The long-awaited decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has overturned Roe v. Wade. My emotions run the gamut.
I’m among the more than 60 million women who terminated an unwanted pregnancy after the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion in America. It’s a decision I quickly came to regret. A younger version of myself reasoned that if it were legal, then it must be OK. After all, the purpose of government was to protect the general welfare of the people. How naive was my reasoning?
It would take life and more observations of government in action for me to learn that everything legal isn’t necessarily moral nor good for our society. When I exercised my choice and had an abortion, I was a married woman in college indoctrinated with pro-abortionist arguments about a woman’s right to choose.
I’m joyous and apprehensive about the future as I think about the past and how this important decision will impact every American. I’m ecstatic because it has been a lengthy battle. I’m apprehensive because I know the cost to the nation will be uncertain. Pro-abortion forces are livid and quite capable of inflicting great harm on those visible proponents of life.
I’m a bit reflective today because I know firsthand the shame and guilt that often comes from abortion decisions that women make with incomplete and sometimes false information. When I had my abortion, I was in my early 20s and was already the mother of two children born during my teenage years and during a teen marriage. It was a secret I kept for more than 20 years. The abortion was one of those dark actions I stuffed deep inside myself and pretended didn’t happen.
It was only after my Christian conversion experience in the late 1990s that I was able to gain emotional release. I shared my story with my children and friends before eventually sharing the decision with the world through my writings. Other women have their own abortion stories. The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform has estimated that 43 percent of all women have had one or more abortions. It tells me that there’s much pain across America as women reflect on their own abortion stories.
Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade and sent it back to the states, we have additional work to do. States must enact strong laws requiring mandatory clinic inspections and informed consent for women contemplating the decision. Americans need to know about the adverse impact that abortion can have on a woman’s health.
After my abortion, I quickly became pregnant again as if to replace the life of the child I had killed. The pregnancy ended in miscarriage, which frequently happens after an abortion, and I was never able to give birth again.
Research shows that abortions can affect the social, physical, mental, and cultural aspects of a woman’s life. This isn’t common knowledge because the abortion industry has had the power to silence critics.
We can’t rest on our laurels because we know that the pushback against abortion restrictions will be fierce and ferocious, as indicated by the attacks on pro-life centers, churches, and other institutions that have taken a strong stance in favor of ending or curtailing the barbaric practice of allowing abortion—in some cases, up to the point of birth and afterward.
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