Please take the title’s warning seriously. This video has graphic scenes that portray both the physical procedure and the emotional stress of a young woman in an abortion. However, we see the depravity only when we compare it with the marvelous miracle of every human life and the gift of motherhood.
The film is based on a story called “A Letter from an Aborted Child,” which had been used for nearly 10 years by Father Stephen Lesniewski to show women in a time of indecision. He estimates that over 500 babies have been saved because of his efforts in utilizing the aforementioned piece. Due to its great success, Fr. Stephen decided to have a film produced with the hope that the overall message would reach an even larger audience.
To Be Born
A Deeper Look
It is amazing the ways in which God prepares a woman physically and psychologically for the gift of motherhood. Within a few days after conception, a woman is capable of noticing a difference. Even before the tiny embryo has nested in her uterine wall, a hormone called early pregnancy factor is detectable in the bloodstream. This hormone alerts the cells of her body of the pregnancy and the woman may notice that she needs more rest or she craves different foods. Some women even begin to think “baby” and there is an increased sensitivity to babies on television, in the stores, on the street. The new mother may dream about her baby or fantasize about the child. What will he or she look like? What will he or she be like?
If a woman wants to have an abortion, she must go against this natural process. She must deny the maternal feelings entering into her consciousness. She must convince herself that what is inside is not what she believes it is. It is not really a baby. She must stop the process of thinking about her baby as indeed “her baby.”
This video shows the kind of powerlessness and loneliness a mother can feel, especially if it seems like the only one who believes this will work is the little voice deep in her heart. Well, what if that little voice is right? What if this pregnancy isn’t the worst thing possible? What if everything will again be all right, and even better than all right? Abortion extinguishes the future of this possibility.
As the thoughts about abortion come to mind, perhaps the woman’s emotional life and even the cells of her body might be speaking against her thoughts. As the process continues, the very cells of her body will remember and know that the process of change is traumatic and is being stopped in an unnatural manner. A mother’s body and her emotions may be telling her that she is a mother who has lost a child. It is not surprising that after abortions, often a pain begins to emerge from the depths of the mother’s heart. Whether conscious or unconscious of what has truly happened, she has a loss to mourn which she cannot allow herself to fully grieve. What would it mean to grieve? She would need to admit to herself fully that she has allowed her child to be killed and that she has partaken in her own child’s death. This burden is not easy to bear. Many women testify that at this point it is easier to be in denial in order to cope. “It wasn’t a baby so I have nothing to feel guilty about,” “I should feel okay about this, “This is so common, it happens all the time.”
In a study done by Anne Speckhard, Ph.D. 85% of the women reported that they were surprised at the intensity of their emotional reaction to the abortion. These reactions included discomfort with children, feelings of low self-worth, guilt, feelings of anger, depression, grief, increased alcohol use, crying, inability to communicate and feeling suicidal. Yet 72% of the subjects reported no identifiable religious belief at the time of the abortion. This indicates that religious or not, motherhood is a real experience for women to cope with.
Faith invites us to live freely and fully our identity as persons. Faith confirms the dignity of each and every person from conception to natural death and enlightens our moral conscience in moments of crisis so that we are able to choose love, to choose life. Sins such as abortion always have the opposite effect and even the tiniest cells of our body inform us of this truth. And again, faith provides the assurance that even if we do make the wrong decision, we can be forgiven. We believe in an all-merciful God who waits to embrace any mother who has gone through an abortion. We believe in an all-loving God who welcomes those children into his open arms. And we believe that in the end, life triumphs – not death. For any of our dear loved ones in the Catholic Faith, we can point them in the right direction to take the first step in the healing process in confession.
Do you need healing from the pain of an abortion?
You don’t have to live with guilt and shame if you have suffered an abortion. Project Rachel is a Catholic ministry specializing in helping both women and men find hope and healing.
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