Saturday, February 19, 2011

Unplanned Chapter 5 'The Bond of Compassion'

Did you know that according to Guttmacher Institute two-thirds of women who have abortions are Christian? I must begin by saying that after reading a couple pages into this chapter I put the book down out of pure frustration and sorrow. . .

Abby Johnson finds herself pregnant for the second time, but this time she is coming out of a marriage with the baby's father. Because at this point she had been with Planned Parenthood for a little over a year it was easier for her to accept the idea of abortion. Abortion became an every day norm for Abby, even though she really was not a large supporter of abortion and she grew up Christian. After finding she was pregnant, Abby says in Unplanned, her mind went right away to thoughts of, “If I have this child.”

While working at Planned Parenthood Abby felt accepted, cared for, and not judged by others when she was going through difficult times. The decision to abort her second ‘pregnancy’ came easy, but the actual process wasn’t. She took RU-486 (a pill that causes one to miscarry), within a day she found herself in extraordinary pain, bleeding, completely alone, and too embarrassed to go to the doctor because she decided to abort her child. Abby was alone and sick for several weeks.

It breaks my heart to think about women who have an abortion and then turn to abortion time and time again. I’m angered by this mentality, but I understand the mentality behind having an abortion for some. This is a norm not only for those who work within the industry but for society as a whole. Even over the last three months I’ve counseled two women who have seriously considered an abortion. These were women who were pro-life, Catholic, and never would have thought about having an abortion before finding themselves in their current situation. One, found herself in a crisis pregnancy outside of wedlock; she quickly started thinking of it as pregnancy and not a child (please pray for her as she has chosen to keep her baby through difficult situations). The second woman was in extreme pain with a condition called Hyperemesis and when the pain continued she stopped saying baby and began to call her baby ‘it’ or ‘thing’. She began to prepare herself for an abortion, and kept telling herself, and me, that she did not have any emotional attachment to ‘it’ (I believe she may have had the abortion, although I’m not positive). By dehumanizing the baby growing within her, and using terms such as it, thing, or referring to her baby as a pregnancy, she was able to detach herself from an act that she believed to be wrong as she considered ending the life of her unborn child.

Please pray for all women who are pregnant and considering an abortion. Pray for consistency of personal morality and personal behavior.

"My story -- my decision to abort my second pregnancy even though I told myself I was a champion for decreasing the number of abortions -- illustrates the complexity, the confusion, and frankly, the disconnect between behavior and values that permeates our culture.” -- Abby Johnson shares in her book Unplanned.


Order Abby’s book and join this discussion: www.UnplannedTheBook.com

Checkout my reflection from:

Chapter 4, 'The Cause'


Standing In Defence of the Voiceless,

Timmerie Millington

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