Even on a secular psychological level, most people could probably ease their guilt pretty quickly if they would acknowledge their mistake and work to help prevent others from following in their footsteps.
If a woman were to wear a shirt saying "I regret my abortion", from whom would she receive condemnation? Some 'bible thumpers' would probably condemn such a woman for her past actions, but I suspect most of the condemnation would come from the 'pro-choice' side. I would expect that any time the wearer of such a shirt was approached by someone contemplating an abortion and dissuaded that person from going through with it, she would erase some more of her guilt.
I’m guessing such a person wearing that message would get as much if not more flak from the pro-aborts
because, as we’ve discussed, it’s ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to them that there be no hint of “wrongness” about abortion.
Such a message would cause their conscience to convict them, and that is exactly what they seek to avoid.
It wasn't a shirt, but a sign. A few years ago there was a "March for Women's Lives" [= save the women from having babies] in Washington DC. Post-abortive women were asked to come wearing black, holding empty strollers, with signs that said that. The pro-abortionists told me "get help", "get therapy"; "get effed", "get a burka", "go to hell", "I don't regret any of mine", and the winner was "Your mother should have aborted you." They threw condoms at us.
Yet many high-school and college age women looked at us in shock, because it had never occurred to them that anyone COULD regret an abortion - after all, it's just like getting a manicure, right? I believe some will stop and think, if they ever find themselves "in a predicament." Some of us discussed it and said that the abuse was worth that.
One women in her forties did leave the march and came over to me, saying quietly, "So do I." We hugged and cried together for a while. Perhaps she had never heard that it was okay to feel bad about it. I know for a long time I thought there was something wrong with me that I DID - after all, it's just like getting a manicure, right?
I understand the Catholic priest who stood on the next block visibly praying for the maenads took the worst of the abuse - kristinn stood with him.