Silent No More

I stood outside of the abortion clinic at the corner of Boulevard and Grove with tears falling down my face. I don’t like crying in front of other people, but I couldn’t help it.

   
I’ve always made a special effort to be at our local 40 Days for Life prayer vigil each time I’ve heard that members of Silent No More would be coming. Yesterday was no exception. Ever since I first heard about this group of men and women who have had abortions themselves or who have influenced or accompanied others who have had abortions, I have found them quite inspiring and courageous.

   
Both last year and this year at the March for Life in Washington, D.C., we saw thousands of women and men from Silent No More carrying their signs which read: “I regret my abortion” and “I regret my lost fatherhood.” Truly the Holy Spirit is working in and through those willing to speak the truth about their own experiences with abortion in hopes to save others from making a choice that causes deep pain for all involved.

   
Yesterday, a group of us had already gathered and begun praying at the vigil when two amazing women who are part of Silent No More arrived. Pamela led us in a moving intercessory prayer, then Abigail Seidman stepped up to the microphone to share her heart-wrenching story.

   

Abigail, who is an abortion nurse’s daughter, has shared her testimony in a number of places, but this time was different. Never before had this remarkable woman shared her story extemporaneously. Never before had she recounted the horrifying treatment she received from her radically feminist mother and had the incredible courage to include her second experience with abortion. Never before had she stood in front of the clinic where she went for her second abortion to speak or pray.

   
When she began telling us about growing up in a household where abortion was advocated, advised, and forced upon her, though she never felt it was right, I saw God’s grace already working in her life. She described the excruciating physical and emotional pain she suffered from her surgical abortion, but said that the RU-486 one she’d had at the clinic behind us had been much worse. I honestly cannot imagine how she made it to where she is now, except through the unconditional love of the Lord. 

   
I can’t think of anyone better to witness to women and men who are considering abortion than someone who has been through it, experienced true healing, and accepted the promptings of the Holy Spirit to speak the Truth to others. There doesn’t seem to be a better witness to the miraculous healing the Lord can bring about in our lives.

   
Abigail has broken the chains of the past and come into a new light. She writes that: “the witnessing of my second abortion, which he strongly pressured me into, instantly turned my husband from pro-choice to pro-life. Prior to that experience, he didn't think abortion was a big deal. After seeing the pain and suffering that his selfish demands had caused me, and seeing the tiny dead baby, he instantly regretted it and has been strongly pro-life ever since. He has been encouraging me to speak out and be active in the pro-life movement for years, but only since I found peace and healing in Jesus Christ last year, have I felt confident enough to do so.

This February, after watching the new film The Abortion Matrix (in which I appeared and shared some of the spiritual aspects of my radical feminist upbringing), Robert's eyes were opened to the deeper truths behind the pro-life movement, and he accepted Jesus as his savior as well! I feel that the story of my second abortion is not complete without including my husband's pro-life conversion right away, and his eventual acceptance of God's grace for healing his guilt and pain as well. One of the wonderful things about Silent No More is that it acknowledges the harm that abortion causes to men, too - even men who may have forced or coerced their partner's abortion. We are all sinners, and we can all be forgiven.”

  
 A recent convert to Christianity, Abigail is currently in the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA), and plans to become a full-fledged member of the Catholic Church this Easter.

   
Abigail and her husband have made sure their two sons, both of whom are autistic, know the value of every human life created by God. Some of the most beautiful evidence of this she hears each day when her four-year-old asks, “Go pray for inside babies?” He loves going to pray for babies still inside the womb. He and his mom usually go to the clinic to pray on Fridays, staying for the duration of a typical four-year-old’s attention span of fifteen minutes.

  
Lord, thank You for the gifts of Abigail, Pamela, and all of the women and men who You’ve given healing, courage, and deep awareness of Your love and mercy. Bless them and all who are involved in the pro-life movement as they spread the Truth about the sanctity of life and the vastness of Your forgiveness and compassion. Amen.