More and more women, as part of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, hold
signs at public events saying "I regret my abortion." The pro-abortion side, in
response to this effort, is trying to give visibility to women who say, "I had
an abortion and I don't regret it at all."
Fine, but that only proves our point, not theirs. If the pro-abortion side
wants to counter what we are doing, let them gather groups of women nationwide
holding signs saying, "I regret my child."
Here's the point. We are saying abortion is hurtful, and they are saying
childbirth is hurtful. This is precisely one of the arguments in
Roe vs. Wade for permitting abortion. The Court said, "Maternity, or
additional offspring, may force upon the woman a distressful life and future.
Psychological harm may be imminent. Mental and physical health may be taxed by
child care. There is also the distress, for all concerned, associated with the
unwanted child, and there is the problem of bringing a child into a family
already unable, psychologically and otherwise, to care for it"(Roe, at
153).
The alternative experience to killing an unborn child is giving birth to
that child -- not killing the child and then saying it was OK. The point of
the Silent No More Awareness Campaign is that what the other side defends and
promotes (that is, abortion) has a negative side that is being hidden and
denied. To round up a group of women to continue denying it only proves our
point, not theirs. The denial, in other words, continues, and most of the women
who now hold "I Regret my Abortion" signs once said that their abortion caused
them no problem at all.
If the other side really wants to try to mount a counter-campaign, they need
to do what we have done, namely, take what we promote and show the negative side
of it. We promote childbirth. The true reverse of our campaign would be to have
women publicly come out and say, "I regret my child."
The Silent No More Awareness Campaign (www.SilentNoMoreAwareness.org)
is gaining momentum very quickly. At the National Vigil Mass for Life on January
21, Cardinal William Keeler, Chairman of the Pro-life Committee of the US
Bishops, praised the campaign in his homily. The next day, at the nationally
televised March for Life rally, several members of Congress pointed to this
effort as a new and powerful dimension of the pro-life movement. And one member
of the Senate, Democrat Zell Miller of Georgia, was converted to the pro-life
position in large measure as a result of seeing the Silent No More women
gathered in front of the Supreme Court, sharing their testimonies.
Anglicans for Life and Priests for Life, the two groups that founded the
campaign, continue to organize events nationwide all through the year, whereby
women who have come through healing after abortion can testify publicly and help
in other ways to spread the word about how harmful abortion is. Pray for these
women, and when you see one, say "thanks."
