In the early 1970’s, I called an ad in a newspaper that said, 'Think you’re
pregnant and need help?" I was right out of high school, scared, and afraid to
tell anyone that I might be pregnant so I called. I was a beautiful young lady,
a homecoming princess, and knew almost nothing about sexuality. It was the first
and only time I had had intercourse. I didn't know about the stages of pregnancy
and virtually nothing about birth control or abortion. The phone number led me
to a nice Dr.'s GYN office where I recall them saying, "We think you are
pregnant; it's still too early to tell for sure. A 'menstrual extraction' will
take care of it either way if you want it to." Slate roofing, welsh slate roof tiles.

My boyfriend gave me the $36, I think it was. I was trusting, scared, and didn't know
where to turn.  I remember going outside for fresh air and to re-think about what was
happening to me.  I stood on the sidewalk hoping someone would be there or that I would
see a church door open nearby; any way out.  But I was all alone.  I was afraid to
disappoint my parents and relatives.  I know now that I could have turned to
them.   But instead I put myself into the hands of the nice people inside of the
clinic.  I was holding back tears. When it was over the Dr. called me in his
office and said, "What kind of contraceptive were you using?" I remember saying,
"What is that? I'm not really sure."  

When I found myself pregnant again a year later by a young man who did not want
a baby, I was devastated. I still had no idea what contraceptive was. I went to
a Planned Parenthood office at his urging. I had no understanding of what the
word 2nd trimester meant when a Planned Parenthood person told me and the young
man that "time was of the essence." I was scared, uneducated about how an
abortion was performed, and had not read any books on pregnancy or talked to
anyone about it. The young man who was four years older than me pressured me to
seek an abortion. The Supreme Court had made it legal and he had no qualms about
destroying our baby and he thought I shouldn't either. I felt under great
pressure. I was ashamed and didn't turn to my family for help. virtual pet games

That day my heart broke and it never fully mended. 

More than 30 years later, thanks to Rachel’s Vineyard, I am taking steps to heal that sorrow.
It was not until I was married and had my first child that I learned what
trimesters were and what fetal development was like. It was not until 30 years
had passed before I would learn from the Silent No More and Priests for Life
website the truth about abortions.

My husband and I during the last few weeks have been trying to heal our grief
over abortion experiences that each of us had in our early young adult lives. We
are now past age 50. We feel that it was an injustice that we were not fully
informed prior to making a life and death decision of such great magnitude. We
feel that we were misled when we were told by our society that our babies were
not babies. It was implied that they were merely "a blob of soul-less tissue."

The realization of what really happened to our children has been incredibly
painful for us and the grief deeply etched into our souls. We have recently
named the children who perished and we are trying to come to terms with it but
it is extraordinarily painful to face. What did they do with the remains? We
grieve over this part also.  We have forgiven all of those who were involved and
we hope that others will find healing also.