Holly Dutton adds her voice to a chorus of commentary in the National Catholic Register about Catholic teaching on abortion. See here, here, and here for previous entries.

Holly, who has also spoken her truth at I'm Not Sorry writes in the National Catholic Register as follows:

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The letter titled "Stop the Spin on Sin" (Sept. 7-13) really troubles me.

Yes, abortion is a sin. However, the stark realization of the gravity of abortion often hinders the healing process. Although I really reacted emotionally right after my abortion, people from among my family, friends and others told me I really didn't have legitimate cause for grief because my abortion had been a "hard" case abortion done for medical reasons. At first I tried to take their well-meaning (but tragically mistaken) advice and didn't think too much about it. Several years later, however, when I saw my first photos of aborted children and was suddenly hit with the graphic awareness of the dead seriousness of this sin, I almost completely despaired.

Now that I knew how my poor child had really died--so cruelly, so needlessly--I greatly feared that even though God could forgive me, I never could forgive myself because, by abortion, I had committed nothing less than murder. Even more chilling, it was the murder of none other than my own child. I almost killed myself. It took years of terrible suffering and struggle (with many sad and discouraging setbacks) by me, my family and friends before we were restored to a normal life again.

The "spin on sin" letter brings back haunting memories of the enormous and persistent obstacles we encountered in our arduous fight to recover as a family and as friends from the abortion, especially so since my abortion was one of those done for supposedly "justifiable" reasons.

Have you ever wondered what becomes of women who have experienced "hard" case abortions done for rape, incest, birth defects, maternal medical problems? Well, one of the most insidious and blatant pro-abort fallacies is that "hard" case women do not suffer traumatically from abortion or are not as likely to suffer as much as those who had "convenience" abortions. However, the hard truth is that "hard" case abortions can hurt just as bad or, at times, even worse, than "convenience" abortions.

I know this hard, cold truth firsthand. My personal pro-life testimony is just one of countless such testimonies that utterly refute the pro-abort life that "hard" case abortions do not harm women.

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