takes a lot of courage to admit she lied for the good of the clinic. Now she tells the truth and does not hide her past. This is done for the good of her soul.


3 posted on 07/21/2014 12:01:47 AM PDT by lee martell
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

What an idiot.

He has no right to now confront these women publicly for something he was a catalyst for and promoted

His rebirth means he and God alone own his guilt.

And God can deal with him well enough

Its late....am I missing something.


4 posted on 07/21/2014 12:02:42 AM PDT by wardaddy (we will not take backour way of life through peaceful means.....i have 5 kids....i fear for them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wardaddy
Its late....am I missing something.

Yeah. He's a she.

5 posted on 07/21/2014 12:11:12 AM PDT by JennysCool (My hypocrisy goes only so far)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: JennysCool; wardaddy

“Its late....am I missing something.

Yeah. He’s a she.”

wardaddy off to bed! Well continue this in the morning after you’ve had your beauty sleep :)


6 posted on 07/21/2014 12:14:15 AM PDT by Morgana ( Always a bit of truth in dark humor.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Morgana
In 1985, I read some Alan Guttmacher Institute research. They studied the percentage of women who voluntarily (by their own volition) get abortions. They found that only 10% of women going into a clinic actually want the abortion and would fight to get one even if it were illegal. 90% of the women entering a clinic have to be talked into the procedure.

Carol Everett said that a good part of her time was spent in training her counselors how to "sell" abortions.

Let's face it. Pregnant women are necessarily hormonal messes. They say that pregnant women should not make big life decisions like moving to a new city, etc. And yet these women are forced to make a decision about having a baby removed from their bodies.

Satan is having a ball.

7 posted on 07/21/2014 1:05:26 AM PDT by Slyfox (When progressives ignore moral parameters, they also lose the natural gift of common sense.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wardaddy

She is not confronting them, she is responding to their anguish.

She specifically avoided confrontation with the first woman in the story. The email exchange was with a woman who confronted her, to whom she apologized.

Her rebirth means God owns her guilt, and has forgiven her; and it sounds like God is continuing to deal with her in His love and mercy.


8 posted on 07/21/2014 1:26:31 AM PDT by GilesB
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: wardaddy

When you sin against someone.....

Convincing a women to murder their child falls into that category....

You need to seek that person forgiveness...

God will forgive you...confronting that sin by reconciliation to the individual you sinned against cleanes you soul of that burden...


9 posted on 07/21/2014 3:05:26 AM PDT by Popman ("Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God" - Thomas Jefferson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

Being Pro-Life is about the children the mothers killed and about preventing them from killing more innocent defenseless little boys and girls. It is about ridding this world of the most evil the world has ever known, throughout the history of the world. There is no evil in the world today, nor has there ever been, proportionate to the evil of abortion on demand.

Mothers have killed 1.34 Billion children just since 1980. That’s more people than all wars and health epidemics, throughout history, combined...just since 1980.

The most deadly place in the world today for a child, is within their own mother’s womb.


10 posted on 07/21/2014 3:11:11 AM PDT by jacknhoo (Luke 12:51. Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

From “Unwed Fathers”:

...
In a cold and gray town, a nurse says lay down
This ain’t no playground and this ain’t home
Someone’s children out having children
In a gray stone building, all alone

From an teenage lover to an unwed mother
Kept undercover like some bad dream
While unwed fathers, they can’t be bothered
They run like water through a mountain stream
...


11 posted on 07/21/2014 3:17:44 AM PDT by Portcall24
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

Praise God that He turned this woman’s mind and life around.

I pray that more will have the scales fall from their eyes.


12 posted on 07/21/2014 3:53:20 AM PDT by sauropod (Fat Bottomed Girl: "What difference, at this point, does it make?")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

God bless her and grant her peace. May He use her to help to heal those in need.


13 posted on 07/21/2014 4:54:03 AM PDT by McGavin999
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lee martell

Agreed. Good for her. Redemption can be a powerful thing…..and a powerful lesson for others.


14 posted on 07/21/2014 5:00:44 AM PDT by C. Edmund Wright (www.FireKarlRove.com NOW)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: wardaddy

I think you pretty much were reading the wrong article…..


15 posted on 07/21/2014 5:02:26 AM PDT by C. Edmund Wright (www.FireKarlRove.com NOW)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

I spent half an hour rocking my DIL in my arms when the Oncologist told her she had Stage 3, both receptors, fast spreading breast cancer, and would need a immediate mastectomy and Chemo. Asking her which was more important some fat tissue that could be replaced with a artificial one, or dying a horrible death and leaving her 12 year old son to grow up with NO MOM?

Not the same type counseling.

All I can say ms johnson GOD knows every one of those babies you convinced their moms to abort. And you will be judged for it.


16 posted on 07/21/2014 5:34:54 AM PDT by GailA (IF you fail to keep your promises to the Military, you won't keep them to Citizens!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wardaddy; Morgana

He has no right to now confront these women publicly for something he was a catalyst for and promoted


“SHE” was confronted by women who “SHE” counseled at Planned Parenthood. “SHE” is now admitting “SHE” lied to coerce women and teens to kill their babies.

“SHE” seems to be in the aftermath of a “Damascas Road” moment.


17 posted on 07/21/2014 5:46:10 AM PDT by Rides_A_Red_Horse (Why do you need a fire extinguisher when you can call the fire department?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Morgana

My wife counsels women who have had an abortion (some more than half a dozen) who cannot find relief from the feeling of guilt and emptiness they experience as a result. This is especially true when for example they see a child in public who would be about the same age as the child they sucked from their womb.

A few later get married and have the pain of having to tell their husbands what they had done, or how to deal with the latent effects on their marriage.

People who think that abortion will solve a problem are either fools or evil. The people who run abortion mills are not fools.


18 posted on 07/21/2014 7:04:15 AM PDT by theBuckwheat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Portcall24

Shhhh. Everyone knows it’s a feminist myth that men are involved in conception.


19 posted on 07/21/2014 7:28:55 AM PDT by Tax-chick (No power in the 'verse can stop me.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: GilesB

Sounds more like she is responding to her own anguish


20 posted on 07/21/2014 8:01:34 AM PDT by wardaddy (we will not take backour way of life through peaceful means.....i have 5 kids....i fear for them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-28 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson