After abortion

2012-01-28T20:50:00.000-05:00

As of 8:50 pm Sat. January 28, 2012, EST, USA.

Visitors to a blog six years on hiatus that does no marketing, no PR, no "monetizing," no "AdSense words," no Facebooking, no tweeting, posts no cluttering ads in its sidebars, no nothing.

Just letting you know you're not alone, here, as anonymous as you wish to remain.

Welcome.

2012-01-28T16:33:00.008-05:00

More proof of the MainStream Media (MSM) stupidity and bias, this time CBS' D.C. affiliate, against anyone pro-life:

...The photo slide show initially featured seven photos of abortion supporters...

Upwards of 50,000 pro-life supporters turned out in the DC cold to participate in the March for Life, yet apparently CBS could only find the small handful of pro-abortion supporters to photograph...

...it wasn’t long before the comments section on the CBS website exploded with pro-lifers crying foul...Finally, a day or so later, CBS altered its slide show and added some photos of some of the actual participants of the pro-life march. The slide show now features seven photos of pro-lifers and an equal amount of pro-abortion supporters.

Even if it really was only "upwards of 50,000 pro-life supporters"--that, compared to 7 pro-abortion supporters? And they give them equal. coverage.

They should have shown a picture with 7,143 pro-life marchers in it, and a picture of a single pro-abortion person that day.

Makes me want to just spit.

2012-01-26T11:56:00.010-05:00

Welcome to a new commenter. My first response: NO ONE who visits here is ever wasting our time...

I am 14 years old,and my friend has just had a baby...She kept it,this was probably not the right descision.I feel she should have given it up for adoption because she can't care for him.
14 years ago,my mom was a drug addict,and apperently she didn't want me.She considered abortion.But something changed her,and she put me up for adoption.It makes me feel unloved either way,but i know she did the right thing or I wouldnt be here today and now I have people who love me.I would have respected her desicion either way.I still love her,even though ived never met her.But yet I still hate her somewhere deep down.I just went to the Pro-Life rally in DC.But my friend said its a choice.The goverment can not control us,but theres so many people that want babies...I mean at least a quarter of abortions can be stopped through adoption.I know my comment will probably be deleted and no one will read it.But there is hope,and I pray for every single one of you and if you are pregnant your babies also.Just remember,there are stories just like mine...rather children,just like me out there.

But don't Let anyone,hurt you because of your decisions.If you do believe in god.He has forgiven you,if this comment has hurt you I am very sorry...I just,well.I wanted to share my story perhaps?Im not really sure what drove me to write this comment.But im sorry for wasting you time...
With love,Jen<3

Jen, Your friend can contact any of a number of "crisis pregnancy centers" in your area for help in raising her baby, or if she finds it too much after all to do so at some point, they can still help if she decides to allow another family to adopt her baby. Just click on the "3,400 confidential and totally free groups to call and go to in the U.S...1,400 outside the U.S." link just underneath the blog title and then pick any of those links or phone numbers and she can get one near her and they will be OVERJOYED to help her.

I too was put up for adoption many, many years ago, when having an out-of-wedlock baby was really a scandal.

A lot of how we adopted folks feel about it depends on when we were told we were adopted and how it was treated. I "just always knew," from ever since I could remember, and it was always just matter of fact, that someone loved me enough to have me but just couldn't take care of me so did the hardest and most unselfish thing she could do: give me up for some other family or couple to take the best care of me possible.

I find it possible to be grateful to my birth mom for doing that for me, realizing it must kill her to know I'm out here somewhere, where she'll never get to love me face-to-face. How hard it is to let go of your infant child, I only fully understood once I was pregnant and having my son myself. But then, I'm old enough to be your grandmom!

Don't be too hard on yourself, especially at 14. Someday, maybe, you'll feel better about not hating on your bmom too much, like when you're married and having a baby. That's ok. All this takes a lot of time to deal with. A lifetime, probably.

She gave you the best she could--and that was giving you to someone else who could love and care for you better. It may seem like she "gave up" on you, but I think it's the popular culture and media that allow people to feel that that's how it's supposed to feel. It isn't.

That kind of referring to adoption also happens because many who are pro-abortion like to scare women into not allowing their babies to be adopted. They're deathly afraid of 14 year old young women like you--who are already smart enough to know that there are TONS of people wanting to adopt TONS of those supposedly "unwanted" babies. IF YOU CAN ALREADY KNOW THIS, their little pro-abortion cash-cow industry starts to crumble and they don't get away with fooling the majority of us any longer that it's about "choice" and it's about "what's best for the woman."

Thanks for commenting, Jen. Hang in there. There is tons of help and hope, and hopefully we can just help folks find it easier and faster. Your sending some along is great, and we appreciate your taking the time to write so thoughtfully and honestly.

We've written posts about the lucrative industry that abortion is, analyzing Planned Parenthood's Annual Reports, and also how many, many people really are trying and available to adopt "unwanted" babies in this and other countries. You can go to our special "FULL-SEARCH Aa BLOG" at the right in the sidebar and Google those links.

2012-01-26T11:55:00.003-05:00

At 11:55am Thursday January 26, 2012. This is only interesting to me because of this post.

(See earlier snapshots this week, below...)

2012-01-25T01:06:00.004-05:00

IN MEMORY OF: ...two more children lost in 2011, anonymously memorialized here...

On September 23rd, 2011 I aborted my 13week 4day old baby. Due to the situation I have been in for a little while now I knew I couldnt bring a child into this world, my world, knowing a baby deserves the best and so does the child I already have and did not want to take anymore from him than I already had hes the love of my life. I will never ever forget laying in that room on that table no sedation no pain meds and feeling you being taken from me as I cried hysterically and begged for the doctor to stop. But I knew with every thing I had left in me it was to late and I am so sorry my sweet little baby. I want you to know that as you were taken from me a piece of my heart and soul went with you that day, and now that you are with my Lord i hope you can forgive me and never forget that I love you and Mommy and Daddy and Bubby all love you very much and that I am so sorry for leaving you alone and never getting the chance to hold you in my arms. (Tears for you my love). I love you may you rest in heaven safe and sound and always remember that you are missed.

I had an abortion on may 21, 2011... i am 26 years old, full time worker and full time student. I didnt believed in abortions at ,y age and never thought i was capable of having one.. i was terrified, confused.. it wasnt in my plans since i am still struggling with school. Even though i had my family's, friends and boyfriend's support i had the abortion because i thought it was the best for me at this point in my life. I was selfish, weak and there is not a day that goes by that i don't regret and feel bad about my decision. I was 6 weeks and pray for God's and my baby's forgiveness. Im never goign to be able to hold, kiss, see its smile.. nothing...If there's anyone out there reading this comment and is considering an abortion i'm no one to judge, critize or tell you what to do.. i can only tell you to take your time, pray to God and think about what i just wrote,, this is a decision you cant go back to and do everyhting another way..I love you my little one and im so sorry for what i did!

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2012-01-25T00:49:00.003-05:00

...And at 12:49 AM the-middle-of-the-night after the March For Life 2012...

Our visitors always seem more numerous in the wee, silent, alone, hours. Always was this way, as long as I can remember.

2012-01-24T11:38:00.003-05:00

This is a snapshot of the numbers and countries of origins of visitors to this blog right now.

I wish I had logged on and done this yesterday, during the actual March for Life 2012.

You are sooo not alone here, anonymous as we all are.

2012-01-23T00:01:00.006-05:00

Welcome.

Both blogs have been in hiatus since 2006 (AbortionPundit was active in 2008 only b/c of the election).

Yet even after 6 years of virtual-dormancy from new writing, AfterAbortion, as of Saturday January 14, 2012, still had almost 3,000 visits per month (about 100 daily, 647 weekly).

And they each average almost an hour staying, reading, on this site, when they visit.

Admittedly, the number of visitors has risen to such a level only as the MONDAY January 23rd, 2012 March For Life approaches.

Normally, it's between 2200 and 2500 visitors a month.

Think about that a moment. That's 26,000 to 30,000 visitors a YEAR, to a blog six years on hiatus that does no marketing, no PR, no "monetizing," no "AdSense words," no Facebooking, no tweeting, posts no cluttering ads in its sidebars, no nothing.

You really are not alone.

Postscript: Today, Jan. 22, 2012, the actual anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the traffic for the previous week ending Jan. 21 was 774 visitors, averaging longer than an hour each, and over 1,000 total page views by those 774 visitors.

And it's quite fascinating to me. With all the mass media's purposeful ignoring and under-reporting of this major annual event, pushing it down into the big black hole the media and the majority of politicians wish it to be in, the approach of the MFL still generates more people searching for help, more people coming to this blog. Daily.

I'm glad you come here, and I hope that you find something that helps. It's why it's still here.

Most of these individual visitors come from google searches such as we anonymously described here and here.

No visitor is identified, of course, and no one can track down who visits here. Your anonymity is assured.

Welcome.

PS: This year, January 22 is a Sunday when members of Congress are away from Washington D.C, so the annual March for Life will be the following day, Monday January 23rd.

2012-01-23T00:01:00.005-05:00

MARCH FOR LIFE 2012 -- January 23, 2012

Some links, some youtubes, some food for thought...today, since I can't be there in Washington, D.C....

I'm reposting the post without all the embedded videos but rather their links. Apparently it's making the blog impossible to load, that many videos...

"Thine Eyes", opening with actress Jennifer O'Neill talking of her abortion and her regret...

Alveda King speaks of her abortion regret. She's Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s niece. She doesn't celebrate her birthday--which is January 22nd too--except by being at the March For Life every year... Seriously, go watch her speak on this webpage.

This is one of several youtubes, most distinctive in that it begins with a man's testimony about how he regrets doing nothing to support the mother of his child, his eventual wife, in avoiding the abortion ... listen or skip through to about the 2:00 minute mark. At first, it was distracting that the crowd noise drowns out the speaker, but soon, the cameraperson has wound his or her way through that crowd to stand before the man giving his testimony at the microphone, and you can hear it loud and clear then...and all the testimonies that follow.

There are at least 5 of these, probably all about 15 minutes each. Including this one in Spanish (En español).

Julia Holcomb, a Silent No More Awareness Campaign spokeswoman:

"When Julia Holcomb was 16 years old she became the legal ward of Steven Tyler, lead singer of the rock band Aerosmith and current American Idol judge. At age 17, when she was 5 months pregnant with Tyler's first child, and engaged to marry him, she barely survived a fire that burned their apartment. While still in the hospital recovering from smoke inhalation she was coerced into a horrific saline abortion. She is the author of the memoir The Light of the World - the Steven Tyler and Julia Holcomb story..." -- found at Silent No More Awareness.

Another blog by a woman hurting from abortion:

From PostAbortion Walk about how she had to walk alone across a big city bridge--alone--to her abortion-- and then home from it, that same walk -- the video "Infinite Grace" shows this image which I simply have got to find out what it is and where:

Oh, Lord, help me.

2012-01-22T22:00:00.003-05:00

IN MEMORY OF:

In loving memory of our daughter Bella Sophia
December 2, 2011 would have been her birthday

I would appreciate this to be anonymous
thank you so much!

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2012-01-20T00:01:00.001-05:00

IN MEMORY OF:

the unborn son aborted 1/20/04, of the 18 yr. old mom of a 2 y.o. daughter

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2012-01-18T11:01:00.006-05:00

IN MEMORY OF: Lena, aborted 23 Dec 2002, who would have been born 23rd August 2003.

Sent to us a while ago, by another blogger, about another abortion experience, from "Heaven Knows": Somethings remain Unspoken...

She'd commented on one of our posts from 2005, saying, "I stumbled upon your site. Just wanted to share my story. After more than 2 years I still have not gotten over it."

Long but you can't help but keep turning the pages (links at the bottom).

Especially this prayer she wrote to her baby:

"To my dearest baby Lena
On the 23rd of Jan 2003 - 11pm it would be a month since the day I lost you. I prayed so hard for you to forgive me and maybe one day understand the reason for the choice I made. The emptiness I feel inside is indescribable.. how I wish I had been stronger to stand up for what I wanted. I wanted you so badly, somehow I think you're a girl. I felt your presence because I could feel you were conceived. Our circumstances however did not permit us to keep you to full term (so we thought).

Now we can only weep thinking about our baby we gave up on, because we didn't have enough faith in ourselves to decide the best fate for her. Instead we just chose the best fate we thought was best for ourselves.

I love you so much although we would never see each other, we could never touch.. and we would never know each other. I'm so sorry baby that you never made it into this world and it was because of a choice I had made out of all my fears, fears that I know might not even exist now. I think about you constantly and hold a place for you in my heart all the time. I know that god is taking care of you now, and I hope you find peace wherever you are.

Love always."

Thanks for writing to tell our visitors of your blogs. Keep sending us the links. We'll do our best to keep sharing them, even if it takes a while to get to it.

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2012-01-18T10:47:00.003-05:00

The Purple Elephant in the Room is another blog by a visitor to ours, Lauren.

It takes a while for her banner picture to load, but it's pretty cool once it does.

Check out posts "I'm a Rachel, not a Herod" and her own abortion experience and aftermath, "Seeds for a Harvest".

3 abortions. Then 5 miscarriages. A lot of hell. Then a son, and another miscarriage. I hope she keeps blogging. She talks of her faith, but without smacking it upside people's heads, which I like.

2012-01-18T10:15:00.001-05:00

Another commenter from that same 2005 post, saying, "I've read your blog and I share your pain. Know that you loved your baby and there is healing.

I'm blogging myself which helps with the healing.

Secrets in the Shadows.

Thanks, Coral, for sending us the link.

She writes a great post about visitors finding her blog by pasting am i worthy of god if i had abortion? into search engines.

We've had similar reactions to how visitors have found this blog.

It's mind-boggling how much hurt and fear is out there, because of abortion.

2012-01-06T00:01:00.003-05:00

IN MEMORY OF:

On January 6, 2011 I had an abortion. At first the decision seemed so simple. I was numb to what I was about to do. I was 15 weeks and 5 days. I always felt like it was a boy. He would have been born on June 25th. After reading the poem of the three little boys, it finally hit me and now I wish I could turn back time to two days ago and walk out of that doctor's office with my baby. I don't know if I will ever heal from this. I am too ashamed to even pray for forgiveness. I don't deserve it. I hurt my baby. I miss my baby.

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2011-12-31T09:27:00.002-05:00

A newly-discovered personal blog by yet one more post-abortive Christian woman:

How could I dare to go into a church with all I've done? The very first one I went to, I found myself sitting in the parking lot crying. I just couldn't go in. I cant even tell you how many times I did this. I will never forget driving down the street one day, and seeing this church on the side of the road with this huge sign that read....abortion is murder. You can only imagine how I felt. This sign kept me out of church for quite a while...Satan used our own church against me as a weapon to keep me away, and he is still doing this to millions of women world wide.

Which is the exact trouble with this use of such signs. They alienate countless women who feel they themselves are being "damned for all time" by those inside that church-- instead of the act of abortion they may have chosen, or may not have chosen personally themselves, but was "chosen" for them.

Doesn't the world, and especially the Christians in this world, think that, once we grieve and regret our abortions, even privately, that we already know exactly what it was that we've done??

Hate the sin, not the sinner, Christ's every action taught us.

2011-12-30T08:42:00.001-05:00

2 abortion providers charged with murder in Md.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Authorities say two out-of-state doctors who traveled to Maryland to perform late-term abortions have been arrested and charged with multiple counts of murder, an unusual use of a law that allows for murder charges in the death of a viable fetus.

Dr. Steven Brigham, of Voorhees, N.J., was taken into custody Wednesday night and is being held in the Camden County jail, according to police in Elkton, Md. Authorities also arrested Dr. Nicola Riley in Salt Lake City and she is in jail in Utah. Each is awaiting an extradition hearing.

A grand jury indicted the two doctors after a 16-month investigation, police said.

The investigation began in August 2010 after what authorities say was a botched procedure at Brigham's clinic in Elkton, located near the border of Maryland and Delaware.

An 18-year-old woman who was 21 weeks pregnant suffered a ruptured uterus and an injured bowel, according to documents filed in a previous investigation by medical regulators. Rather than call 911, Riley drove her to a nearby hospital, where both she and Brigham were uncooperative and Brigham refused to give his name, documents show.

A search of the clinic after the botched abortion revealed a freezer containing 35 late-term fetuses, including one believed to have been aborted at 36 weeks, the documents show.

Brigham, 55, is charged with five counts of first-degree murder, five counts of second-degree murder and one count of conspiracy. Riley, 46, faces one count each of first- and second-degree murder and one conspiracy count.

The charges relate to the botched procedure as well as other abortions performed at the Elkton clinic or fetuses found there, authorities said.

Maryland is one of 38 states that allows murder charges to be brought against someone accused of killing a viable fetus. The 2005 state law has so far only been used for cases in which defendants were accused of assaulting or killing pregnant women.

The state law allows for murder or manslaughter charges to be brought against a person who intends to kill or seriously injure a fetus or who wantonly disregards the safety of a fetus. It does not apply to doctors administering lawful medical care and does not impinge on a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy.

...A Philadelphia doctor, Kermit Gosnell, faces murder charges in the deaths of seven newborn babies but has not been charged with killing fetuses.

The botched 2010 abortion led regulators to order Brigham to stop practicing medicine in Maryland without a license, and Riley's Maryland license was suspended. Brigham's New Jersey license was also suspended, leaving him without a valid license in any state, and New Jersey authorities are pursuing revocation of his license there. New Jersey authorities have cooperated with the Maryland criminal probe, said Thomas R. Calcagni, director of the State Division of Consumer Affairs.

...Brigham was not authorized to perform abortions in New Jersey after the first trimester, and regulators called his actions manipulative and deceptive.

In Maryland, licensed physicians can perform abortions before the fetus is deemed capable of surviving outside the womb, and abortions of viable fetuses are permitted to protect the life or health of the mother or if the fetus has serious genetic abnormalities.

___

Associated Press writer Beth DeFalco in Trenton, N.J., contributed to this report.

2011-12-25T08:53:00.002-05:00

"The hopes and fears of all the years
are met in Thee tonight..."

It doesn't mean that our fears are fulfilled in Him.

It means they can be resolved in Him.

I wish all our visitors a Christmas in which they can find-- or begin on the path to find--blessings as He meant for us to receive.

2011-12-25T07:50:00.000-05:00

This brought tears to my eyes in thanksgiving for what He did for us.

Especially at around the 4:40 mark, when the little boy in the crowd does something special. Oh. My.

A very holy Christmas to all who visit this blog, even, I suppose, if you're not Christian. We don't mean to offend by wishing you that.

Here's hoping and praying that maybe sometime next year, in 2012, we might have either a return by one of our co-bloggers or a new co-blogger. Keep praying as we keep praying for all of you who come here. Feel free to email me. I try to reply to all emails, even if it might take a day or two or three!

2011-12-10T10:17:00.004-05:00

HIATUS NON-INTERRUPTUS

It's been quite some time since this blog and its sister blog, Abortion Pundit, started a sabbatical. Both Emily and I needed to attend to other life issues beginning in early 2006, as we do these blogs as unpaid folk with regular dayjobs... and although we both thought we'd be back within a few months, unfortunately, our need to attend to these other issues continues. I don't know when Emily and/or I will be back daily or even regularly blogging, but to all our visitors and friends, please know that these blogs and the extensive help links and resources they have provided since February 2003 and March 2006, respectively, will remain available to all as long as there's an Internet and electricity to power up computers.

Feel free to browse around, especially the sidebars of both blogs, and if you don't find what you're looking for, try the sidebar's Google search button (not the one up top of the page, that one is pretty useless).

We will consider guest-blog posts, but these are also places we always recommend, also among those who've stayed active in their blogging (thank GOD someone could!):

JivinJehoshaphat
Real Choice
The Dawn Patrol
Pro Life Blogs

These also we highly recommend, even though, like this blog, they have had to attend to their lives and families rather than blog much lately. The treasure trove of previous posts will keep most people busy reading, learning, healing, for D A Y S if not weeks:

The S.I.C.L.E. Cell
Abortion Hurts
Forest Nymph

And of course click to any of the other "BLOGS WE READ" in the sidebar of After Abortion or in the many categories in Abortion Pundit's sidebar. If you find a broken link, we'd appreciate an email letting us know. Thanks.

NOTE: I'll always respond to emails from anyone in serious, personal need, but to all others, I probably won't have time. If someone's being nasty and/or egregious in the comboxes, please email me. Along with Emily, I'll try to check comments for moderation/ deletion purposes, but getting email alerts will be speedier.

Many thanks to all our regulars and visitors for your EXTREME patience and well wishes.

2011-11-17T07:46:00.000-05:00

IN MEMORY OF:

Three baby boys, so precious and sweet
Three baby boys, given to me
Kept in secret, Hidden from all
Three baby boys, so precious and sweet

Dear baby boy, you were the first
Michael Joseph, you were so small
Just four weeks, maybe five
I didn't know your daddy, but he knew me

He raped and left me scared
He came back just one month later
He took me to the clinic
He said I was his daughter

He told me not to tell
He said he'd kill my family
I was 17
Just a junior in high school

Dear baby boy, you were the first
Michael Joseph, you were trusted to me
They took you from me
On November 17th.

Three baby boys, so precious and sweet
Three baby boys, given to me
Kept in secret, Hidden from all
Three baby boys, so precious and sweet

Dear baby boy, you were the second
Jordy Joel JR., your daddy was my best friend
New Years Eve, he was drunk and high
He knew what he wanted, "no" wasn't an option

3 months later, I took the test
I knew was pregnant, but I had to check
I waited two more months
You had been with me 25 weeks

I took another test, just to check
It was positive again
I thought my life was wrecked
I found a clinic and drove myself there

I was confused, I was scared
I had made my decision
I didn't want my family to know
I had just turned 18, you didn't fit my plan

It was June 19, the day they ripped you away
The pain hurt so much, I didn't know what to do
I tried to take my life away
Your daddy killed himself when he found out you were gone

Dear baby boy, you were the second
Jordy Joel JR., I murdered you
Your daddy and your aunt, they left me too
If I could get you back, I would any day

Three baby boys, so precious and sweet
Three baby boys, given to me
Kept in secret, Hidden from all
Three baby boys, so precious and sweet

Dear baby boy, you are the third
Nameless and faceless, hidden from me
Dear baby boy, you have a heart beat
I know you're alive, dependent on me

The questions are whirling,
Confusion, concern, fright and much more
What do I do, where do I turn
God gave you to me, to protect and to love

Raped once more, yet I feel like a whore
I know that God loves you, and I want to also
I know my responsibility,
I wish I could make my decision with ease

I long to hold you, yet I know
I wouldn't be a good enough mom
I couldn't do it on my own
I wish God could tell me what to do

Dear baby boy, you are the third
On December 13th I will hold you in my arms
Dear baby boy, you have a heart beat
Dependent on me, and living you'll stay

Three baby boys, so precious and sweet
Three baby boys, given to me
Kept in secret, hidden from all
Three baby boys, so precious and sweet

Two mistakes made, Two baby boys gone
I can't get you back, but I must move on.
My dear baby boys, please forgive me
In Jesus' arms, I pray you sleep

Michael Joeseph Walker (killed by abortion on November 17th, 2005)
Jordy Joel Simpinks Jr. (killed by abortion on June 19, 2006)
Collin James Walker, with me you will live.

--written by their mom, who sent this poem in an email earlier in the spring of 2008.

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2011-11-01T01:39:00.000-04:00

IN MEMORY OF:

Gabriel Michael Muzik-White
I love you and can't wait till I can see your beautiful face!
Aborted November 1989. Finally free of the guilt and shame
THANK YOU LORD! :)

Susan White

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2011-10-14T00:05:00.000-04:00

IN MEMORY OF:

My daughter, Judith Grace, would have been born October 14, 1974.
Thank you for doing this. I thought I was really OK with this and I am bawling my eyes out.
Forever healing,
Nancy

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2011-09-18T21:13:00.000-04:00

IN MEMORY OF:

Sept. 18:
I would appreciate it if you would post a blog to remember my unborn child that I aborted on September 18, 2009. I am not exactly content with my decision and really do wish that people pray so that Scarlett Osborne will enter into heaven. I want to believe that she is in a much better place that I could have provided her. At least in heaven there will be a family that will love her and I couldn't provide her with what she deserved. She is forever missed and I will carry her with me everyday and love her more each every day.

Thank you,
Yolanda

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2011-09-05T09:26:00.000-04:00

IN MEMORY OF:

Sept. 5:
If at all possible I would like to memorialize my unborn child on your site. I was always certain it would have been a girl not sure why.

Sophie Charlene Daughter of Chris and Nerissa, September 5, 2009 (due date)

I think about it everyday and wish that I could turn back time. Maybe someday if there is an afterlife we will finally get to meet.

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2011-08-14T01:52:00.002-04:00

In MEMORY OF:

My first child, lost in mid August 1984. I have always believed it was a boy so I give him the name Michael Barnett. His father A., whom I later broke up with, may have more scars than I thought (a new idea for me). I later married and suffered
9 year of infertility before having 4 children. Things could have worked out if we both had not panic and tried to make it all go away. It never has.

~ Michael's loving mom, Jane

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2011-08-01T01:52:00.002-04:00

IN MEMORY OF:

1 August 2008 - baby of Tracey, South Africa - God forgive me.

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2011-07-14T14:52:00.013-04:00

Nationwide Pregnancy Resources / Free Testing Centers:

4,800 life-affirming, CONFIDENTIAL, national organizations and agencies(3,400 in the USA and 1,400 outside the USA)

All “800,” “888” & “877” numbers are TOLL-FREE.

Giving free, nonjudgmental, confidential services for girls and women facing unplanned pregnancies, including:

free pregnancy tests
answering questions about abortion,
pregnancy tests,
STD's,
adoption,
parenting,
giving medical referrals
& help obtaining lowcost/free medical care,
immediate or longterm housing,
prenatal (before birth) and post-delivery medical care for mom and baby,
job skills,
home skills
and many other issues,

plus the chance to talk privately to same-age women who’ve been through what you’re going through.
- CareNet/Pregnancy Centers/OptionLine: 1-800-395-HELP (1-800-395-4357) or 1-703-478-5661. Email: answers@optionline.org. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 600 centers nationwide, organization website is www.care-net.org
- BirthRight Pregnancy Hotline: 1-800-550-4900. Give your town and nearest major city, to locate the office nearest you, or locate online. 900 centers in the USA/Canada. Some in South Africa and Colombia.
- America’s Pregnancy Helpline: 1-888-4-OPTIONS or 1-800-672-2296. Email a Pregnancy Specialist at aph@thehelpline.org . Very good secular emphasis, discusses all choices including abortion extremely nonjudgmentally.
- The Nurturing Network: 1-800-TNN-4MOM. Email: tnn@nurturingnetwork.org . Staffed during normal business hours, specializing in help for college and professional women; 32,000 volunteer members (nurses, doctors, social workers).
- LifeCall Hotlines: 1-800-662-2678, 1-800-238-4269, 1-800-550-4900, 1-800-227-3002, In Nebraska call: 1-800-669-8086, In California call: 1-800-228-0332. Email lifecall@aol.com . National online free service finds immediate shelters for pregnant women to stay.
  Also read emails from women who’ve gotten help (used only with their permission of course!).
- The National Crisis Pregnancy Helpline: 1-800-521-5530.
- The National Life Center: 1-800-848-LOVE (5683), 24/7 staffed. ; Email: nlc1stway@snip.net
- Heartbeat International: 1-800-395-HELP . Email: support@heartbeatinternational.org ; other non-critical services, 1-888-550-7577.
- Bethany Christian Services:, 1-800-BETHANY (238-4269). 8 AM to 12 PM, 7 days a week, 75 centers nationwide.
- Good Counsel Homes: 1-800-723-8331; 1-201-795-0637; serving NY/NJ/CT. Email: help@goodcounselhomes.org
- "Priests For Life" Pregnancy Help Site, 1-888-PFL-3448.
- Catholic Charities: 1-800-CARE-002, 24-hour national service. Social services for anyone (you don’t need to be Catholic) include: adoption, family support, help for at-risk children, housing assistance, job training, respite care, home care, parenting education, pregnancy counseling, prison ministry, refugee and immigration assistance, and treatment for drug and alcohol abuse.

CONNECTICUT (and nearby New York State counties):

Hopeline Pregnancy Resource Centers: 1-800-203-HOPE. Danbury: 1-203-207-HOPE; Email: hopeline@aol.com
Stratford/Bridgeport: 1-203-383-4385. New Milford: 1-860-350-HOPE. Shelton: 1-203-925-WAIT. Hopeline P.R.C., P.O. Box 2981, Danbury, CT 06813-2981
BirthRight Pregnancy Hotline: 1-800-550-4900. Give your town and nearest major city, to locate the office nearest you, or locate online. 12 locations in Connecticut.
Malta House of Good Counsel: Pregnancy Assistance and Residence: 1-800-723-8331 and 1-203-857-0088.
St. Gerard's Center for Life, Hartford: 1-860-670-1712. Call Debra Camerota.
Hope For Life, Cheshire: 1-203-271-2703 or Email hope.for.life@snet.net
Caring Families Pregnancy Service, Danielson: 1-860-779-0218, Email carfamilies@juno.com
First Way Life Center, Enfield, 1-860-763-2044 or Email EnfieldCPC@AOL.com
CareNet Pregnancy Resource Center, Groton: 1-860-448-2990, 1-800-395-HELP. Local email: psc.life@snet.net
National email: answers@optionline.org . 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Carolyn's Place, Waterbury: 1-203-597-9050.
St. Agnes Home, West Hartford: 1-203-521-7516.
Crisis Pregnancy Center, Unionville: 1-860-673-7397.
A Better Choice Women's Center, Middletown: 1-860-344-9292.
Catholic Family Services: Ansonia, 1-203-735-7481. Bristol, 1-203-589-8622. Milford, 1-203-874-6270. Shelton, 1-203-736-9604. Darien, 1-203-655-2169. New London, 1-860-889-8346. Norwich, 1-860-889-8346.
Catholic Charities: 1-800-CARE-002, Ridgefield, 1-203-431-8170. South Norwalk, 1-203-854-1890. 24-hour national service. Social services for anyone (you don’t need to be Catholic) include: adoption, family support, help for at-risk children, housing assistance, job training, respite care, home care, parenting education, pregnancy counseling, prison ministry, refugee and immigration assistance, and treatment for drug and alcohol abuse.
Little Miracles, Madison: 1-203-245-4829, 1-203-245-4090 or 1-203-245-7301. Call Lily.
A crisis pregnancy outreach for New Haven and the shoreline areas.
Mary and Joseph’s Place, North Haven.
Interim House, Windsor: 1-860-687-1798.
Helping Hands Outreach (for Hurting Hearts), Milford: 1-203-878-8857, Jackie.
Lumina: 1-877-LUMINA1. (TriState NY/CT/NJ); also 1-914-381-2207 PO Box 242, Harrison, NY 10528; Email: lumina@postabortionhelp.org .

Other sites offering advice and information:

GravityTeen.com (real teens talk about their stories, all kinds, not just abortion. Some have had abortions, some didn't.)
StandUpGirl.com (teens talk about unexpected pregnancies)
LoveMatters.com (publishes a cool 28-page newspaper for teens and college students)

2011-06-22T11:54:00.000-04:00

IN MEMORY OF:

"Please remember and pray for my two aborted children. My son Mason aborted July 21 of 2009 and my daughter Bella Lee aborted June 22 of 2010. Mommy loves you both very much. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think of you and regret my decisions that I made due to the circumstances that I was in. Please forgive me. I love to think that your in a better place free from poverty. I will forever grieve for my two beautiful babies you were a true gift from God, but I gave you back and how I wish that I had you both now in my arms. Please forgive me. Love Mommy."

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2011-06-19T01:51:00.002-04:00

IN MEMORY OF:

Three baby boys, so precious and sweet
Three baby boys, given to me
Kept in secret, Hidden from all
Three baby boys, so precious and sweet

Dear baby boy, you were the first
Michael Joseph, you were so small
Just four weeks, maybe five
I didn't know your daddy, but he knew me

He raped and left me scared
He came back just one month later
He took me to the clinic
He said I was his daughter

He told me not to tell
He said he'd kill my family
I was 17
Just a junior in high school

Dear baby boy, you were the first
Michael Joseph, you were trusted to me
They took you from me
On November 17th.

Three baby boys, so precious and sweet
Three baby boys, given to me
Kept in secret, Hidden from all
Three baby boys, so precious and sweet

Dear baby boy, you were the second
Jordy Joel JR., your daddy was my best friend
New Years Eve, he was drunk and high
He knew what he wanted, "no" wasn't an option

3 months later, I took the test
I knew was pregnant, but I had to check
I waited two more months
You had been with me 25 weeks

I took another test, just to check
It was positive again
I thought my life was wrecked
I found a clinic and drove myself there

I was confused, I was scared
I had made my decision
I didn't want my family to know
I had just turned 18, you didn't fit my plan

It was June 19, the day they ripped you away
The pain hurt so much, I didn't know what to do
I tried to take my life away
Your daddy killed himself when he found out you were gone

Dear baby boy, you were the second
Jordy Joel JR., I murdered you
Your daddy and your aunt, they left me too
If I could get you back, I would any day

Three baby boys, so precious and sweet
Three baby boys, given to me
Kept in secret, Hidden from all
Three baby boys, so precious and sweet

Dear baby boy, you are the third
Nameless and faceless, hidden from me
Dear baby boy, you have a heart beat
I know you're alive, dependent on me

The questions are whirling,
Confusion, concern, fright and much more
What do I do, where do I turn
God gave you to me, to protect and to love

Raped once more, yet I feel like a whore
I know that God loves you, and I want to also
I know my responsibility,
I wish I could make my decision with ease

I long to hold you, yet I know
I wouldn't be a good enough mom
I couldn't do it on my own
I wish God could tell me what to do

Dear baby boy, you are the third
On December 13th I will hold you in my arms
Dear baby boy, you have a heart beat
Dependent on me, and living you'll stay

Three baby boys, so precious and sweet
Three baby boys, given to me
Kept in secret, hidden from all
Three baby boys, so precious and sweet

Two mistakes made, Two baby boys gone
I can't get you back, but I must move on.
My dear baby boys, please forgive me
In Jesus' arms, I pray you sleep

Michael Joseph (killed by abortion on November 17th, 2005)
Jordy Joel (killed by abortion on June 19, 2006)
Collin James, with me you will live.

--written by their mom, Amanda, who just sent this poem in an email to me in 2008 upon finding this blog.

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

She has given me permission to blog a few more of her thoughts. Those will come later, after this thunderstorm passes so I don't risk frying my computer...!

2011-05-01T01:50:00.002-04:00

MAY 1, IN MEMORY OF:

With all my love to Michael Alexander, named for St. Michael the Archangel: I let them kill you in May of 1979. I miss you; and I wish you were here. For my brother or sister, for whom the name "Thomas" came to me in prayer: I don't know when our mother had you aborted, but I will devote my May prayers to you as well. And finally, for my Catherine Alexandra, the child I lost to miscarriage in the spring of 1984 while I was on the pill: as I told your tiny, lifeless form, I didn't know you were there; but if I had known, I would have saved you, and would have done my best as your mother.

May you all rest in the arms of our Lord and our Blessed Mother in heaven; may the Lord allow you to pray for us, all who were responsible for your premature deaths; and may you have met your family members in heaven, especially my mother, and the many other members of my family who have passed on (too many to mention). You are all gone, and I am alone here. But I pray you are all watching over me, and that it is God's will that we meet again in eternity.

Love, Julie Shockley

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2011-04-24T01:48:00.002-04:00

IN MEMORY OF:

Jacob Micah Lee, mommy misses you, you should be in my arms.
Happy birthday to my little nephew who I never got to meet.

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2011-04-08T12:01:00.002-04:00

Well worth the read, another thoughtful blog on a post-abortion life.

FacingTheSecret.blogspot.com

2011-04-08T11:45:00.001-04:00

IN MEMORY OF:

Lily Grace, Aborted April 16th, 1987. 24 years later and I miss her everyday. I was 7.5 weeks/8 weeks along. I am choosing healing. I can't wait to hold her, embrace her in heaven.

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2011-03-22T01:46:00.000-04:00

IN MEMORY OF:

my daugher, Erin Madeline, aborted around Easter time, 1978.

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2010-04-03T19:05:00.002-04:00

I thought some of the readers here at After Abortion would be interested in this post from my own blog Abortion in Washington.

It concerns a 15-year old girl who was taken out of school for an abortion behind her mother's back. Our story concerns the fact that a local charitable organization, founded by a parishioner at a local Catholic church, brokered the transportation. All the authorities who had direct knowledge of the abortion appeared to have helped facilitate the abortion and the keeping of it secret from the mother. The state paid for the abortion and, we believe, the transportation thru Medicaid. The mantra from the media and supporters of the teen health clinic is, "No laws were broken" and "It's the mother's fault for signing a permission slip to use the clinic."

I believe this is not an unusual case here in Washington state as many high schools and middle schools have health clinics staffed by people who most likely see abortion as "an essential part of women's health care." I hope I am not being unfair to paint with such a broad brush, but it is surely the case that any employee of these clinics would need to be alright with Washington state law supporting a "woman's right to choose abortion", all the laws preventing parental involvement, and be willing to coordinate the details to facilitate an abortion: selection of the abortion clinic, appointment making, counseling, transportation, falsification of attendance records, etc. They would also need to feel comfortable with the state's sex-education curriculum, which is as radical as it comes.

I'd be interested in hearing stories from women who chose abortion thru their school health clinic or some other public health setting. If you got good care and help to support your baby, I'd like to hear those stories too.

[REPOSTED FOR MARY E. BY ANNIE, SINCE WE CAN'T GET THE NEW COMMENTING SYSTEM TO DELETE THE SEVERAL THOUSAND SPAM COMMENTS LEFT IN THE OLD COMBOX. IDIOT SOFTWARE COMPANY...]

2010-03-18T13:52:00.003-04:00

"When you have your _____________ , you have everything."

How do you "fill-in-the-blank"? It's a common phrase almost every American has heard or read in their lifetime.

"When you have your HEALTH, you have everything."

And if the government takes over how (and if) you get your healthcare, who will control whether you "have everything" or not?

If you want to know what some of the other problems with ObamaCare are, go to the sister blog at that link and get informed. Because if you don't want to know what is the WHOLE truth, you are choosing to remain ignorant if not also stupid.

2010-02-21T15:42:00.005-05:00

Our commenting system here at the blog is "going away", we're being told. We've used Haloscan comments for years, and their software/hardware is breaking and will be shut down permanently as of Feb. 26, 2010. Until we find another appropriate commenting system, we will probably use blogger's for the time being. I have exported all our comments over the years and hope to sometime restore them, but I'm not the technical whiz and other life events take precedence right now, so it will have to wait. I'm sorry I can't devote more resources to restoring all our comments and only ask our readers' patience and understanding if they can't read or access our existing comments after 2/26.

For now, too, we will deploy comment moderation on all comments automatically, in order to protect any and all visitors from possible flaming or inappropriate comments that would hurt anyone.

If any friends of the blog have any suggestions or advice, we are all ears! Thanks.

2010-01-21T15:52:00.004-05:00

A reader just wrote us:

I would like to ask prayers for my friend whose daughter was forced by her partner to have an abortion. Please pray for her and her husband, as they grieve for the loss of their only grandchild, and please pray also for their daughter, and for the little baby. Thank you.

It's been almost 31 years since I aborted my only daughter. It's been only 7 years since I realized how much I really, truly was horrified by and regretted what I'd done. My son is now the age I was when I aborted his sister.

As The March For Life begins again in Washington DC tomorrow and as the mainstream media acts as if it's no biggie, we pray for everyone negatively affected by abortion, even if you might not happen to believe that you might very well be one of us yet. I'm not saying everyone who doesn't regret their abortion will do so. But a lot do seem to come to it of their own accord, as evidenced by the massive number of google searches which lead them to blogs including this one, looking for help or answers or both. Our sidebar has a lot of both. You have found kindred spirits here, if that's what you are looking for.

2009-12-25T22:52:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas to all.

2009-11-17T00:01:00.001-05:00

IN MEMORY OF:

Three baby boys, so precious and sweet
Three baby boys, given to me
Kept in secret, Hidden from all
Three baby boys, so precious and sweet

Dear baby boy, you were the first
Michael Joseph, you were so small
Just four weeks, maybe five
I didn't know your daddy, but he knew me

He raped and left me scared
He came back just one month later
He took me to the clinic
He said I was his daughter

He told me not to tell
He said he'd kill my family
I was 17
Just a junior in high school

Dear baby boy, you were the first
Michael Joseph, you were trusted to me
They took you from me
On November 17th.

Three baby boys, so precious and sweet
Three baby boys, given to me
Kept in secret, Hidden from all
Three baby boys, so precious and sweet

Dear baby boy, you were the second
Jordy Joel JR., your daddy was my best friend
New Years Eve, he was drunk and high
He knew what he wanted, "no" wasn't an option

3 months later, I took the test
I knew was pregnant, but I had to check
I waited two more months
You had been with me 25 weeks

I took another test, just to check
It was positive again
I thought my life was wrecked
I found a clinic and drove myself there

I was confused, I was scared
I had made my decision
I didn't want my family to know
I had just turned 18, you didn't fit my plan

It was June 19, the day they ripped you away
The pain hurt so much, I didn't know what to do
I tried to take my life away
Your daddy killed himself when he found out you were gone

Dear baby boy, you were the second
Jordy Joel JR., I murdered you
Your daddy and your aunt, they left me too
If I could get you back, I would any day

Three baby boys, so precious and sweet
Three baby boys, given to me
Kept in secret, Hidden from all
Three baby boys, so precious and sweet

Dear baby boy, you are the third
Nameless and faceless, hidden from me
Dear baby boy, you have a heart beat
I know you're alive, dependent on me

The questions are whirling,
Confusion, concern, fright and much more
What do I do, where do I turn
God gave you to me, to protect and to love

Raped once more, yet I feel like a whore
I know that God loves you, and I want to also
I know my responsibility,
I wish I could make my decision with ease

I long to hold you, yet I know
I wouldn't be a good enough mom
I couldn't do it on my own
I wish God could tell me what to do

Dear baby boy, you are the third
On December 13th I will hold you in my arms
Dear baby boy, you have a heart beat
Dependent on me, and living you'll stay

Three baby boys, so precious and sweet
Three baby boys, given to me
Kept in secret, hidden from all
Three baby boys, so precious and sweet

Two mistakes made, Two baby boys gone
I can't get you back, but I must move on.
My dear baby boys, please forgive me
In Jesus' arms, I pray you sleep

Michael Joeseph Walker (killed by abortion on November 17th, 2005)
Jordy Joel Simpinks Jr. (killed by abortion on June 19, 2006)
Collin James Walker, with me you will live.

--written by their mom, who sent this poem in an email earlier this spring (2008).

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2009-10-07T21:14:00.002-04:00

Friend Theresa at Lumina alerts us to something that is part of the problem instead of part of the solution. If any of our readers would like to help, gently, compassionately, help Jill Stanek take a few steps back from the precipitous and dangerous ledge she is standing on, please do so:

ok guys..if you have a chance help me out here. I was upset to read this post of Jill's this morning calling PA women with multiple abortions "Serial killers". I know it would send many women fleeing from healing if they saw it. There is still such a lack of understanding out there..
so, if you have a chance, it would be good to get some voices on this since it is so widely read.
Theresa Bonopartis

This makes me so sad. Jill Stanek has been such a strong voice in support of women and the unborn. I just am heartsick that she stoops to such condemning, unChristian language and attitude. I strongly believe it's why there's too much acceptance still of abortion as the norm. Too many so-called "pro-lifers" willing to stoop to attacking others, verbally most of the time, but still.

This is what I'm going to post at Jill's blog.

From the commentary in the New American Bible, St. Joseph Edition:

"[The story of Jonah] concerns a disobedient prophet who attempted to run away from his divine commission, was cast overboard and swallowed by a great fish, rescued in a marvelous manner, and sent on his way to Nineveh, the traditional enemy of Israel. To the surprise of Jonah, the wicked city listened to his message of doom and repented immediately. All, from king to lowliest subject, humbled themselves in sackcloth and ashes. Seeing their repentance, God did not carry out the punishment he had planned for them. Whereupon Jonah complained to God about the unexpected success of his mission: he was bitter because Yahweh, instead of destroying, had led the people to repentance and then spared them. [emphasis mine]

A very sublime lesson may be drawn. Jonah stands for a narrow and vindictive mentality, all too common among the Jews of that period. Because they were the chosen people, a good many of them cultivated an intolerant nationalism which limited the mercy of God to their nation. It was abhorrent to their way of thinking that nations as wicked as Assyria should escape God's wrath.
…
It is a parable of mercy, showing that God's threatened punishments are but the expression of a merciful will which moves all to repent and seek forgiveness."

Jill, your calling multiple abortive women "serial killers" is a narrow and vindictive mentality, too. You seem to have lost the sense of how much destruction words like this are doing. You don't even give such women "forty days to repent" figuratively, as Jonah did literally. You smartly and cleverly label them and thus demean and dehumanize them.

You are making sure that such women do not "escape God's wrath" by inflicting it on them yourself.

Is calling women who've had multiple abortions "serial killers" really "speaking the truth in love", Jill?

Is it really what Christ would do?

Using such condemning, alienating language is just not right, Jill, for you or for anyone to do. You do so much more harm and begin to negate so much of the good you've ever done.

Even true "serial killer" David Berkowitz, the infamous "Son Of Sam" who terrorized Long Island, NY, killing 6 people and wounding 7 more when I myself was a newly graduated high school senior living right there in his killing grounds, has repented and accepted God (you can read his story in his own words in the book "Touched by the Savior" compiled by Mike Yorkey). The person who "got to him" after 10 years in prison didn't call him "serial killer." He didn't alienate him or piss him off. No, the fellow inmate's first words to David Berkowitz, a Jew who had been engulfed by satanic beliefs and rituals which led him to become a serial killer, were, "David, can I talk to for a few minutes? I want to tell you something. Jesus Christ loves you very much."

Jill, God wants me to put it on your heart: please please please go back to being like that blessed fellow inmate which, since we are all sinners, is really what you are. Please stop this attention-getting, mainstream-media-style, sound-bite-bold language. It does not become you. AND it hurts so, so many. I'm sorry to be so blunt but it's necessary because you, like all those women you just damaged, are a child of God too and I know this is not what God wants you to do.

2009-09-01T05:31:00.000-04:00

Remembering Our Aborted Children

I was reading my prayer list this morning. Actually reading it, person by person, instead of being too busy and just asking for "help for all on my prayer list" as I do sometimes...and I had an idea.

While this blog is in hiatus from daily blogging, I thought it would be a good idea to post, on any given day, the first names of anyone's babies lost to abortion who they have since come to grieve. Sort of a "request-line," only for the blog's visitors.

There may be another site out there doing this (please let me know if you know of one), but there must be a way to do this respectfully, even anonymously if someone prefers, which I believe most folks do.

I may be biting off more than I can chew (if I get a lot of emails!) but if you email me (SEE THE EMAIL LINK "Annie" AT TOP RIGHT OF THE SIDEBAR) asking to post a short note remembering and/or praying for you and your lost child on the date he or she was aborted or, alternatively, would have been born, I will do my best to put up a "Memorial Post" on that date. Dads as well as Moms can write me. If you'd even like to remember a family member lost to abortion, not your own child, but maybe a niece, nephew or grandchild, feel free to contact me too. Even if the baby has not been remembered with a name yet, we will still do this.

If you wish to remain completely anonymous, we of course will respect that (as we always have). No email addresses will ever be shared with ANYONE, nothing. We have had perhaps thousands of emails from visitors over the past four years, and have never dishonored a confidence. We never will. We understand far too well what is at stake.

You can even go to Yahoo or Google Mail and create a free email account to use just this once so we'll never know the email address you usually use. We're not technically savvy here at this blog to know who anyone is when they email us and even if we were, we both have dayjobs and don't have the TIME to figure any of that out!

ALSO, we ask that all read our commenting guidelines first and EVERYONE ONLY POST ENCOURAGING, POSITIVE COMMENTS (SEE BELOW). NO DEBATE, NO OPINION, NO QUESTIONS ASKED, NOTHING FOCUSED ON ANYONE BUT THOSE WE ARE REMEMBERING AND/OR PRAYING FOR. As blog-founder Emily wrote in our guidelines,

It's important to me that post-abortive individuals who are involved in the post-abortion movement aren't embattled and attacked by comments left here.

That applies, especially with these Memorial Posts, to post-abortive individuals NOT involved in the post-abortion movement as well, of course.

Some ways we could memorialize could be:

IN MEMORY OF: L. and her daughter in heaven, Mikayla

For my daugher, Erin Madeline, aborted around Easter time, 1978.

Eve Christine, child of H.

February 1979: Luke Raphael, child of R.

February 11, 1983: Mary Lee, child of N.

18 yr. old mom of 2 y.o. daughter who aborted unborn son 1/20/04

A date is important so I can post it for that date, but if you have no specific date, I'll just post it as soon as I can after I receive it. If there are several requests for one date or one month, I will post them together in one post.

You will know that it is your memorial and your prayer, and you can be the only one who knows.

Imagine hundreds, thousands of our visitors reading and offering up a thought for you and your lost child on the day you might be hurting the most.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE TO THOSE NEW TO THIS IDEA:
The idea of Post-Abortive women memorializing our lost children like this, even giving them a name, can sound very strange. Please know that it is by no means new or strange. On Rachel's Vineyard retreats alone in the past decade or so, over 25,000 women have done just this. RV is just one of many, many Post-Abortive recovery services and groups worldwide (SEE SIDEBAR AT RIGHT under RESOURCES FOR HEALING).

Please know that it isn't morbid and it isn't emotional self-flogging. It is actually rather helpful--to us personally--to acknowledge our lost children. It works for women who have miscarried; why shouldn't it do so for us who chose abortion and later regretted it? There is tremendous loss in both instances.

Since Haloscan doesn't allow selectively closed comments, we ask that ONLY POSITIVE, HELPFUL COMMENTS BE POSTED IF YOU MUST COMMENT. Any rude or hurtful comments, or those which otherwise violate our commenting guidelines OR THE OTHERS STATED ABOVE, will be immediately deleted and those folks will be banned as well. Please read our commenting guidelines first, especially if you disagree with or can't understand this policy for these Memorial Posts.

So if you'd like to do this, for yourself and your lost child, my email address (Annie) is up top on the right of the page.

(This post was first posted on February 26, 2008, and will be post-dated as the head "sticky" post until we return from hiatus, whenever that is.)

2009-08-17T01:54:00.000-04:00

IN MEMORY OF:

August 17, 2007: Adrian Peter, child of Beth and Peter

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2009-08-13T01:53:00.000-04:00

In loving memory of my son, aborted in 1990.
Even though you were conceived during sexual abuse at 12 years old, you were still a part of me.
I think about you all the time and miss you terribly.
The agony I endure everyday is overshadowed by the thought that one day I will have the chance to hold you and see your beautiful face.

My baby boy, son of A.S.

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2009-07-17T14:40:00.004-04:00

Isn't it fascinating how Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg (and all who agree with her) insist that "the government has no business making that choice for a woman" but they belie their racist tendencies by having no problem w h a t s o e v e r with the government having every business making a much more serious choice for "populations that we don’t want to have too many of"?

The New York Times has the quote.

We have some commentary at our sister blog, as do the bloggers here with the astute alert.

2009-07-17T14:35:00.001-04:00

2009-06-20T01:51:00.000-04:00

FIRST DAY OF SUMMER:

I just heard about your site at an abortion recovery bible study that I help to facilitate. Great idea and you have SO many great resources listed!! Thank you and God bless you for all the work you have put into this. I have memorialized my daughter by planting an apple tree and with a plaque on a memorial wall but I want her name on your site too.

IN MEMORY OF:Kelley Jean Meyer--daughter of Diana Meyer Dye-- Summer 1977 in St. Louis, Missouri

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2009-05-07T00:36:00.001-04:00

"I took my baby home on Mother's day. A gift, a treasure, life."

HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY TO ELISE!m (actual birthdate May 7, 2004)

And many, many more!

2009-04-24T01:47:00.005-04:00

...in memory of Matthew Dean, gestational age 16 weeks. Late April 24/25 or 26, 1970. From his loving Mom - Lee Anne

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2009-04-22T05:21:00.001-04:00

Gardasil Moms: If one of those 32 dead girls or women was your daughter...

ATTENTION: GARDASIL VACCINE RECIPIENTS (the one that was supposed to protect girls and women from the HPV virus and the cervical cancer it causes):

Reports of adverse events after getting a vaccine can be submitted to VAERS by fax at 1-877-721-0366, online at https://secure.vaers.org/VaersDataEntryintro.htm, or by mail to Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, P.O. Box 1100, Rockville, MD 20849-1100.

Also from that CDC website:

As of December 31, 2008, there have been 32 U.S. reports of death among females who have received the vaccine.

32. And I was berated by some Prolifeblogs.com readers in August 2008 for posting that 25 women had died because of Gardasil since March 2007, so we re-reviewed the data and modified that post to "as many as 18 or 19 women died."

So now, 9 months later, it's up 14 more deaths to 32 in the U.S. Sadly, this isn't going to be end of it. This is between 1% and, at best, 10% of the estimated cases of adverse effects.

That means there could be as many as 320 to 3,200 women dead from this Gardasil vaccine in the past 2 years alone.

The CDC and the FDA are standing by their "fast-tracking" approval of Gardasil three years ago. Read the following links for more scrutinizing information on the dangers to our young girls and women and the underreporting of those dangers:

"An Analysis by the National Vaccine Information Center of Gardasil & Menactra Adverse Event Reports to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS), February 2009

Reuters news report, "NVIC Vaccine Risk Report Reveals More Serious Reaction Reports After Gardasil," which quotes extensively from the NVIC PDF document just cited above:

Using the MedAlerts database, compiling data for VAERS through November 30, 2008, NVIC found that compared to Menactra, Gardasil is associated with at least twice as many Emergency Room visit reports (5,021), four times as many Death reports (29); five times as many "Did Not Recover" reports (2,017) and seven times as many "Disabled" reports (261). There have been 34 reports of thrombosis, 27 reports of lupus, 23 reports of blood clots, 16 reports of stroke, and 11 reports of vasculitis following Gardasil vaccine given alone without any other vaccines. There are three to six times more fainting or syncope reports after Gardasil vaccination than after Menactra and there have been 544 reports of seizures following Gardasil and 158 after Menactra (73 Menactra-associated seizures involved co-administration with Gardasil).

Rechallenge reports to VAERS involve cases where there was a worsening of symptoms after repeated vaccination. There were 275 Rechallenge reports after Gardasil compared to eight after Menactra (7 Menactra-associated Rechallenge reports involved co-administration with Gardasil). In the entire VAERS database for all vaccine adverse event reports, there are 467 rechallenge reports, of which nearly 60 percent are for Gardasil.

A 15-year old gymnast, cheerleader and honor roll student in Kansas has been diagnosed with Gardasil vaccine-related brain inflammation after receiving three Gardasil shots. Her first symptoms included muscle and joint weakness and pain, numbness and tingling in her hands and feet, severe headaches excessive fatigue, rash, dizziness, and loss of concentration after the first shot. After the second and third shots she began losing her hair and developed seizures, bouts of paralysis, mini-strokes, partial loss of vision, and severe chest pain, memory and speech loss.

A 21-year old Maryland artist, athlete and honor roll college student died suddenly without explanation in June 2008 after her third Gardasil shot. She is one of the 29 Gardasil death reports in VAERS.

"Most health officials believe that adverse reactions to medications are vastly underreported, as they are optional. Safety experts estimate that only between 1% and 10% of adverse effects are reported. Therefore the actual number of adverse events occurring after vaccination with Gardasil is likely to be much higher."

When will people stop protecting another something (in addition to abortion) that's dangerous to their daughters and has been since Day One? The rabid defense of a vaccine that enables girls to continue and expand upon sexual promiscuity and thus increase their risk of exposure to the resulting STD that is HPV, is nothing short of irresponsible and unconscionable parenting by parents and insane "governing" by the FDA and CDC.

Please don't comment if all you have to say is how few these cases are compared to the millions of vaccines given. We can read too and we have read those statistics. The point is, there are supposed to be no such massively adverse effects at all, if the FDA and the CDC do their jobs correctly.

The point is, from March 2007 through August 2008, as many as 18 U.S. women died after taking the Gardasil vaccine, and in the nine months since then, 14 more have been reported as dying after Gardasil was administered, according to the CDC itself.

If one of those 32 dead girls or women was your daughter, would you still really give a damn that millions more took it without incident?

2009-04-12T00:15:00.000-04:00

"Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?" Luke 24:26

Our Lord's Cross is the gateway into His life: His Resurrection means that He has power now to convey His life to me. When I am born again from above, I receive from the Risen Lord His very life.

Our Lord's Resurrection destiny is to bring "many sons unto glory." The fulfilling of His destiny gives Him the right to make us sons and daughters of God. We are never in the relationship to God that the Son of God is in; but we are brought by the Son into the relation of sonship. When Our Lord rose from the dead, He rose to an absolutely new life, to a life He did not live before He was incarnate. He rose to a life that had never been before; and His resurrection means for us that we are raised to His risen life, not to our old life. One day we shall have a body like unto His glorious body, but we can know now the efficacy of His resurrection and walk in newness of life. "I would know Him in the power of His resurrection."

~ Oswald Chambers

2009-04-10T00:28:00.001-04:00

Good Friday

". . . save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Galatians 6:14

If you want to know the energy of God (i.e., the resurrection life of Jesus) in your mortal flesh, you must brood on the tragedy of God. Cut yourself off from prying personal interest in your own spiritual symptoms and consider bare-spirited the tragedy of God, and instantly the energy of God will be in you. "Look unto Me," pay attention to the objective Source and the subjective energy will be there. We lose power if we do not concentrate on the right thing. The effect of the Cross is salvation, sanctification, healing, etc., but we are not to preach any of these, we are to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The proclaiming of Jesus will do its own work. Concentrate on God's centre, and though your crowd may apparently pay no attention, they can never be the same again. If I talk my own talk, it is of no more importance to you than your talk is to me; but if I talk the truth of God, you will meet it again and so will I. We have to concentrate on the great point of spiritual energy - the Cross, to keep in contact with that centre where all the power lies, and the energy will be let loose.

The feebleness of the churches is being criticized to-day, and the criticism is justified. One reason for the feebleness is that there has not been this concentration of spiritual energy; we have not brooded enough on the tragedy of Calvary or on the meaning of Redemption.

~ Oswald Chambers (1874-1917), Scottish minister and teacher

2009-04-09T00:29:00.001-04:00

Holy Thursday

"Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, tarry ye here, and watch with Me." Matthew 26:36, 38

We can never fathom the agony in Gethsemane, but at least we need not misunderstand it. It is the agony of God and Man in one, face to face with sin. We know nothing about Gethsemane in personal experience. Gethsemane and Calvary stand for something unique; they are the gateway into Life for us.

It was not the death on the cross that Jesus feared in Gethsemane; He stated most emphatically that He came on purpose to die. In Gethsemane He feared lest He might not get through as Son of Man. He would get through as Son of God - Satan could not touch Him there; but Satan's onslaught was that He would get through as an isolated Figure only; and that would mean that He could be no Saviour. Read the record of the agony [in the garden] in the light of the temptation [by satan in the desert, earlier]: "Then the devil leaveth Him for a season." In Gethsemane Satan came back and was again overthrown. Satan's final onslaught against our Lord as Son of Man is in Gethsemane.

The agony in Gethsemane is the agony of the Son of God in fulfilling His destiny as the Saviour of the world. The veil is drawn aside to reveal all it cost Him to make it possible for us to become sons of God. His agony is the basis of the simplicity of our salvation. The Cross of Christ is a triumph for the Son of Man. It was not only a sign that Our Lord had triumphed, but that He had triumphed to save the human race. Every human being can get through into the presence of God now because of what the Son of Man went through.

~ Oswald Chambers

2009-03-24T12:17:00.005-04:00

"[PLAN B] contains higher doses of progestin than are used in prescription birth control pills."

...and yet:

"The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, in a 52-page ruling, also ordered the FDA to allow 17-year-olds to buy the drug, called Plan B, without a prescription.

Got that?

Obama's administration and supporters are saying that progestins (which are long classified by the the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as "Possibly carcinogenic to humans") are supposed to be allowed without a prescription, to anyone 17 and older, in stronger doses than found in medications which require prescriptions, and if the abortion lobbyist Center for Reproductive Rights has its way, to anyone of any age.

The world has gone berserk if they cannot see what's wrong with that picture, scientifically.

Yet the CRR brazenly still lies to you that Plan B is "proven safe and effective."

Are they and their president, Nancy Northrup, going to be around if any of the users of Plan B develop cervical, liver or breast cancer?

It's nauseating and angering how many people are being fooled. Obama's administration continues to be so hellbent on its own brand of ideology while dismissing a whole host of real science. Read on to learn just some of the other, bona fide science he's dismissed already:

PLAN B and other EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION (Morning After Pill)
May 2007
April 2007
Mar.2006

More on topics like the above, here.

2009-03-20T15:00:00.000-04:00

The greatest note of triumph that ever sounded in the ears of a startled universe was that sounded on the Cross of Christ - "It is finished."
~ Oswald Chambers

2009-03-13T05:00:00.003-04:00

Just go watch this. Amazing. No, un-freakin--believable.

I know there are many who come to our blog who are not Christian. This isn't meant to prosyletize or preach. It's just too way cool for those of us who are Christians to pass up, especially during Lent.

2009-03-04T11:44:00.002-05:00

ReclaimingOurChildren.typepad.com, Lumina's blog, is doing a Lenten series worth reading:

See "RECENT POSTS" in their sidebar:

Instant gratification (Lent-8)
Forgiveness (Lent- 7)
Getting out of your own way (Lent - 6)
Temptation (Lent 5)
Allowing People to Help You (Lent 4)
Sorrow & Humility (Lent - day 3)

"Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me."

2009-03-02T00:01:00.003-05:00

Been thinking a lot about my Mom lately.

She died March 2, 1985, when she was 59 and I was 26.

She died of advanced ovarian cancer.

"Gilda Radner's Disease," before Gilda died from it.

She died after a year and two months of fighting it futilely.

And 24 years later, I still cry thinking about that night,
and about how much I miss her.

She died without knowing any of her grandkids, especially the one I had aborted 7 years earlier.

I'm now only 9 years younger than my Mom was when she died. Maybe that's why I'm thinking of her a lot these days.

Maybe it's because several dear friends have lost or are now losing their elderly parents.

There is never a good time to lose a parent, I think.

Never a "good age."

I wrote the accompanying poem in August 1984, the summer she was ill.

I had been taking the train down to New York City on the weekends when she was at Sloan Kettering for monthly triple-cocktail chemo which did no good and only much bad.

Sleeping on a couch in the lounge, or taking the LIRR to my folks' home in LI for the restless night, then coming back Sunday morning for the day before training back to Connecticut and going to work again Mondays.

On the other three weekends I'd drive to the house and visit there.

Even after she slipped into a coma the last month.

Until the last weekend, when my brother came into the room where I was sleeping and woke me in the middle of the night, saying, "The night nurse said to come down NOW."

We all entered Mom's room, gathering around her bed, the nurse off to the side. I wondered, how does the nurse know?

We wept, we told Mom we loved her and one of us said, "We will miss you, Mom, but it's ok... to go... We'll be ok..." I don't know if it was me or my sister or my brother. I doubt it was my father. He was too speechless with grief. My other brother couldn't be there; he worked nights as a night watchman somewhere. But he loved her just the same.

We didn't know if she could hear us at all. The coma had begun a month before.

But slowly, Mom opened her eyes, and with no pain in them, only love, she just gazed at each one of us for a few moments. It was not reflexive, it was not involuntary. She looked at us a long time, saying goodbye with her eyes. She made no sound. We tried to be brave, I suppose, but it moved me to my core and I, we, smiled at her through our tears. Then she closed her eyes.

We waited.

Each breath she took was more difficult. We did not know when one breath left her, if that was the last one. Until...it just was.

I wrote this poem when I was very far from God, and very angry at Him.

Hoo boy.

It took many years, much growth, much pain, and many prayers, before I was able to stop being angry at God.

Lifetime

One's year is another's lifetime.
One's lifetime should be everything
you want it to be. How, though, to condense
that effort and experience of a lifetime,
into one year, or two? Pick and choose;
what would you do?
Sleeping so softly, like an infant.
Eyelids flickering, one or two fingers
squeezing mine every once in awhile.
The tube crackling faintly like a wet wire.
She looks like a Marine,
with a soft crewcut growing in...
Don't take her.

Can't sleep alone at night.
Can't stay awake at night.
This ward will make me
toughened to many things
but never immune.
My stomach turns every time
1022B coughs,
but I've learned to keep on
eating my lunch.

Don't bring her pain.
Isn't it enough that she
may die not knowing
her first grandchild?
That she's losing the fight?
Don't kick her when she's down.
You know she deserves this
less than any of us.
If You can allow this
to happen to her,
how much worse off
will the rest of us be?

Don't. Don't think about it.
Not now. Wait until later.
Maybe after Sunday. Then I can.
But then I have to switch into high gear again,
and go back to work and perform...

How I'll long to see her chest rise and fall,
and her fingers move like an infant's in sleep,
then.

Hope, prayers, comfort, solace, grace, to all those out there losing parents, at any age in life.

2009-02-25T21:41:00.001-05:00

Ash Wednesday today...for those of us who are Catholic...

"The real test of the saint is not preaching the gospel, but washing disciples' feet, that is, doing the things that do not count in the actual estimate of men but count everything in the estimate of God."

~ Oswald Chambers

2009-02-20T06:01:00.001-05:00

AbortionChangesYou.com

Spend a moment reading the revolving sign images. Then move your cursor to one, whichever one seems to be closest to your own situation or feelings, and DON'T CLICK YET. Watch what happens next. Then click wherever you feel serves what you're looking for.

"Abortion can produce troubling emotions. YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

"Many women...men...grandparents...siblings...family members...friends...
are seeking to make sense of their own or their loved one's abortion.

"This Website is a safe place to begin.

"This confidential space is for those who are touched by abortion, whether the experience happened recently or years ago.

"Abortion Changes You is a refuge for those who wish to tell their story and begin the process of healing."

Thanks, Michaelene Fredenburg, for creating this unique site and telling your story too.

And thanks to K-Lo, for this also excellent article which mentioned this site.

Cross-posted on PLB.

2009-02-17T05:23:00.002-05:00

12 year old girl speaks up on abortion - Youtube video

Wow. A future President, I'm thinking...

HT: The Raving Theist, formerly known as The Raving Atheist, who writes:

Since the inauguration, the mainstream media outlets have run numerous stories about children offering political opinions and helpful advice to the new president. It’s unlikely, however, that this 12 year old girl’s words will reach his ears...

2009-02-17T05:22:00.001-05:00

"If we were never depressed we should not be alive; it is the nature of a crystal [an inanimate object] never to be depressed. A human being is capable of depression, otherwise there would be no capacity for exaltation."

~ Oswald Chambers

2009-02-16T05:26:00.002-05:00

We all have any number of visions and ideals when we are young, but sooner or later we find that we have no power to make them real. We cannot do the things we long to do, and we are apt to settle down to the visions and ideals as dead, and God has to come and say - "Arise from the dead." When the inspiration of God does come, it comes with such miraculous power that we are able to arise from the dead and do the impossible thing. The remarkable thing about spiritual initiative is that the life comes after we do the "bucking up." God does not give us overcoming life; He gives us life as we overcome. When the inspiration of God comes, and He says - "Arise from the dead," we have to get up; God does not lift us up. Our Lord said to the man with the withered hand - "Stretch forth thy hand," and as soon as the man did so, his hand was healed, but he [the man] had to take the initiative. If we will do the overcoming, we shall find we are inspired of God because He gives life immediately.

~ Oswald Chambers

2009-02-16T05:10:00.014-05:00

The Raving Atheist has changed.

And how.

[COMMENT FROM A READER, AND MY REPLY, UPDATED AT THE END]

TRA's blog's original subtitle was "An Atheistic Examination of the Culture of Belief: How Religious Devotion Trivializes American Law and Politics".

Though the URL to TRA's blog is still www.ravingatheist.com, the title is now:

The Raving Theist
Dedicated to Jesus Christ, Now and Forever

That first link above, in the title of this post, begins the explanation. I will excerpt some of his post at the bottom of this one.

My understanding is that he converted to Christianity (some reports say it's actually Catholicism) this past fall.

The Wayback Machine has links to his blog dating back to 2002, for those skeptical of the sheer enormity of this change.

Once TRA listed The Vatican as a "HATE SITE" (scroll down to the very end of this page), which he defined then as "one which explicitly attacks a person or group based upon race, gender, sexual orientation or creed."

He now simply lists it as another SITE OF INTEREST.

We became friends with TRA, as everyone called him, back in 2004, though we've never met him and we do not know his name.

He had been visiting our blog here for some time, as a result of a profanity-laced (his) rant he'd posted against a Catholic priest commenter on his own blog, for which he felt regretful afterward. Somehow he found this blog (or perhaps the priest referred him to us), and in lurking in our comboxes and perhaps due to other influences, eventually became a friend.

Of course, massive skeptic that I'd become over the years, I had first asked Emily, this blog's founder, about whether this guy, able to skewer and shred what he called "godidiots" to ribbons in a single bound, was legit in his "niceness" to us.

Was he really genuine about his newly-voiced anti-abortion opinions and about giving monetary donations to Rachel's Vineyard retreats and otherwise supporting the message we have been getting out? Or were we being trolled and set up for a big ridicule later?

After several private email exchanges and some time spent on his blog, I wrote the following. He asked my permission to post about it. With minor changes to what he wrote, I gave that permission. The resulting post, "Annie Banno is my friend", was roundly attacked and derided (and he and I along with it, although mostly me!)

Unfortunately, for some reason some of the old comments from that time were truncated or omitted, perhaps that will be remedied later but there is enough there to see the vitriolic, derisive reaction from the vast majority of TRA's then-fans.

TRA became (and remains) a staunch friend and defender of this blog and its community of commenters. A commenter attacked me personally in the comboxes to these posts, saying:

Oh yes, I saw you Annie, and some of your friends. You love life so much you allowed people with signs praising jim kopp for killing bernard slepian to march along with you. You regret your abortion or you regret the fact that more abortionists with families of their own aren't murdered? I would have taken you a lot more seriously if you werent there with people praising murderers.

...Of course you aren't interested in setting up shelters for these poor and abused women [made pregnant by husbands who force them into sex and pregnancy] but at least think of them when trying to take away the choices of others...
Jay | Email | 04.27.04 - 3:00 pm | #

(I addressed those accusations in the updated post)

But the then-Raving Atheist replied directly to Jay:

Jay - As the blackest, darkest, nastiest atheist you will ever meet, I can guarantee you that the people on this site are the kindest and most caring I have ever encountered.
The Raving Atheist | Email | Homepage | 04.28.04 - 6:12 pm

Recent Catholic-convert Dawn Eden, began inquiring of TRA in 2005 the way I had "checked him out" in 2004.

Dawn then wrote this article for the New York Daily News where she worked at the time:

ATHEIST'S SITE IS ALL THE RAVE,
BY DAWN EDEN, Sunday, September 18th 2005

Make no bones about it, Raving Atheist's credentials as a skeptic are impeccable. A Manhattan attorney (he declines to give his real name), he's famous for using his well-tooled debating skills to skewer believers' arguments. He gleefully labels inarticulate theists "Godidiots" and other terms that can't be printed in a family newspaper.

But lately, that hasn't been enough.

Slowly, RA has been inviting believers to enter his blog's dialogue, with comments and even guest posts - and a few are taking the bait.

The result is one of the blog world's most unlikely and intriguing public discussions of faith - or the lack thereof.

Theism first invaded RA's site last year, after readers in the blog's comments section savaged Annie Banno, a Christian anti-abortion blogger (afterabortion.blogspot.com) who had posted her thoughts there. RA, who is himself anti-abortion, invited her to guest-blog in response.

In introducing Banno's post, RA - with the mixture of the black humor and deadly seriousness that marks his writing - outlined why he believes in engaging opponents in dialogue.

"I admire Annie," he wrote, "because she represents a certain type of tolerance that I respect . . .

"Many people equate tolerance with the attitude that every belief is equally true," he went on, "and that we should all simply accept this fact and go our separate ways.

"But I view tolerance as the willingness to come together, to face one another in the same room and hack at each other with claw hammers until the truth finally trickles out from the blood and the tears."

TRA began guest-blogging at her blog, Dawn Patrol, shortly after that.

The Curt Jester writes about Dawn's vouching for TRA's conversion as well.

To say that TRA's old fans berated him for what appeared to be this coming change, is the understatement of the century. Much of it is unprintable here.

For those few of us who are believers and know TRA well enough, we know this as a miracle.

God bless, Raving Theist, and keep on truckin'.

Here, then, is The Raving THEIST, in some of his own words:

A Few Thoughts and Explanations
December 31, 2008 | 213 Comments

I had planned to shutter this blog shortly after the end of this year. The day after the election, with so many of my friends depressed by the outcome, I announced that I would be publicly declaring my conversion to Christianity. Like me, many of them could barely drag themselves out of bed, read the newspaper or turn on the television. I hoped that it would cheer them to see The Raving Atheist go out on a faith-filled note, and encourage them to rise to the challenges posed by the incoming administration. I anticipating closing the blog with a few wrap-up posts, and then returning full-steam to the pro-life efforts that eventually brought me to this good place in my life.

The blog was essentially moribund due to an abandonment of fourteen months. I expected perhaps a dozen goodbye (or good riddance) comments on the conversion post. I did not bother to remove the Basic Assumptions or other trappings of godlessness because it seemed to me that would be like rearranging the furniture on the Titanic. The accompanying picture was selected by downloading the first suitably-sized result arising from a Google Image search for “Christ + Children.” I did not screen it for historical or political correctness because I assumed that the thought behind it would count enough for the handful of readers who would see it.

The deluge of comments and e-mails has persuaded me that some purpose might be served by an extended run of The Raving Theist. I have also been convinced, particularly by Jennifer of Conversion Diary, that sharing the story of my coming to faith might serve some beneficial purpose. It will be a maudlin, rickety, hole-filled, unconvincing narrative, in that respect not much different from the lives we lead in or out of the faith. For now, however, I will address (as time permits) some of the issues that have arisen more persistently in the comments, supplying additional observations where necessary.

(1) Yes, my conversion is real and sincere and heartfelt. It is not a mean atheist hoax or prank. At first I was offended that anyone could suspect me of such monstrous cruelty, but I realize that most people don’t know me well enough to understand how my character would so absolutely preclude such a charade. And having written my share of skeptical posts about the conversion of other atheists, I understand how impossible it would be for anyone who has perused my archives to conclude that I am anything more than fraud.
...
Various believers have expressed concern over the nastiness and obscenities directed at me. I don’t care. I did the same for years (albeit usually with a point somewhere) and am in no position to complain. And if I wanted to, I could out-nasty and out-swear any of them. I have lost my atheism, not my vocabulary. But I don’t want to.

Here's a recent sample of how scathing the Raving Theist can be, now.

He has a very good post, on Feb. 13, 2009, about a woman who regrets her abortion, a friend who was also haunted by it, and how they found each other again on Facebook.

Cross-posted on PLB.

UPDATE, COMMENTARY:

Commenter at PLB, Jeff W., wrote:

This smells of bait & switch, devil's advocate type of ploy. I wouldn't place any bets if I were you.

I thought about that, replied and though it worth adding to the post here:

The Apostles thought the exact same thing of Paul after he'd converted and changed from the Christian-murdering Saul.

It took about three years of Paul "walking the walk," at least one trusted person to vouch for him, Barnabas, and Paul's living the Christian disciple's life, preaching the gospel, even to the point of surviving not one but two attempts to kill him, before Peter and the Apostles finally, fully accepted his conversion as bona fide.

Folks probably had the same doubts about St. Augustine.

"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

That's what I put my trust in, Jeff.

I've been duped before in my life. Several times in fact, but mostly in the personal/romantic department. Yes, I've been fooled, in some cases by the most amazingly, unbelievably elaborate ruse, one that was even fueled by that person's use of the media for many years. It eventually was found out to be just a ruse.

As I believe all ruses eventually are.

If TRT's actions and words are a bait and switch (which as an advertising term isn't wholly apropos here, but I know what you meant), then this ruse is now going on four years, monetary donations to Rachel's Vineyard and possibly elsewhere, actual volunteer time at a CPC, and it has duped not only me, Dawn Eden, Emily Peterson, most of his old readers and all of his new ones, and the folks who run the CPC where TRT has volunteered time for several years, and God knows who else.

But, sure, Jeff, it is still possible. I know that. I suppose anything is possible.

With God, all good things are possible. And perhaps I won't "know" for certain unless I make it to heaven and bump into him, or he bumps into me.

If I'm being duped by a RA in RT's clothing, it wouldn't be the first time I was fooled. And it probably won't be the last!

If he's truly gone to all this trouble, all such expensive, elaborate, lengthy years of effort and gyrations to make fun of us (and it's already been done to me by someone, as I said), then ultimately I say, "There is only one who loses, and it isn't me and it isn't anyone helped in all such allegedly phony monetary donations or volunteer time helping people."

One could well argue that we will have to see in a decade or two where he stands. Or if he is able to withstand some sort of nonliteral, modern-equivalent of Paul's two death threats, which finally convinced the Apostles.

If TRT/TRA (or any troll, since that would be the ultimate Grand Poobah of Trolls) wants to set up an elaborate decade(s)-long ruse of pretending to be someone they're not, just to make us look like idiots, I can save him or her or them a lot of time: a few other guys have already beat ya to that!

What do I care about how I am perceived by anyone capable of such a colossal waste of time or by anyone among the "fanbase" chortling with glee over such a useless little "sting"?

2009-02-08T13:22:00.019-05:00

Abortion After Rape: Yes or No?

This Prolifeblogs combox discussion brought up the subject of abortion in cases of rape, when a brave woman spoke up:

We are so under represented in the media because it is corrupt and a brainwashing thing when put in the places it is...but we might have to fight back with brutal honesty to show up the lies.

I was raped, suppressed it and a growing belly for 7 months, had a baby girl, and placed her for adoption. If you hear anyone use the stupid line again, "well what if you were raped, then why should you have to carry to term a baby?" Pleas refer them to me! I'm sick of them persuading people on stuff they don't even bother asking a real woman that has been through it about! Pro-lifers are tough in general, Pro-choice people are wimps (sorry, but it is true. I bet if we did a survey they would be the ones that cried as a kid if they didn;'t get picked something)

...Why do they assume automatically women can't handle it? Two wrongs dont make a right. I am so mad at the abortion industry, I cant explain it. Its just that they would made it so easy for me to walk in the door and kill my daughter that first day I found out I was pregnant (without telling my parents or anyone first) luckily I didn't thanks to God taking over. My opinion on everything changed full over after just a few days of letting the fact that this is a little life, sink in. But they made it so easy for me to kill my daughter, and since she means the world to me today, this grudge isn't going to ever go away until they are destroyed (the companies like planned parenthood...not the people destroyed)

She isn't the first victim of rape, nor in the minority of them, feeling this way.

In replying to help readers know what we've long known from doing our own digging (instead of relying on the mainstream media), we had linked to this original post by friend and fellow blogger Rachael written in 2005, along with our blog's discussion about this very topic that ensued. In it we discuss this phenomenon of how women feel after being raped, some choosing abortion, some feeling duped into choosing it, others not choosing it.

In that AfterAbortion combox, we heard from "Susan G" about her rape experience, and from Julie who wrote that

"my mother was a rape victim at the age of thirteen. Twenty years later, when she sought an abortion for an unwanted pregnancy, she screamed throughout the procedure and had to be held down by nurses. She didn't have to say she was reliving her rape; she looked it during the retelling."

Those who support abortion in the case of rape never probably ever gave that a thought.

But some surveys have found that many women do relive their rape experience during an abortion.

Imagine most of our society telling women they should HAVE to relive that experience by getting an abortion? Imagine the pressure??

Unless one has been raped, I don't think any of us can ever imagine what it's like to think about how similarly vulnerable the abortion experience is to that, even if it is supposedly a conscious choice. It's still physically vulnerable. The only way I survived my abortion was to deaden myself for over 20 years, starting with the exact moment I was up on that table spreading my legs for the male abortionist when I really, truly, didn't want to be there but believed I had no other choice, and I really, truly, didn't even think it was happening to me.

So, after redigging through all my prior research and all those horrific memories, images and feelings, I also decided to post this firsthand account which, I was surprised to realize, I'd never posted before. It is from a day in the life of one sidewalk "compassionate counselor," namely me, almost six years ago.]

APRIL 5, 2003, 7-10 am: Four or five turn-aways, plus one mom changed her mind today! God is good. There were not the usual 20-plus moms coming in either. And the "counselor's" car must have broken down since she arrived in a cab.

The white male, mid-40ish escort from Westport walked slowly over to the chain-link fence by the alleyway today. The one I was standing behind. My tape player with the embryonic heartbeat tape was turned off for a few minutes. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched him approach, wary that he might try to grab the boombox or me, remembering how Carmen got punched in the eye a month ago by an abortion clinic client who she thought was coming to talk with her.

Instead, he softly said to me, "You’re Ann, right?" I was stunned. I had told him my name over a month ago, as he was leaving one day. Then, he hadn’t acknowledged me, or told me his name. Abortion clinic escorts are taught to ignore us. BUT HE REMEMBERED MY NAME. I said yes, walking over to him, still separated by the fence. He then asked, “What do you think about abortion in cases of rape or incest?”

I said, “What’s your name?” He told me his first name. For this post, though, I'll call him "Carl." I then replied, with pain on my face as though I was talking with a good friend, “Carl, knowing the risks women are exposed to from abortion, between increased risk of breast cancer and infertility, I wouldn’t want to subject them to that, especially after the horror of a rape.”

He answered, “My sister was raped, and she had an abortion, and she thinks it’s the best thing she could do. How can you or anyone think she should have to have a child from such a horrible thing?”

This was not a hostile conversation. He was actually, quietly, engaging me, asking me my honest opinion.

I looked into his eyes and saw the searching, the pain, the anger at the rapist. The love for his sister. I almost cried, but I answered, “Honestly, Carl? Having an abortion is really, only victimizing a woman TWICE. I have endometriosis because of my abortion. I’m at much greater risk for breast cancer. She’s now at risk too. And the rape was a violent act, but so is the abortion. Surely, you can see that, from these pictures the others are holding? And as horrible and painful as rape is, abortion for women who’ve been raped is really only victimizing females TWICE, with a second violent act.”

We were still just talking, honestly, pleadingly. No anger whatsoever. It was amazing. It was as if he was searching for some understanding, some clue as to why we really are there. Carl said, “But she is fine with it! And after all, it is her choice. It is up to her, we can’t tell her what to do.” I replied, “She may be telling you she’s fine with it, but she could be in total denial like I was for decades. And to say it’s none of anyone’s business...really, Carl, that just ignores that there is a human life in there. Do you believe that there is a life in there? Do you believe that God made you and me?”

He said, “You play that heartbeat sound and make a big deal out of it, at 6 or 7 weeks, but that doesn’t mean there is a heartbeat on the morning after!” I asked him, “Carl, are you Christian? Do you believe in Jesus Christ?” He answered, “I was raised that way, but…I don’t really…”

I said, “So you don’t really follow a faith like that anymore, OK, fair enough... But the scientific fact is that that baby has the same number of genes and chromosomes at conception as you and me...even if it doesn’t have a heartbeat for 21 days, it’s still a human life in there. I can show you scientist after scientist who has proved life begins at conception, that it’s a one-celled human organism --”

He cut me off before I could say that, at conception, even a human’s potential hair and eye color, height and weight are determined. He said, “To be human, it has to have a consciousness!” I answered, “No, Carl, it doesn’t" but he dismissed what I began to say, walking away, exasperated.

I called to him calmly, “Carl, come on, talk with me please. Don’t walk away. This is what I believe because of the scientific facts and also because I’m coming from a faith in Jesus Christ, and a belief that God creates all life.”

He came back, upset, saying, “Why should she have to be punished by having a baby from a rapist? Are you saying God wanted that to happen to her, to be raped?”

[Sound familiar? Our new President also just said that not long ago, and he got it from the abortion industry's successful miseducation of the American people]

I gazed at him, trying to reach him with compassion, saying, “No, Carl, God didn’t want or plan for her to be raped. He loves her, and all of us, and yet even God doesn’t stop us from using our free will as that rapist did when he hurt your sister. But God did have a plan for that baby once it was conceived, even despite how it happened. It pains God that the guy did what he did, but God loves all life, and there are many women -- there’s one woman right here, today -- who were raped who actually feel, even subconsciously, that keeping the baby is their way to make something good come out of something so bad, they feel as though keeping the baby proves they are better than the rapist. They can conquer the horror by doing something good.”

At this, he looked at me incredulously and began to dismiss what I said. I asked him, “Don’t you believe that allowing the baby to live is a better thing than what the rapist did to her? Isn’t it a better thing to let the baby live?”

“Carl, we are not unfeeling people. My heart breaks for your sister, and especially because she is probably in denial that there really was a baby inside her. It’s the only way she can go on thinking she’s fine, to deny that. If she admitted it, it would get to her.”

He asked me, “What do you think about the morning after pill, then?” I said, “Carl, if the woman is pregnant, that is really making an abortion happen too.” He was astounded, throwing up his hands, saying that we were hopeless, starting to walk away. I replied, “Carl, we believe in a God who made us all and also the medical descriptions of the morning after pill show that it can end a pregnancy if conception has taken place. That is where WE are coming from, on this point. The morning after pill has the ability to end a pregnancy if there is one inside the woman, and it IS a life inside her.”

Still, he turned and listened, then asked, “Do you think the Pill is OK, then?” I looked so sadly at him, and said, “No, Carl, because that can cause an abortion too, if the woman is pregnant.” He was dumbfounded, really walking away then. I still called to him, “Come on, Carl, don’t walk away. I listened to you. You asked me what I thought, let me finish telling you. If you believe that God created all of us and all this earth, then you must also believe that He created sex and all the other things we do, like eating. He created sex for two reasons, Carl: to show one other person that we truly love, bond with and give ourselves as a gift in love to that person, and to procreate. If we block one or the other of those purposes, we are playing God, we are blocking God’s purposes for Creation. We believe that is wrong to do, especially when it causes an unknown but real abortion. That is why we are against the Pill and the Morning After Pill.”

I brought over the lady whose 11-year-old daughter, born from a rapist’s act, is the light of her life, and although Carl would not look or come over again, he had to have listened to her. She pulled out a picture of her beautiful daughter, telling him how proud and joyful she is to have her. How she does NOT remind her of her horrible rape so long ago. How she only reminds her of how good God is, and will be to all those who trust Him.

He refused to come back or look at us, but I continued talking to him, quietly, through the fence. “Carl, I’m a single mom, and I’m not in a relationship right now, but if I was, I have decided not to have sex unless and until I marry again because I believe in the reasons for which God gave us sex in the first place. My point in telling you this is that I am not telling anyone to resist something that I don’t resist myself.”

And I added, “You never know what your sister could really be feeling. She could have bottled it up so tightly. After all, how could she admit to you that she regrets her abortion? YOU come here and help OTHERS have them! She probably thinks you’d dismiss her feelings or even be angry with her. You never know. She’s damned if she does admit it and damned if she doesn’t. If she tells anyone, some pro-life people -- even some of the ones who are here today, the ones with bullhorns -- will condemn her. And the pro-choice people will call her crazy for feeling regret! They’ll say she’s unstable and it’s all in her head! She CAN’T WIN, Carl. Both sides make it impossible for her to seek healing from her regret and pain. That’s why so many women don’t talk about their regret, Carl. NO ONE makes it easy.”

I asked him, “Would you read some things if I brought you them, next time?” He dismissed it, saying it would only be pro-life-slanted sources. I said, “No, it will be personal stories from women just like your sister.” He didn’t answer. Then I told him I will be praying for him and for his sister, because I know he feels such pain for her.

That’s why he’s there. He thinks he’s helping others just like her, to get rid of their pain and their shame.

RESOURCES:

Hope After Rape; Life After Rape: "The Face of the 'Rape Exception'"
Two women have come to the forefront to help women who have become pregnant through rape or incest, children conceived through sexual assault, and women who have had abortions as a result of these crimes (members throughout the U.S.):

a) Kay Zibolsky, LIFE AFTER ASSAULT LEAGUE, 1336 West Lindberg St., Appleton, WI 54914. Phone: 920-739-4489.

Kay is the author of the book, "The Sorrow of Sexual Assault and the Joy of Healing".

b) Julie Makimaa is a so-called "product of rape" who has done much to bust the myth about abortion being the best choice for rape victims.

She
"compiled, Victims and Victors: Speaking Out About Their Pregnancies, Abortions, and Children Resulting from Sexual Assault. The book uses the combined experiences of 264 women and children and provides a definitive response to the argument for abortion in assault pregnancies.

"She has testified before a number of state legislatures, lobbied Congress and appeared on numerous radio and television talk shows, including Donahue, Geraldo and Sally Jesse Raphael. Her story has appeared in many national newspapers and magazines, including the Los Angeles Times and Washington Times and Glamour."
(She once founded the group called Fortress International, but I think that is no longer active.)
Surveys about women who have been raped:
"In 1981, Dr. Sandra Mahkorn conducted the first major research of pregnant rape victims. She found that 75 to 85 percent chose against abortion."
For those skeptics who don't like prolife sources, then go here: Mahkorn, "Pregnancy and Sexual Assault," The Psychological Aspects of Abortion, eds. Mall & Watts, (Washington, D.C., University Publications of America, 1979) 55-69.
Feminists for Life
Christina Dunigan also has summarized some of these facts well in this article.
Since then, apparently, so has at least one other:
"Professor Stephen Krason points out that "psychological studies have shown that, when given the proper support, most pregnant rape victims progressively change their attitudes about their unborn child from something repulsive to someone who is innocent and uniquely worthwhile."
That leads to this footnote: "Krason, 284. For an overview of the research, see Sandra Kathleen Mahkorn, "Pregnancy and Sexual Assault," in David Mall and Walter F. Watts, M.D., The Psychological Aspects of Abortion (Washington, D.C.: University Publications of America, 1979), 67-68."
That PDF file quotes Dr. Stephen Krason's published book: "Dr. Stephen Krason writes:
"A number of studies have shown that pregnancy resulting from rape is very uncommon. One, looking at 2190 victims, reported pregnancy in only 0.6 percent."
(Abortion: Politics, Morality, and the Constitution, book published in 1984 [Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1984], 283.)
One woman's story

We could go on and on.

2009-01-25T20:09:00.009-05:00

Pregnant, About To Give Birth Or Just Did and You Need Help and Can't Keep the Baby But You Don't Have Anywhere to Turn?

GO TO THIS WEBSITE, click on your state and find a SAFE HAVEN hospital or other location where you can bring the baby and leave him or her with healthcare professionals, NO QUESTIONS ASKED, WITHOUT GIVING YOUR NAME--and they will take care of the baby and see that he or she finds a loving family to adopt him or her.

OR CALL THE TOLL-FREE HOTLINE 1-888-510-BABY to find a location.

This is now possible in all 50 states:

The national safehaven alliance (NSHA) is dedicated to support states’ efforts to prevent infanticide and unsafe newborn abandonment through safe-haven relinquishments. The organization is dedicated to achieving this goal through publicizing the existence of this safe, legal alternative, and by providing resources to states and state-based organizations. It is NSHA’s belief that its efforts will help protect and save babies’ lives.

Only Washington, DC remains without this option but people in Washington DC can go to bordering states Virginia or Maryland, or any state such as Delaware or Pennsylvania or New Jersey.

Go watch "The Molly Movie" (it's short).
Pro-life bloggers, we should ALL put that first link on our sidebars. We are.

2009-01-25T20:08:00.002-05:00

Choose Life license plates by state: now in 22 states, raising money yearly to help fund crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) like those described in the table at the very top of this blog...

Also the money goes to the Safehavens for women to bring newborns they cannot care for...

All to support adoption efforts.

After all, if "pro-choice" truly does mean there's an alternative, another choice besides abortion for a woman in need of help about her unplanned, unwanted pregnancy, why shouldn't folks be allowed to donate to that alternative?

I can't count the number of times pro-choice folks have literally jumped down our throats, demanding,

"What have you done to help those women and babies after the baby's born, to survive, to get food and healthcare and shelter and a life?"

How does $8.7 million sound (as of April 2008)?

All to help those women and babies survive, get food, healthcare, shelter and a life.

How many license plates did that take? "400,000 plates have been sold or renewed in the 17 states" that had the plate available as of 9 months ago.

Considering that most of us will spend at least $25 or even $50 a week on a lunch or two and a Starbucks latte or five, it's a crying shame there aren't several millions of these plates on the road.

In my state, a specialty plate (other than the Choose Life plate) costs between $60 and $150. A vanity plate costs $90.

In my state, the Choose Life license plate costs $75 the first year, and $25 every year after that. DMV gets $65 the first year. The women and children get the rest.

I truly believe that no pro-life person who registers a car can honestly say they can't afford--even in this awful economic climate today--to donate the price of one week of lunches or 5 Starbucks coffees to help a woman in her most desperate hour of need: when she can't care for the baby she's just given birth to.

And if pro-choice folks in my state (or any state for that matter) want to help these same women really, actually have a "choice" other than abortion, they can even do so without sporting the plate on their cars.

It is about "choice", isn't it? It's about that choice including funding adoptions and helping the women who end up not aborting for whatever reason, after all.

Right?

2009-01-22T15:40:00.008-05:00

I hadn't planned on blogging today.

I thought, I could write about how there are always as many people marching in today's March for Life as there were reported estimated on the national mall in Washington, D.C. for the new President's inauguration, but the press and the powers-that-be won't allow the same aerial photographs or "unofficial crowd estimates" for the March the way they did for the inauguration of the latest pro-abortion President.

The press and/or government, especially now, won't allow the photos to be taken from the air for the March for Life, and will never publish the photos that do exist showing the vastness of the March For Life throngs.

In 2006, I live-blogged how all the "big" news outlets printed their "big stories" on the March for Life, as early as an entire 9 hours before it even started.

Every year, we all report this. The press never listens. They want you to hear and see only what they want you to. And so, that's all you (think you) know.

But in the end, I thought I wouldn't blog even that.

I lost it at Mass this morning though.

My parish priest gave a homily about why our diocese asked them all to wear Lenten purple vestments today.

It was to mourn for the lost children, and to pray for them and the moms who made those "choices".

He spoke of our new President's reference to this nation going forward "with God's grace" in his inaugural speech, and yet he will likely sign the Freedom Of Choice Act (FOCA) as he said would be one of his first acts as President.

He spoke of how that would take our taxpayer dollars and use them for abortions, whether we like it or not.

How it would go farther than Roe v. Wade and/or Doe v. Bolton ever dreamed of, in making abortion a "national right," equal, ironically, to the "right to life," all while focusing our nation on the right to put to death the most vulnerable among us.

He spoke of how the focus in our nation is now on death, instead of on life.

On treating motherhood as a "hobby", not the sacred, valued role it really is.

On supporting organizations who support abortion, openly or otherwise.

He spoke of how FOCA will force Catholic and other Christian hospitals to perform abortions, give out abortifacient morning after contraception and the like, against our moral consciences.

I lost it.

I cannot help but feel such an overpowering fear for our country, because of what we have chosen now. Of who we (collectively) have chosen.

I wept out of fear for our country for what we have done and what we, through Obama, are about to do.

I wept for my daughter who I've never known.

I wept for me, for my grave mistake.

I wept for all those in this nation who "get it", that life really does begin at conception, regardless of the idiot scientists who try to redefine it otherwise.

I wept for all those in this nation who don't "get it", including our new President.

The priest prayed much more compassionately for our new President than I had planned to at this Mass. I had, all ready to go, a spoken-out-loud petition to say. His prayer made mine moot and also shameful, really, and in my tears all I could say was the first part of what I'd intended to say:

"I pray for the safety of those going to the March for Life today...and for those who wish they could be there..."

I couldn't say any more.

All those who wish they could be there but cannot, include all those women, and men, whose grief and/or remorse about their abortions or involvement or knowledge of abortions of relatives, prevent them from finding comfort or relief or salve from knowing that there are, every year, a million or more people converging on the mall in Washington, D.C. and filling its wide streets, probably the same streets that Obama walked or rode down not two days before.

You'll never see that estimate in the news. And whether it's a million bodies there today or 300,000, you will also never know how many more hundreds of thousands are sitting at home, wondering if they will ever be able to stand up and be counted among those who truly value life, at last.

I wept for our nation. We are so corrupted. We have chosen a man to lead us deeper into the culture of death, a man who calls himself a Christian yet believes that without a national right to government-paid abortions, a girl or woman is being "punished with a baby" if she gets pregnant and doesn't want to be.

We are so unbelievably blind.

I wept for this nation the same way I did after 9/11. Only this time, we are doing the damage to ourselves.

This photo says it all, for me. Thanks, Barbara of MommyLife.net, for this and other photos from the various Marches.

2009-01-16T05:45:00.000-05:00

Just go watch this.

I thought I didn't have the 2 minutes either.

I thought, Oh, I know this one, I've seen/read this before.

Go watch it anyway. Turn the sound up.

2009-01-04T08:15:00.002-05:00

Our good friend Theresa Bonopartis of Lumina has had her letter to the editor printed by the New Yok Times, albeit drastically shortened. Don't tell me the NYT is not biased: they printed the URL weblink to the ACLU in the pro-choice lawyer's letter above Theresa's but ignored Theresa's Lumina weblink URL. Way to go, New York Times. I would expect nothing more of the rag.

To the Editor:

It is a shame that Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who introduced the bill, and Dr. Emily’s Women’s Health Center, where abortions are performed, are not as concerned with the coercion that countless women face to abort by husbands, boyfriends and parents as they are about the people outside the clinic offering help to these women.

They are also silent when it comes to botched abortions and those abortions performed to cover up sexual abuse, but here they are, quick to shout out loud when it comes to this.

Where are they when the women whom they are supposedly protecting are suffering physically, emotionally and spiritually after abortion? Not once have I heard Ms. Quinn or any members of the Council show concern for the women who have been harmed by abortion.

No one is harassing these women; they are offering a viable alternative to abortion, an alternative that everyone has the right to.

Theresa Bonopartis

Harrison, N.Y.

The author is the program coordinator with Lumina/Hope and Healing After Abortion, an assistance group.

2008-12-25T00:01:00.002-05:00

I was once asked to attend and offer the invocation at a breakfast meeting of hospital executives. Around the room I saw bright and talented men and women who would be making critical decisions about patient care, financial performance and strategic plans for addressing new markets. In walked Mary Ann, a vice-president and new mom, carrying her newborn, and everying else stopped. However important the meeting might have been, these corporate leaders were brought to a standstill by a baby as each tried to be the one who most successfully attracted the child's interest and pleasure. This little boy, so small and vulnerable, turned these movers and shakers into goo-goo-ing adults.

No wonder God sent a baby! How better to get our best loving attention than through the vulnerability of a child. Knowing the human heart that he had created, God knew how to reach that heart. God entrusted his Son to the frail flesh of a baby to give humanity's desire to please God a clearer focus.

~Fr. James Krings, St. Joseph Parish, Ballwin, MO

A holy, blessed Christmas to all our readers, and to everyone for that matter.

2008-12-24T10:50:00.001-05:00

When we think of being delivered from sin, of being filled with the Spirit, and of walking in the light, we picture the peak of a great mountain, very high and wonderful, and we say - "Oh, but I could never live up there!" But when we do get there by God's grace, we find it is not a mountain peak, but a plateau where there is ample room to live and to grow. "Thou hast enlarged my steps under me."

~ Oswald Chambers

2008-12-15T09:54:00.002-05:00

If you cannot express yourself on any subject, struggle until you can. If you do not, someone will be the poorer all the days of his life. Struggle to re-express some truth of God to yourself, and God will use that expression to someone else. Go through the winepress of God where the grapes are crushed. You must struggle to get expression experimentally, then there will come a time when that expression will become the very wine of strengthening to someone else; but if you say lazily - "I am not going to struggle to express this thing for myself, I will borrow what I say," the expression will not only be of no use to you, but of no use to anyone. Try to state to yourself what you feel implicitly to be God's truth, and you give God a chance to pass it on to someone else through you.

Our position is not ours until we make it ours by suffering. The author who benefits you most is not the one who tells you something you did not know before, but the one who gives expression to the truth that has been dumbly struggling in you for utterance.

~ Oswald Chambers

I guess that's what we've been doing by having this blog all these years.

2008-12-09T15:26:00.004-05:00

FORCED and COERCED ABORTIONS

(updated and reposted from Feb. 9, 2005)

Got into a discussion over at this blog and since I dug up these many posts citing examples of forced abortion, I thought it worth summarizing in one place here and placing a heading and link on the sidebars of both blogs.

I'm so tired of the old canard being tossed at us that there are no women forced into having an abortion. I know several personally and have met or read the stories of many more.

Plain and simple truth: many women are forced or coerced into having abortions. There are many innocent victims forced by parents, grandparents, boyfriends, husbands, friends, and/or pressured by bosses, friends, coworkers and/or other family, to have abortions.

Here are more than 20 instances of forced abortions on women and young girls (or attempts), including commentary on 4 other lists/sources of research on forced abortions:

Chen Guangcheng's report released on China's forced abortion and sterilization, courtesy of ProLifeBlogs.com

"Man Charged With Attempted Murder for Slipping Abortion Drug to Girlfriend to Cause Miscarriages", Friday, November 30, 2007

Coerced or Forced abortions in America- statistics, citations to published studies, research books and news reports

Forced Abortions FactSheet (PDF file)

Florida teen says mom forced her into abortion clinic, August 2, 2000

"Guangxi Officials Carry Out Mass Forced Abortions"

41 year old rapist is caught forcing underage teen victim into abortion clinic...by sidewalk counselors with photos of his license plate, not by the clinic workers who were obligated by law to call the police.

September 2006: Parents kidnap--at gunpoint--19 y.o. daughter across state lines to force her abortion, in Maine

May 2005: "Ma Weihua, a woman facing the death penalty on drugs charges, was reportedly forced to undergo an abortion in police custody in February, apparently so that she could be put to death 'legally' as Chinese law prevents the execution of pregnant women."

The above Amnesty International link gives another forced abortion story naming the woman and states that they found that in the period of January through December 2004, "forced abortions and sterilizations...continued to be reported as a result of the enforcement of the family planning policy..." in China.

April 24, 2005: "Sharon Osbourne Told To Have Abortion By Mother"

Feb. 5, 2005: Girl forced by her grandmother.

Spring 2003: 13-year-old being forced by mother.

Boyfriend forces woman to return a second time and have the abortion.

"Man Convicted in Forced Abortion Attempt." A man forced two misopristol pills (part of the typical two-drug-cocktail-over-many-days that is the RU-486 abortion "pill") into his girlfriend's vagina after she refused to have an abortion. As a result, she had what they referred to in the press as a "miscarriage." She wouldn't have miscarried if he didn't force those pills into her.

1979 through 2001: Coerced abortions in the Church of Scientology.

May 2004: U.S. Supreme Court Dockets Forced Abortion Case.

Same case as directly above, Jan. 2004: "Eleventh Circuit Court rules that an expectant mother can be aborted by force if the abortionist argues that it is necessary to 'protect the health of the mother.'"

Donna Santa Marie, sixteen years old, forced to abort her child by her parents. Father punched her in the stomach when she refused at first.

2000: "Pregnant garment workers on Saipan forced to have abortions to keep their jobs

1999: Women trafficked from Mexico into Florida in 1999, forced into prostitution and some forced to have abortions.

1990 through 2005: North Korea Engages in Forced Abortions, Infanticides

1992: Arlin della Cruz, forced by escorts into Harrisburg, Pennsylvania abortion clinic when she was trying to talk to the prolife sidewalk counselors there. She committed suicide soon after, leaving a note that she “wanted to be with her baby.”

"Abuse Often Takes the Form of Forced Abortions", Canadian Medical Association Journal letter printed, by Dr. David Reardon:
"Thirty to 60 percent of American women having abortions describe pressure from others as a key reason for having an abortion. Many report that they submit to unwanted abortions only because of abuse."

Many links to Unwanted Abortions, a list of many stories of forced or coerced or deceitful abortions:
1) Abortion Whether You Want it or Not
2) The Many Faces of Coercion
3) Coerced Abortions Highlight How Abortion Hurts Women
4) Forced Abortion Stories

Covers forced abortions in Tibet, China, Taiwan, East Turkistan, and of course, the United States. UN and UNFPA-supporters, beware.

2008-12-08T09:58:00.001-05:00

An Invitation for Catholics For Free Choice (the rest of our readers can tune this out, if you choose, unless you want to learn what kind of members CFFC really has, in the combox):

Gabriel's Message

The angel Gabriel from heaven came
His wings as drifted snow
His eyes as flame
"All hail" said he "thou lowly maiden Mary,
Most highly favoured lady," Gloria!

"For known a blessed mother thou shalt be,
All generations laud and honor thee,
Thy Son shall be Emmanuel,
By seers foretold
Most highly favoured lady," Gloria!

Then gentle Mary meekly bowed her head
"To me be as it pleaseth God," she said,
"My soul shall laud and magnify his holy name."
Most highly favoured lady, Gloria!

Of her, Emmanuel, the Christ was born
In Bethlehem all on a Christmas morn
And everyone throughout the world forever saved
Most highly favoured lady, Gloria!

Recorded by Sting; traditional melody; words by Sabine Baring Gould

"Most highly favoured lady."

Today Catholics celebrate the Holy Day of the Immaculate Conception. Many Catholics mistakenly believe (as I once did) that this refers to the conception of Mary's son, Jesus, but it doesn't. It refers to her own conception "without original sin or its stain," without flaw or corrupt nature of any kind, one "full of grace," not half-full or a quarter-full of grace (as my priest friend said today).

This is not a doctrine lesson nor is it the invitation to Catholics of Free Choice, at least not in its entirety. Nor am I looking to stir up evangelicals in the debate about overemphasis on Mary (for a former-evangelical's explanation on that topic, Mark Shea said it best: "No Mary, no human nature for Christ. No human nature for Christ, no death on the cross. No death, no resurrection. No resurrection, no salvation.").

The invitation is to realize that she is the "Most highly favoured lady," favoured by God, in His plan for her, from the moment of her own conception.

And that it's the reason why Catholics celebrate the Immaculate Conception of Mary.

Not the Immaculate Implantation of Mary.

Or the Immaculate Embryonic Stage of Mary.

Or the Immaculate Fetal Development of Mary.

Or the Immaculate Viability of Mary.

Or the Immaculate Sentience of Mary.

Or the Immaculate Birth of Mary.

Just God's age-old, little reminder for Catholics For Free Choice.

(first posted on 12/8/2005)

2008-12-08T05:52:00.000-05:00

"How are you doing today with your healing?"

What about having a day where readers/commenters share their story, like in AA, what it was like, what happened, what it's like now. Or of just healing stuff, letters to our aborted children, poems. Maybe some Rachel's Vineyard and other healing groups' leaders would be willing to share?

(What about every day? This was an anonymous suggestion in this combox on this post...)

If you'd like to share, also anonymously, your thoughts/feelings on your emotional aftermath of abortion, what helps in recovery, how it feels, etc., either leave an anonymous comment or email us. (Anything emailed for this would ONLY be shared here AT YOUR SOLE PERMISSION and would be in strictest confidence, with ALL info omitted or changed to protect privacy as we've always done, and we never share or sell any contact info. If, after a post/comment goes up, you change your mind and want it removed, we'll do that too.)

Why do this? This is why.

2008-12-06T22:03:00.004-05:00

Amazing Grace, indeed. Merry Christmas, early, folks. These just could not wait. Turn the sound on and thank God for the Holdman Family of Pleasant Grove, Utah:

Carol of the Bells - 2007

2008-12-04T13:11:00.003-05:00

In this time of Advent, friend Theresa sent us this:

God With Us

I held my unborn son today,
A grace I truly felt.
He came to me in prayer
While before Our Lord I knelt.

I felt his little cheek brush mine
as I pressed him to my chest.
His little arms clung to my neck,
His head, on my shoulder, rest.

Our Lady gave this gift to me,
A moment of pure grace
As we await the birth of Christ,
The savior of our race

For although I’ve never been allowed to love my son on earth
She has showed me that a mother’s love transcends a human birth.

For there within the heart of Christ born in this time of joy
I clearly see the image of another baby boy
Reflected in the love of Christ
Who came to bring salvation
To every soul, in every land, in every single nation.

Emmanuel, God with us,
Uniting time and space
For in His gaze I truly know
I saw my child’s face.

- Theresa Bonopartis

of Lumina/Hope & Healing after Abortion, 1-877-586-4621, lumina@postabortionhelp.org

2008-11-27T00:05:00.002-05:00

For these things, we are thankful ...

By Joan Beck

As we gather together to count the Lord's blessings, 376 years after the first Thanksgiving Day, we are grateful, Dear God, for Mir if it's safe and the Mars Pathfinder when it worked and the bull market while it lasts, for browsers and brownies and brothers, for cells and cell phones and cedars, for planes and plumbing and e pluribus unum, for tea and T-shirts and a T-rex named Sue.

God of grace and God of glory, we thank you this November day for stock prices that go up and a budget deficit that went down, for the fragile peace in Bosnia and for Wei Jingsheng who is now free, for dividends and diversity and one nation indivisible, for e-mail and eagles and Edison and Easter, for salsa and cilantro and cinnamon.

For new drugs that fight cancer and new techniques for heart surgery and new progress on a vaccine for AIDS, we are grateful, O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, and for newspapers and newborns and new jobs and new years, for cats and catalogs and catfish and CT scans, for caterpillars and calculus and cathedrals and catsup.

O Lord, our God, when we in awesome wonder consider all the worlds thy hands have made, we offer praise today for modems and mothers and grandmothers and Mother Teresa, for the infinitesimal mysteries of the genome and infinite stretch of the heavens, for bonding and books and brooks and bootstraps, for carryouts and carryons and carryovers.

For teachers and preachers and all creatures great and small, we thank you, Lord God who made them all, and for vacations and cash stations and gustations and dalmatians, for faxes and fairies and fathers and farms, for fireworks and fireflies and frequent-flyer miles, for health and hearths and hearing and healing.

O God who is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, we are grateful this day for the World Wide Web and weddings and weekends for galaxies and galas and gardens, for hymns and hugs and heffalumps, for cars and caramel and carnivals, for carols and carillons and cancan, for www.travelocity.com and www.lonelyplanet.com and hhtp://whyfiles.news.wisc.edu/.

Septuplets when they are all healthy and normal we count as blessings this Thanksgiving Day, our Father who art in heaven. We thank you, too, for nests and nest eggs and neonatal intensive care, for mentors and Mendel and Mendelssohn and positive mental attitude, for Disney and Dilbert and dill, for caregivers and carpools and "I now pronounce you husband and wife."

Lord of all to thee we raise our grateful praise for 911 and 1-800, for 98.6 and 20/20, for 401Ks and 403Bs, for I Corinthians 13 and John 3:16, for Beethoven's 6th and Brahms' 4th, for 12-step programs and three-ring circuses and second-day mail, for Title IX and a half point over prime and 8 gigabytes of hard drive space.

Daughters and daisies and daydreams we count among thy blessings this day, O God, who moves in mysterious ways thy wonders to perform. So, too, sons and soul and soup and soap, comforters and comfort food and common stock, flextime and flu shots and flags and flamingos and "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil."

Our Father who art in heaven, we thank you for general assemblies and general practitioners and generics and Genesis, for Gen X and geniuses and the Geneva convention, for solitude and solitaire and serendipity, for sequels and soccer and Sesame Street, for "It's benign" and "You're covered" and "I lift my lamp beside the golden door" and "When in the course of human events" and "They all lived happily ever after."

For sisters and salads and salmon and saints, for Seuss and Sousa and Santa and Strauss, we give thee thanks this special day, O God from whom all blessings flow. And for docks and doctors and doctoral dissertations, for Meals on Wheels and blood banks and food banks and shelters, for psalms and samaritans and salt and salvation and that "surely the presence of the Lord is in this place."

Now thank we all our God with heart and hands and voices for angels and auctions and anesthesia, for potatoes and poems and Poe and Paine, and for Lincoln and liberty and libraries, for licorice and luminaria and light at the end of the tunnel, for overtures and overalls and outlets and ova and "I have a dream" and "We shall overcome."

The mysteries of egg and electricity and eternity, of prenatal development and prairies and prayer fill our minds with wonder this Thanksgiving Day, immortal, invisible, God only wise. Our thanks abound, as well, for preludes and pralines and paramedics and pacifiers, for physicists and pharmacists and pianists and pragmatists, for gadgets and goslings and gorillas and godparents and "until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand."

Dear Lord and Father of Mankind, we thank you once again for dawn after dark, for rest after work, for healing after hurt and for life after life, for a bridge over trouble and a shelter from the storm, for love that will not let us go and an eternal home and always, that "neither death nor life nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God."

(first printed in The Chicago Tribune, Thursday, November 27, 1997)

Readers, feel free to add your own additions in the combox, anonymously or otherwise. And I hope all have a Happy Thanksgiving, somehow, someway, even if just by knowing we're thinking of you all and hoping for the best for you.

2008-11-01T10:46:00.001-04:00

Why shouldn't we go through heartbreaks? Through those doorways God is opening up ways of fellowship with His Son. Most of us fall and collapse at the first grip of pain; we sit down on the threshold of God's purpose and die away of self-pity, and all so called Christian sympathy will aid us to our death bed. But God will not. He comes with the grip of the pierced hand of His Son, and says - "Enter into fellowship with Me; arise and shine." If through a broken heart God can bring His purposes to pass in the world, then thank Him for breaking your heart.

by Oswald Chambers

2008-10-31T19:20:00.001-04:00

We have the idea that God rewards us for our faith, it may be so in the initial stages; but we do not earn anything by faith, faith brings us into right relationship with God and gives God His opportunity. God has frequently to knock the bottom board out of your experience if you are a saint in order to get you into contact with Himself. God wants you to understand that it is a life of faith, not a life of sentimental enjoyment of His blessings. Your earlier life of faith was narrow and intense, settled around a little sun-spot of experience that had as much of sense as of faith in it, full of light and sweetness; then God withdrew His conscious blessings in order to teach you to walk by faith...Faith in its actual working out has to go through spells of unsyllabled isolation...You are worth far more to Him now than you were in your days of conscious delight and thrilling testimony.

by Oswald Chambers

2008-10-23T12:34:00.002-04:00

THE CENTURIONS

American Life League received this prayer request email two days ago from David Bereit, National Campaign Director of 40 Days for Life. Please read and keep this intention in your prayers:

Dear Jim,
I have an URGENT prayer request...

On Saturday a medical worker at a Planned Parenthood abortion center where a 40 Days for Life campaign is happening approached the prayer volunteers outside.

She said that Planned Parenthood had told its workers that they would be immediately fired if they ever talked to those on the sidewalk, but she felt drawn to them -- and she shared that she desperately wants out of her job.

She explained that after she started working at Planned Parenthood earlier this year, the abortion business assigned her the gruesome task of counting the baby body parts following each abortion to make sure everything was removed from the mother.

What she has seen inside the walls of Planned Parenthood is horrific.

She then shared that several weeks ago a young woman sat before her registering for an abortion and said, "I'm so conflicted, should I do this or not?"

She leaned forward and quietly told her, "Don't do this." The girl left, her baby alive within her.

A co-worker overheard and reported her to the abortion center's supervisor who wrote her up and put a stern warning in her employment file.

She asked the 40 Days for Life prayer volunteers if she could meet Monday with someone who might be able to help her -- and the time she had available was the exact time that Jim Pinto, pastoral associate for Priests for Life, was there in town for his visit to the 40 Days for Life location.

Jim stopped everything else to pray for her, with her, and over her. He also connected her with an organization called The Centurions that helps to bring abortion providers out of the abortion industry where they can find forgiveness and healing in Christ and restore their sense of self-worth.

The 40 Days for Life volunteers are now taking up a collection to provide for her short-term needs so she can leave her job immediately and they are helping her find another job quickly since she is the sole provider for her four daughters and needs income. Jim, there is a real possibility that these faithful 40 Days for Life volunteers may be able to help her walk away from the abortion industry TODAY!

Praise God for what He is doing in this woman's life, and please keep her -- and this situation -- in your prayers throughout the day.

More on The Society of Centurions, also here and here.

For more information, contact The Society of Centurions of America at PO Box 75368, St. Paul, MN 55175, Phone 651-771-1500, Fax 651-771-6967.

They also have chapters in Canada and Europe.

And also in my inbox was this email from a local friend who's still out there, as I used to be, giving concrete help to women who need and want it, on the abortion clinic sidewalks, the one where I had my abortion 29 years ago:

Today I received the following email from a sidewalk counselor in northern CT - She is referring to Summit Women's Center in Hartford, but also references the Bpt. center - She writes:
I MUST share my good news with you.

This morning at Summit one of the employees (I always smile & say good morning to all of them) stopped to tell me, "You don't need to come here on Thurs. anymore, beginning Nov 1st. It has been slow here, really slow, & beginning Nov 1st, we are only going to be opened two days a week. All our business here will be taken care of on Wed. & Sat. The Bridgeport office is also going to be opened two days a week also. I just wanted to let you know it's been so slow they can't afford to stay open every day."

Thanks,
Marilyn -
...you're helping save the lives of the babies AND the women and making a difference -
Bill O'Brien

2008-10-21T05:30:00.001-04:00

Walking on the water is easy to impulsive pluck, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is a different thing. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he followed Him afar off on the land. We do not need the grace of God to stand crises, human nature and pride are sufficient, we can face the strain magnificently; but it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours in every day as a saint [one of God's chosen], to go through drudgery as a disciple, to live an ordinary, unobserved, ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional things for God; but we have not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things, to be holy in mean streets, among mean people, and this is not learned in five minutes.

~ Oswald Chambers

2008-10-20T12:06:00.000-04:00

All that Jesus made possible is made mine by the free loving gift of God on the ground of what He performed... my attitude as a saved and sanctified soul is that of profound humble holiness (there is no such thing as proud holiness), a holiness based on agonizing repentance and a sense of unspeakable shame and degradation; and also on the amazing realization that the love of God commended itself to me in that while I cared nothing about Him, He completed everything for my salvation and sanctification...No wonder Paul says nothing is "able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

~ Oswald Chambers

2008-10-17T05:56:00.000-04:00

Never allow the thought - "I am of no use where I am;" because you certainly can be of no use where you are not...

There is nothing thrilling about a labouring man's work, but it is the labouring man who makes the conceptions of the genius possible; and it is the labouring saint who makes the conceptions of his Master possible. You labour at prayer and results happen all the time from His standpoint. What an astonishment it will be to find, when the veil is lifted, the souls that have been reaped by you, simply because you had been in the habit of taking your orders from Jesus Christ.

From My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers, daily reading, Oct. 17

Just asking prayer over the maybe over half a million women in this country who might already be regretting their abortions.

2008-10-14T00:00:00.002-04:00

IN MEMORY OF:

My daughter, Judith Grace, would have been born October 14, 1974.
Thank you for doing this. I thought I was really OK with this and I am bawling my eyes out.
Forever healing,
Nancy

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2008-10-09T05:37:00.000-04:00

I can still remember the day that I walked into the clinic, asking God to forgive me, believing that this was the only answer. No, I wasn't a desperate teenager, my whole life ahead of me college student, a single mom or a married woman who had an affair. I was married and it was my husband baby but to us the timing wasn't right and our marriage was rocky. I won't touch on every detail that happened that day but when I walked out of that clinic my life was different. At the time I couldn't have put my finger on it, I just knew that I had left a piece of me behind.

For the next 10 years life was a blur and I had feelings of anger that I could not explain. It didn't make sense;I was a Christian who was somewhat involved in the church. I was still married and about 2 years after the abortion we had a beautiful little girl.
The day that she was born I told myself "I'm going to be the best Mom in the world" and for awhile I was. But something happen along the way, I became withdrawn, I heard a voice in my mind that reminded me of that November day back in 1989. It said " You killed your other child and then you went an had another one, you fool." I know "kill " is such a strong word and to hear that it just made me feel that I could never be the mom that she desired. I didn't know back then, but the enemy will do or say anything to make us feel ashamed and worthless.

Life seemed to be getting darker but I continued to pray hoping to get some answers to my questions... "Why can't I be like the other mothers?" "Why does she seem to hate me?" "What am I doing wrong?" "Why can't I get close to her?" My heart was breaking for all I wanted was to love her.

I know now that God was listening. That he was being ever so gentle with me. He began to heal the wound that had gone deep, so deep that layers of skin had grown over it but it was still infected.
One Sunday at church there was an invitation for a bible study for women who had an abortion, that was the first nudge. I signed up, hoping no one would see my name...

To follow the complete story click on labels:abortion or My Secret Sin

Posted by Tammy R of the blog "Not mine but God's Story"

Thanks Tammy, for sharing your story and letting us know.

2008-09-25T05:45:00.000-04:00

emptiness after abortion quotes
prayer after an abortion
does a saline abortion hurt
post abortion help chat groups
post abortion syndrome japan
chances of dying during an abortion
can you miscarry after having an abortion a year prior
when is it safe to conceive after an abortion
when to have baby again after abortion
post abortion medicines
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post abortion healing poems

Within the last 24 hours, several someones typed these words, above, into Google and ended up here.

Well over 100 someones.

This year, this blog has had between 2,300 and 4,700 visitors a month, or 33,500 to date, most of them distinct, not "regulars" and not already pro-life. That's about 3,700 per month, or 125 daily. This is higher than last year. I think it is due to the election and how this has brought the issue more to the front of our brains and hearts.

We wrote back in February 2008 about the similar Google searches which brought many of our readers here.

In September 2003, Emily wrote about the many similar searches that brought readers here.

We hope this blog can help all those who come here looking for some solace, some referrals to real help, and some sense of community. You really are not alone, especially here.

And since so many of these anonymous folks are searching for "abortion poems" or "abortion songs", we're going to make that part of our sidebar more prominent and place it higher up on the page so they should see it or more easily find it when they arrive here. Please let us know if there is anything you'd like to find in that regard, and chances are we can find it if we haven't already.

2008-09-23T05:38:00.002-04:00

Friend Ann Marie Cosgrove of Silent No More Minnesota sent me this with the subject line: This is what I want satan to think of me:

Powerful Women's Motto:

Live your life in such a way that
when your feet hit the floor in the morning,

satan shudders & says...

'Oh sh*t..........she's awake!!!

Made me smile.

2008-09-11T05:56:00.002-04:00

Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning...
Song by Alan Jackson

2008-09-10T21:42:00.002-04:00

For those who seem to have missed the point of this observation of fact and pointed out that it's likely that Sarah Palin herself conceived son Track before marrying Todd, let me rephrase the point:

Have all the upset liberals also insulted Barack Obama's mother's and grandmother's intelligence and parenting skills? Since Obama's mother also conceived him when she was 17, and also married his father soon after discovering she was pregnant, all the many attacking, pro-"choice" liberals must paint Obama and his family with the same insulting brush they have painted the Palins with, or their biased double standards wholly discredit them.

It's highly ironic that all those dismissing Sarah Palin's ability to (co-)run the country because they say she's "not smart enough to teach her daughter safe sex" would instead be supportive of Bristol at least if she were deciding on an abortion instead. Note how no pro-"choice" folks rail against a mother's failure to teach safe sex or "control her own teenage daughter's sexual habits" when the teen chooses abortion.

The real tragedy is this societal pressure to abort, as if abortion "fixes it" and makes it as though nothing ever happened. Something does happen: the girl (or woman) becomes a mother (even Roe v. Wade calls the unborn fetus "the property of the mother.")

Bristol Palin's keeping her child is courageous, for two reasons. It is harder in today's world to raise the child instead of have the abortion due to that societal pressure to abort, and further she has to withstand attacks from those who have now proven that "choice" really is just a euphemism for "abortion."

It's no wonder most women who regret their abortions remain silent, rather than endure the abuse from so-called "feminists", who only like you if you support abortion.

Political "Facts & Figures To Know" going on over at the Abortion Pundit blog, for those interested.

2008-09-08T07:20:00.003-04:00

Sarah Palin is not so unusual, really.

Nor is the mom who also decided to keep her baby with DS, who we were asked to help, here, in 2004, whose little girl will be 4 this coming January.

No, contrary to the media pile-on, Sarah Palin has a good deal of kindred company:

A Joy Like No Other by Michelle
(Baby Ciarra was later featured in this article on www.brilliantbaby.com, whose author asked the question, "If Ciarra who has Down Syndrome could read at five years old, what would happen if most parents would stimulate their babies the same way as [her mom] Michelle did?" Indeed.
Our Trisomy 21 World, by Diane and John, who started Hidden Treasures: The Trisomy 21 Journey blog about their little "Emmy" (the spoken initials ME, for MaryEllen), and another blog about making friends with Erin, another child with DS and her family, Erin and MaryEllen's Excellent Adventures:

Also they're members of T21RomanCatholics.
Madison's Special Journey by Amy
Miracle! by Dorothy
The Girl of My Dreams by Penny
Unconditional Love by Kimberly

There are 49 stories in total, by parents of children with DS or children with other special needs, here, at www.BeNotAfraid.net.

The only problem is: this list keeps growing and I can't keep up with it!

And those are just the ones who felt inspired to write about their stories. Who knows how many more such stories there are, really?

From our original post January 2006

2008-09-08T07:19:00.015-04:00

Will at 14 months, January 1995

WELCOMING CHILDREN WITH DOWN SYNDROME:
[The reason for the following post is found here]

This post contains several long lists of resources. If you do a "find on this page" text search for something specific that you're looking for in this post, it might help (e.g., "Australia" or "Japan" to find DS resources in those countries). If a link is "broken" (doesn't find the right website), copy the URL link, go to http://web.archive.org and paste it into their "WAYBACK MACHINE" search box near the top of the page and click the "Take Me Back" button" to see if it can be viewed in an archived original form, such as this one was for a Japan link.

1. Janet Marchese, Director of A Kids Exchange (formerly the National Down Syndrome Adoption Exchange), 914-428-1236; 56 Midchester, White Plains, NY 10606, and also Pam Wilson, pmwilson@aol.com .

2. "Recommended Down Syndrome Sites on the Internet," Compiled by Len Leshin, MD, FAAP appears to be a good source for winnowing down the thousands of sites offering help/advice on parenting Down Syndrome children.

3. "Chosen People" article by Earl Appleby, who wrote me that, "In the article, Janet Marchese, director of the Down Syndrome Adoption Exchange, which has found loving homes for more than 2,000 such infants, says, 'We have a family for every Down Syndrome child.'

"Another potential resource, mentioned in the article, is Lori Weigle, president of Parents of Children with Down Syndrome, who observes, 'Everyone needs to be accepted for what he is, and if the biological family can't do that, I'm happy to find a home for the child.'" Can't seem to find this group on the web now though there is a local chapter in Virginia, I think.

4. Association for Children with Down Syndrome (ACDS) is a parent-founded early intervention program whose basic premise is that early intervention is critical in the lives of children with Down syndrome.

5. National Association For Down Syndrome (NADS), a not-for-profit organization, was founded in Chicago in 1961 by parents of children with Down syndrome who felt a need to create a better environment and bring about understanding and acceptance of people with Down syndrome.

6. National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS). Telephone: 800-221-4602. A comprehensive, on-line information source about Down syndrome. Through education, research and advocacy, the National Down Syndrome Society works to ensure that all people with Down syndrome have the opportunity to achieve their fullest potential.

7. The ARC of the U.S is the nation's leading national organization on mental retardation. The Arc represents over seven million children and adults with mental retardation and their families. The ARC has over 120,000 members within approximately 1,000 state and local chapters nationwide. The ARC provides organizational support to affiliated chapters, and represents the membership on advocacy and programmatic issues pertaining to mental retardation.

8. By accident, I found this helpful site on Menstuff.

9. Even Google has lists of articles on support groups around the country for parents of Down Syndrome children, although nowadays many articles involve Palin and her family.

10. THIS IS THE ORIGINAL "WELCOMING BABIES WITH DOWN SYNDROME" offering many state, national and international resources to contact. The author, Tracey Finch, appears to also have guest-posted another version of this page here.

Although some links and email addies displayed are no longer valid, there is still much that is of great help. Two examples are www.inclusion.com and Seattle's SibShops, "for Siblings of Kids with Special Health Needs and/or Special Developmental and Learning Needs, including but not limited to: diabetes, cancer, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and heart, kidney, liver, gastrointestinal or lung disease, autism, cerebral palsy, Down's syndrome, ADHD, and spina bifida":

Children's Sibshops are lively, pedal-to-the-metal, award-winning celebrations of the many contributions made by brothers and sisters of kids with special needs.

Sibshops acknowledge that being the brother or sister of a person with special needs is for some a good thing, others a not-so-good thing, and for many, somewhere in between.

They reflect a belief that brothers and sisters have much to offer one another — if they are given a chance.

That "now-gone "WELCOMING BABIES WITH DS" page has so much information, that I'm just going to reproduce it below as it appears in the last web.archive.org snapshot of it. Please email me with corrections, broken links or new ones to add, and I will make the changes here and also link to this post in our sidebars here and at Abortion Pundit blog:
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WELCOMING BABIES WITH DOWN SYNDROME
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If you are welcoming a new baby with Down Syndrome into your family, you probably have many questions and concerns, as do your extended family, friends, and neighbors. We have written this information keeping in mind our own diverse experiences when our children were born with DS.

Congratulations on the birth of your baby. We wish you all the best.

What is Down Syndrome?
Down Syndrome is a chromosomal anomaly that occurs in 1.3 per 1000 births. For some unexplained reason, an error in cell development results in 47 chromosomes rather than the usual 46. The extra gene material slightly changes the orderly development of the body and brain. About 5000 babies with Down Syndrome are born in the United States every year. The national population of individuals with Down Syndrome is estimated to be 250,000.

About 80% of babies with Down Syndrome are born to mothers under the age of 35. About 1 in 400 babies born to women over 35 have Down Syndrome.

People with Down Syndrome are more like typically developing individuals than they are different. There is great diversity within the population in terms of personality, learning styles, intelligence, appearance, compliance, humor, compassion, congeniality, and attitude. Favorite pastimes vary from person to person and range from reading, gardening and travel to baseball, music, and beyond.

Children with Down Syndrome look more like their families than they do one another, have a full complement of emotions and attitudes, are creative and imaginative in play and pranks, and grow up to live independent lives with varying degrees of support and accommodations needed. Down Syndrome will not be the most interesting thing about your son or daughter as they grow up. Remember that raising any child fills your life with unimaginable delight and difficulties. We can no longer predict how far our children will go.

Types of Down Syndrome
There are three major types of Down Syndrome. Your baby is most likely to have Trisomy 21, meaning presence of extra genetic material on the 21st pair of chromosomes resulting from an anomaly in cell division during development of the egg or sperm or during fertilization. About 95% of people with DS have Trisomy 21. About 4% have Translocation, where the extra chromosome 21 broke off and became attached to another chromosome. About 1% have Mosaicism, where only some cells have Trisomy 21.

Care of Children with Down Syndrome
Children with Down Syndrome benefit from the same care, attention, and inclusion in community life that help every child grow. As with all children, quality education in neighborhood schools and preschools or at home is important to provide the child with Down Syndrome the opportunities that are needed to develop strong academic skills.

On standard IQ tests, our sons and daughters with Down Syndrome most often score in the mild to moderate range of mental retardation. These tests do not measure many important areas of intelligence, and you will often be surprised by the memory, insight, creativity, and cleverness of your child. The high rate of learning disabilities in students with Down Syndrome sometime mask a range of abilities and talents.

Although babies and children with Down Syndrome are early customers for extensive health evaluations, infant stimulation, physical therapy, communication enhancement, developmental evaluations, and other professional intervention, it is important to keep in mind that every child deserves to be surrounded by people who love, respect and admire all children.

Individuals with Down Syndrome may be identified by numerous physical attributes which may or may not present themselves in any one individual. Some characteristics are the beautiful almond shaped eyes, with striking Brushfield spots on the irises, a single palmar crease on one or both hands, small features, and exceptional social intelligence.

Individuals with DS have a high rate of congenital heart defects (35 to 50%) and should have an echocardiogram within the first two months of life. National organizations provide medical checklists (see resources section below) for individuals with DS that you may wish to pass on to your child's physician.

Future for Children with Down Syndrome
Your child will have more opportunities than a child born with Down Syndrome five years ago. As young people with DS show what they can do with the support of their communities as they integrate mainstream programs, more doors open for others. We have seen a TV series starring a talented actor and actress with DS enlighten the general public about the potential of all our children.

Two young men have authored a book, Count Us In, Growing Up with Down Syndrome, and impressed audiences across the country at book signings and on talk shows. A fast paced mystery, Honor Thy Son, by Lou Shaw, features two characters with Down Syndrome who are faithfully portrayed as multi-dimensional young adults. A young man with Down Syndrome is the winner of the 1996 Best Actor honor at Cannes.

Thousands of young people with Down Syndrome across the country are quietly going on with their lives without fame or fanfare and transforming their communities by just being there. They have dreams and the determination to reach their goals. They learn in regular classrooms in their neighborhood schools with the children who will one day be their coworkers, neighbors and adult friends. Young adults hold diverse and meaningful jobs, maintain their own households, and make significant contributions to their communities every day.

A Final Note
Allow your family, friends and neighbors some time to learn about Down Syndrome, reminding them if necessary that DS is just a small part of who your child is and will become. It is a small part of your child's genetic makeup. Staying integrated in your mainstream community is important to your child's development and your peace of mind.

Try to get some rest. You are allowed to feel however you feel, and so are others who love you and your baby. Childbirth is hard work; many of your emotions stem from a new life coming into your family. You deserve congratulations and wonderful gifts. Have the good cooks among your family and friends bring over their best meals. Take time to welcome and enjoy your baby. They grow up fast.

Down Syndrome Resources
These national organizations will send free, accurate information about Down Syndrome to you and other family members. They have yearly conferences, newsletters, and lists of local parent groups who you may wish to contact for local resources and information. In the USA contact:

The National Down Syndrome Congress: 1-800-232-6372

The National Down Syndrome Society 1-800-221-4602

The newly updated Health Care Guidelines for Individuals with Down Syndrome (DS Preventive Medical Check list) is also available at the Down Syndrome WWW page, at URL dshm.html
and at the Down Syndrome Quarterly WWW page at URL
http://www.denison.edu/dsq/health96.html

For the Open Window online newsletter, Welcoming Babies with Down Syndrome and/or DS Online Support contact:pmwilson@aol.com

Down-Syn list serv
To subscribe, send message to

LISTSERV@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU

with a Subject of No Subject
and a message of

subscribe down-syn Firstname Lastname

Respond

OK
to the confirmation message
You may leave the list at any time by sending a
"SIGNOFF DOWN-SYN" command to
LISTSERV@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU
Once subscribed you may change your method of reading the list by sending a message

set down-syn digest
to the list serv address, and all the posts will arrive in one piece of email once a day. To unsubscribe from the digest, the message would read

signoff down-syn digest
To send a message to other parents and concerned professionals, write to

DOWN-SYN@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU
It is also available as the newsgroup:
bit.listserv.down-syn

World Wide Web: Down Syndrome WWW Home Page

This page has information (translations of several articles into Spanish) and worldwide resources as well as links to other DS WWW pages.

Down Syndrome Health Issues/Dr. Len Leshin's Corner on the SF Bay Area Down Syndrome page
http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/~pino/DS/health/index.html

National DS Congress: email to NDSC@charitiesusa.com
http://www.carol.net/~ndsc/
USA telephone 1-800-232-6372

The National Down Syndrome Society
http://www.pcsltd.com/ndss/
USA telephone 1-800-221-4602

The Sibling Support Project's Web site
(with good general references and resources)
http://www.chmc.org/departmt/sibsupp
dmeyer@chmc.org

Tidewater Down Syndrome Association, Virginia
http://www.infi.net/~jwheaton/

COUNT US IN : GROWING UP WITH DOWN SYNDROME
(by Jason Kingsley & Mitchell Levitz)
http://brugold.com/count.html

Disability Solutions (free newsletter)
http://www.teleport.com/~dsolns
9220 SW Barbur Blvd 119-179
Portland Oregon 97219
503/244-7662
email: dsolns@teleport.com

Down Syndrome Quarterly
Denison University, Granville, OH 43023
Subscriptions $24/year (4 issues)
http://www.denison.edu/dsq/

The NADS web page:
http://www.nads.org

Dan's Page
http://members.aol.com/karenl2888/dan.html

Other family WWW pages are
http://www2.pcix.com/~kehler/What'sUp.html
http://www.lanline.com/~rdill/jan1.html
http://w3.one.net/~djgeiser
http://members.aol.com/decummings/private/album/cummings.html

http://www.csun.edu/%7Ehfmth006/chaser/
CHASER (Congenital Heart Anomalies Support, Education & Resources)
myer106@wonder.em.cdc.gov, 75050.2742@compuserve.com

Australian breastfeeding tips page
http://www.vicnet.net.au/vicnet/nmaa/downsynd.htm
Breastfeeding Advocacy WWW page
http://www.clark.net/pub/activist/bfpage/bfpage.html

The Sarah Duffen Centre, University of Portsmouth, UK
http://www.sci.port.ac.uk/~psycwww/sarah.html

Rebecca Stores (sleep disturbance research)
stores@sci2.sci.port.ac.uk

Japanese DS Group in Japanese or English
New URL (English) is:
http://infofarm.cc.affrc.go.jp/~momotani/dowj1-e.html
The Japanese version is
http://ss.niah.affrc.go.jp/~momotani/dowj1.html

German DS WWW pages
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/B_Schnell

http://www.uni-bremen.de/www.bremen.de/soziales/down1.html
(Information in German language).

French language WWW page
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/b_schnell

Andrea Friedman article Life Goes On's Amanda
http://www.abilitymagazine.com/ability/text/andreais.htm

Janet Marchese adoption article
http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/~pino/DS/news/sjmercury/adoption31596.html

THE ARC'S HOME PAGE
http://TheArc.org/welcome.html

Family Village Project (diverse diagnoses)
http://www.familyvillage.wisc.edu/
Linda Rowley, Family Village Project Coordinator, rowley@waisman.wisc.edu

Alliance for Technology Access (ATA) web site
http://marin.org/npo/ata/

OurKids WWW Archive: former postings of the Our-Kids listserv (diverse diagnoses)
http://wonder.mit.edu/our-kids.html

NICHCY (National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities)
web site: http://www.aed.org/nichcy/

Also, the Parents Helping Parents page is http://www.portal.com/~cbntmkr/php.html

The Inclusion Home Page
http://www.inclusion.com

Institute on Community Integration
http://www.coled.umn.edu/iciwww/

Axis Consultation & Training
http://www.almanac.bc.ca/~axis/

Norman Kunc & Emma Van der Klift
normemma@port.island.net

TASH email: tash@tash.org
Executive Director Nancy Weiss nweiss@tash.org

Your Baby has Down Syndrome video $18 http://www.nb.net/mall/d/MSNCT_order.html The Mackenzie Sara Noca Charitable Trust 1510 Greendale Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15239 (412) 798-0794

"Count Us In" by Jason Kingsley and Mitchell Levitz. 1994. ISBN 0-15-622660-x Harcourt Brace, 465 S. Lincoln Drive, Troy, MO 63379 Phone 1-800-543-1918

*BOOK: Communication Skills in Children with Down Syndrome: A Guide for Parents; Libby Kumin; ISBN Number: 0-933149-53-0 . Woodbine House, 1-800-843-7323 6510 Bells Mill Road Bethesda, MD 20817 (301) 897-3570 *(She has an excellent Newsletter: Communicating Together; PO Box 6395; Columbia, MD 21045-6395 Phone: 410-995-0722; or Fax 410-997-8735) *Before the First Word; by Libby Kumin; Audiotape from the 1995 NDSC convention: $7 per tape plus $4 s/h; from Professional Sound Images, PO Box 920552, Norcross, Georgia; 30092; 1-800-808-8273

BOOK: Teaching Reading to Children with Down Syndrome, A Guide for Parents and Teachers Patricia Logan Oelwein; ISBN Number 0-933149-55-7 Woodbine House, 1-800-843-7323

Down Syndrome Quarterly Editor: Samuel J Thios, PhD, thios@denison.edu 614-587-6338 Fax 614-587-6417 Denison University; Granville, OH 43023

Hope for the Families: New Directions for Parents by Robert Perske; illustrated by Martha Perske ISBN 0-687-17380 Abingdon Press

Down Syndrome: Living and Learning in the Community; edited by Lynn Nadel and Donna Rosenthal; NDSS; Proceedings of the Fifth International DS Conference held in Orlando FL in 1993; C 1995 Wiley-Lisss Inc ISBN 0-471-02201 pbk; 0471-02192-x hardback

The following books recommended with thanks to LLeshin@aol.com:
_Babies With Down Syndrome, A New Parents' Guide_, ed. by Karen Stray-Gundersen, Woodbine House, ISBN 0-933149-64-6

_Medical & Surgical Care for Children With Down Syndrome, A Guide for Parents_, ed. by D.C. Van Dyke, and P. Mattheis, Woodbine House, ISBN 0-933149-54-9

_Medical Care in Down Syndrome: A Preventative Medicine Approach_, by P.T. Rogers and Mary Coleman, Marcel Dekker, Inc., ISBN 0-8247-8648-X

_Biomedical Concerns in Persons With Down Syndrome_, by S.M. Pueschel and J.K. Pueschel, Paul Brookes Publishing Co., ISBN 1-55766-089-1

_Advances in Down Syndrome_, ed. by Valentine Dmitriev and Patricia Oelwein, Special Child Publications, ISBN 0-87562-092-2

_The Psychobiology of Down Syndrome_, ed. by Lynn Nadel, MIT Press, ISBN 0-262-14043-8

_Teaching the Child with Down Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals_, by M.J. Hanson, Pro-Ed, ISBN 0-89079-103-1

Recommended by Liz Steele
The Language of Toys: Teaching Communication Skills to Special-Needs Children. A Guide for Parents and Teachers. Sue Schwartz and Joen E. Heller Miller. 1988. Woodbine House, 6510 Bells Mill Road, Bethesda, Maryland 20817. Toll Free USA 1-800-843-7323.

It Takes Two to Talk: A Parent's Guide to Helping Children Communicate. A. Manolson. The Hanen Program. 1992. The Hanen Centre, 252 Bloor Street West, Room 390, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1V5. ISBN 0-921145-02-0. Ph 416-921-1073.

Teaching Strategies for Children with Down Syndrome: A Resource Guide (K-6). B. Tien and C. Hall, Editors. Jointly prepared by the PREP Program and the Ups & Downs Assoc. of Calgary, Alberta. Ups & Downs, Calgary Down Syndrome Association, 1001 - 17 Street NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 2E5. Ph 403-289-4394. Cost is $15 Canadian.

Stimulating speech and encouraging communication via the use of computers: Laura Meyers, PhD, 8505 Gulana, #4103, Playa Del Ray, CA 90293

Love and Learning Joe and Sue Kotlinski, P.O. Box 4088, Dearborn, MI 48126-4088 (313-581-8436) Parents of a child with Down Syndrome have developed a teaching technique which enabled their daughter to read over 1000 words by age 5. This method utilizes videos, audio tapes, and books to help develop language, reading, and comprehension skills.

Congenital Heart Anomalies Support, Education & Resources, Inc. (CHASER) ; 2112 N. Wilkins Rd Swanton, OH 43558 (419) 825-5575 myer106@wonder.em.cdc.gov

Peak Parent Center 6055 Lehman Drive Colorado Springs CO 80918 719- 531-9400 Support and information for parents whose children with DS are integrated in neighborhood and parks department programs for babies and toddlers, neighborhood schools in regular classes; as teens and young adults participate in secondary education programs; and as adults have interesting jobs and commute from their own apartments or supported living arrangements. They have community education resources for building inclusive programs.

Janet Marchese, Director of A Kids Exchange (formerly the National Down Syndrome Adoption Exchange), 914-428-1236; 56 Midchester White Plains , NY 10606 (914) 428-1236; Pam Wilson, pmwilson@aol.com

ABOUT THE "WELCOMING BABIES WITH DOWN SYNDROME" SITE:

Beginnings of the DS WWW Page

This is the original World Wide Web site composed of contributions from experienced professionals and knowledgeable parents who are subscribers to the Down Syndrome listserv and newsgroup, by the parents of a wonderful son who was diagnosed with Down Syndrome at birth in 1993.

They researched the best information available at that time and discovered that it was difficult to find the most up to date resources, support and information available even with internet connections. Discovering the veteran parents and knowledgeable professionals on the Down Syndrome listserv made a significant difference in the opportunities and support they provided for their charming little boy.

They felt it would be worthwhile to create a Down Syndrome WWW page for others who want all the best for loved ones born with Down Syndrome around the world. The response to this suggestion on the Down-Syn listserv/newsgroup was very positive and the Down Syndrome WWW page was created in February of 1995.

The Down Syndrome newsgroup is read by people from around the world, although the majority of subscribers to the listserv reside within the United States. For this reason, American and world-wide resources and links are available from the Down Syndrome WWW page. Translations of some articles are available in the following languages (as of 2/97): Spanish, Chinese and French.

Will at 14 months, January 1995

In Europe the term (in English) that is used for the condition is Down's Syndrome, in America the correct term is Down Syndrome. This is reflected in the writings from family members and concerned professionals who have been working with individuals with Down Syndrome throughout the world. Multi-cultural perspectives from families and professionals of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds are welcome and respected.

The dignity of individuals with Down Syndrome is important, so people first language is encouraged. We assume that people with Down Syndrome will read the articles and information on this site and especially welcome their comments, contributions, and insights.

Subscribers to the Down Syndrome list serv are sensitive to the families raising children who have health problems and additional diagnoses that create greater challenges than Down Syndrome alone creates for most of our sons and daughters.

Some babies and children with Down Syndrome struggle throughout early childhood and later seem to bloom almost effortlessly; others blossom early and continue to make great strides throughout their lifetimes; some struggle their whole lives in certain areas no matter how hard they work or how diligently we encourage them. We believe each person with Downs Syndrome will contribute to the general good of society as a valuable member of their family and community.

We are dedicated to spreading accurate and up-to-date research information and educating the general public about the accomplishments of children and adults with Down Syndrome who have had access to the opportunities and small accommodations they need to reach their potential.

Often parents, siblings, extended family members, friends and neighbors may be surprised and confused upon hearing a newborn has been diagnosed with Down Syndrome, but then come to terms with both their own misinformation and outdated ideas while they get to know the person growing up. In similar ways, mainstream educators, peewee sports league coaches, scout leaders and recreation instructors may be surprised to discover a child enrolled in their program has Down Syndrome and seeks information and resources to help them welcome and support every child they serve.

We would like to assist in diminishing the time it takes to get past the diagnosis and into understanding that Down Syndrome is a small (though significant) part of who that individual is and can be.

Thousands of others around the world share in the initial surprise and uncertainty that often accompanies hearing the diagnosis of Down Syndrome and have overcome the obstacles we face in creating an inclusive community that will support people with developmental disabilities as well as nda (not diagnosed with anything) folks who want to enjoy the best we have to offer one another. It has been a joyful, difficult, funny and very interesting journey for all of us who travel this road, and we welcome every person who is just beginning with a first step.

We want this site to be welcoming, helpful, and enlightening to the entire diverse online community browsing the World Wide Web.

MOST OF THE ABOVE IS THE COPYRIGHT 1995-2008 OF TRACEY FINCH. All Rights Reserved. tjf 20021125.
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A somewhat updated version of that list follows:

For information on Mosaic DS (where only some cells have Trisomy 21), contact:

Dr. Colleen Jackson-Cook
Department of Human Genetics
Virginia Commonwealth University
P.O. Box 980033
Richmond, VA 23298-0033
Telephone: 804-828-9632
Fax: 804-828-3760
Email: JACKSON@GEMS.VCU.EDU

For more information, resources, and support, you may wish to consult the following resources:

Publications and Tapes
Disability Solutions. A free newsletter about Down Syndrome available in print as well as online.
URL: http://www.teleport.com/~dsolns/
Email: dsolns@teleport.com

Your Baby Has Down Syndrome video. $15 per video plus $3.00 shipping /handling.
Down Syndrome Center
Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
3705 Fifth Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Telephone: 412-692-7963
Fax: 412-692-7428
Email: cannons@chplink.chp.edu

Babies with Down Syndrome, A New Parents' Guide, edited by Karen Stray-Gundersen
Woodbine House. ISBN 0-933149-64-6.

Understanding Down Syndrome: An Introduction for Parents, by Cliff Cunningham. American Edition. 1996. ISBN 1-57129-009-5.
Brookline Books
Telephone: 800-666-2665
Email: BROOKLINEBKS@delphi.com

Communication Skills in Children with Down Syndrome: A Guide for Parents, by Libby Kumin. ISBN 0-933149-53-0.
Woodbine House
Telephone: 800-843-7323

Communicating Together Newsletter, edited by Libby Kumin.
Telephone: 410-995-0722
Fax: 410-997-8735

Before the First Word, by Libby Kumin. Audiotape from the 1995 NDSC convention: $7 per tape plus $4 s/h.
Professional Sound Images
Telephone: 800-808-8273

Teaching Reading to Children with Down Syndrome, A Guide for Parents and Teachers, by Patricia Logan Oelwein. ISBN 0-933149-55-7.

Down Syndrome Quarterly Newsletter, edited by Samuel J Thios, PhD. Subscriptions: $24/year (4 issues).
Telephone: 614-587-6338
Fax: 614-587-6417
URL: http://www.denison.edu/dsq/
Email: thios@denison.edu

Count Us In, by Jason Kingsley and Mitchell Levitz. 1994. Harcourt Brace. ISBN 0-15-622660-x.

Hope for the Families: New Directions for Parents, by Robert Perske; illustrated by Martha Perske. Abingdon Press. ISBN 0-687-17380.

Down Syndrome: Living and Learning in the Community, edited by Lynn Nadel and Donna Rosenthal; NDSS; Proceedings of the Fifth International DS Conference held in Orlando, FL, in 1993; copyright 1995 by Wiley-Lisss Inc. ISBN 0-471-02201.

Teaching Strategies for Children with Down Syndrome: A Resource Guide (K-6), edited by B. Tien and C. Hall. Jointly prepared by the PREP Program and the Ups & Downs Association of Calgary, Alberta. Calgary Down Syndrome Association.

Teaching the Child with Down Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals, by M.J. Hanson. Pro-Ed. ISBN 0-89079-103-1.

The Language of Toys: Teaching Communication Skills to Special-Needs Children. A Guide for Parents and Teachers, by Sue Schwartz and Joen E. Heller Miller. 1988. Woodbine House.

It Takes Two to Talk: A Parent's Guide to Helping Children Communicate, by A. Manolson. 1992. The Hanen Program.

Medical and Surgical Care for Children with Down Syndrome, A Guide for Parents, edited by D.C. Van Dyke and P. Mattheis. Woodbine House. ISBN 0-933149-54-9.

Medical Care in Down Syndrome: A Preventative Medicine Approach, by P.T. Rogers and Mary Coleman. Marcel Dekker, Inc. ISBN 0-8247-8648-X.

Biomedical Concerns in Persons with Down Syndrome, by S.M. Pueschel and J.K. Pueschel. Paul Brookes Publishing Co. ISBN 1-55766-089-1.

Advances in Down Syndrome, edited by Valentine Dmitriev and Patricia Oelwein. Special Child Publications. ISBN 0-87562-092-2.

The Psychobiology of Down Syndrome, edited by Lynn Nadel. MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-14043-8.

The Development of Language and Reading Skills in Children with Down Syndrome, by Susan Buckley. 1986. Portsmouth Polytechnic.

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Internet Resources
The Sibling Support Project
URL: http://www.chmc.org/departmt/sibsupp/
Email: dmeyer@chmc.org

National Down Syndrome Congress
URL: http://members.carol.net/~ndsc/
Email: NDSC@charitiesusa.com

The National Down Syndrome Society
URL: http://www.ndss.org/
Email: info@ndss.org

National Association for Down Syndrome (NADS)
URL: http://www.nads.org/

What's Up with Down Syndrome
URL: http://idt.net/~kehler/What'sUp.html

Down Syndrome Quarterly
URL: http://www.denison.edu/dsq/

Includes the newly updated Health Care Guidelines for Individuals with Down Syndrome
(DS Preventive Medical Check List)
URL: http://www.denison.edu/dsq/health96.html
Down Syndrome Health Issues
URL: http://www.davlin.net/users/lleshin/

Down Syn On-Line Magazine
URL: http://www.epix.net/~mcross/down-syn.html

Down Syndrome associations in Western Australia
URL: http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/downs/
Email: gothard@socs.murdoch.edu.au
Email: dsawa@upnaway.com

Down Syndrome Home Page
URL: http://www.nas.com/downsyn/

Welcoming Babies with Down Syndrome
URL: http://www.nas.com/downsyn/welcome.html

Also available in:
Spanish: Bienvenidos Bebes con Sindrome de Down
URL: http://www.nas.com/downsyn/wbsp.html
French: Accueillir les bebe trisomiques
URL: http://www.nas.com/downsyn/frwds.html
Japanese:
URL: http://infofarm.cc.affrc.go.jp/~momotani/welbaby.html

Down Syndrome Information for the United Kingdom
URL: http://ep.open.ac.uk/wgma/Chris/UKDSinfo.html

What's Up with Down's -- Home Page of a teenage boy with Down Syndrome
URL: http://members.aol.com/karenl2888/dan.html

Down Syndrome Health Issues
URL: http://www.davlin.net/users/lleshin/

Down Syndrome: Teaching Reading and Language
URL: http://www.concentric.net/~Lovlearn/

Australian breastfeeding tips page
URL: http://avoca.vicnet.net.au/~nmaa/bfinfo/down.html

Breastfeeding Advocacy Web page
URL: http://www.clark.net/pub/activist/bfpage/bfpage.html

Family Village Project
URL: http://www.familyvillage.wisc.edu:8000/lib_down.htm

Thoughts from the Middle of the Night
URL: http://rdz.stjohns.edu/lists/our-kids/Archives/TFtMotN.html

Children with Diabetes Web page (DS)
URL: http://www.castleweb.com/diabetes/d_03_193.htm

Dusty Dutton--Home Page of a young woman with Down Syndrome
URL: http://www.microweb.com/ddutton/dustyd.html

Down Syndrome Association of Metropolitan Toronto
URL: http://www.dsamt.toronto.on.ca/

OurKids Web Archive: former postings of the Our-Kids listserv (diverse diagnoses)
URL: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/our-kids.html

National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities (NICHCY) Web site:
URL: http://www.nichcy.org/

PREP Resource Center (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
URL: http://www.cadvision.com/prepprog/
Email: winklerj@cadvision.com

San Francisco Bay Area Down Syndrome page
URL: http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/~pino/DS/

Inclusion Press International Home Page
URL: http://www.inclusion.com

Institute on Community Integration -- University of Minnesota
URL: http://www.ici.coled.umn.edu/ici/

TASH: Working in Partnership with Disability Advocates Worldwide
URL: http://www.tash.org/

The Alliance for Technology Access
URL: http://www.ataccess.org

Center for Studies on Inclusive Education -- United Kingdom
URL: http://inclusion.uwe.ac.uk/csie/csiehome.htm

Family Village School Inclusive Education Resources
URL: http://laran.waisman.wisc.edu/fv/www/education/inclusion.html

Agassiz Elementary School -- Chicago, Illinois
Inclusion Digest
URL: http://members.aol.com/AInclusion/index.html

Down Syndrome Educational Trust (DownsEd) -- United Kingdom
URL: http://www.downsnet.org/downsed/

Dolls with Down Syndrome -- USA
URL: http://www.dollsbyjerri.com/dolls.htm
Dolls with Down Syndrome -- Germany
URL: http://uni-bremen.de/~downsyn/down23e.html

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Online Discussion List
Down-Syn listserv. To subscribe, send an email message to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU with no subject in the subject line and the message "subscribe down-syn ." Respond OK to the confirmation message.

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Credits
Special thanks to Dr. Len Leshin and Liz Steele for suggestions of book titles.

Published monthly by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Children's Research Center, 51 Gerty Drive, Champaign, IL 61820-7469. This publication was funded by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, under contract no. DERR93002007. Opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of the Department of Education.

NPIN Coordinator and Parent News Editor: Anne Robertson
Production Editor: Emily S. Van Hyning

Other HT: Earl Appleby, Director of Citizens United Resisting Euthanasia (CURE).

2008-09-08T06:59:00.003-04:00

I can't help but wonder if this email we just received was inspired by Sarah Palin's example (more coming soon, I hope, on Sarah Palin and all the hooplah on Abortion Pundit blog):

Hello, We are very interested in adopting this child with down syndrome. We live on a wonderful farm. My husband is a physician, and I am a counselor and nurse. Please get back with us.Thank you, [name withheld by us for privacy sake]

These blessed and giving emailers perhaps didn't see the 2004 date on what I presume was the post they were responding to (it happens, when google searches turn up the archived pages or when there were multiple posts on a single day, the date isn't obvious):

URGENT: Down Syndrome Unborn Child in Need of Adoptive Parents with Special Love and Graces....(SEE TWO NEW UPDATES BELOW, and WAY BELOW):

Got very brief word tonight, Friday, 8/27/04: "Spoke to Mom last evening. She still has not ruled out abortion. Pls just continue to pray. ~ Geri"

[Original post:]
I'm taking a big chance printing the direct email here, but it is urgent. Please: to anyone tempted to be spiteful or condemning, I pray to God to hold back your hand and prevent you from carrying out any nastiness.

Please email me, Annie or Geri.

If you or someone who know is willing to adopt a beautiful blessing with some special needs, this needs to be done ASAP as the mother has already scheduled an abortion, and doesn't think anyone wants her child! Please Pray!

From: Missionaries to the Preborn [mailto:mtpmilw@execpc.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 2004 10:31 PM
Subj: URGENT NEED FROM SHIELD OF ROSES

Hello, everyone!

I've been speaking to an unmarried woman in her mid-30s, in her fourth month with a Down Syndrome Baby. She has an aborton scheduled.

She has relented and given us a few days to see if there is a family out there who wants to adopt her special-needs baby. Her family is totally against the abortion, and wants her to adopt the baby out. The birthmom was very insistent on going ahead with the abortion, so this respite of a few days buys us time.

Do you know of anyone right now ready to adopt a special-needs baby? It is probably better if they have gotten their home study or are in the process.

We need to have this woman speak to people who can take action now and convince her that her baby is wanted. If you don't know of any families, pls keep us all in prayer. I thank God we've been given this time to help her.

Thank you all. - Geri.

This was the decision she finally made:

GREAT NEWS! (or as I like to call it, "Answered Prayers Department")
"The Mom carrying the Down's Syndrome baby [see our Aug. 25 post] will not abort and she went to her dr's appt today. Our group bought her a used car so she can keep her appts and continue college as she lives in a maternity home she will move to next week.

Please continue with prayers.

THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!
~ Geri, SHIELD OF ROSES"
I have a PO Box address for this group, if anyone wishes to help with prayer cards or donations or anything...just email me. Keep praying, please. Her journey is really just beginning and she'll need a lot of our thoughts and prayers.

Then in this post, another Down Syndrome baby, along with his non-DS twin, needing adopting. View Bryce's photo here and tell me he isn't the cutest little thing.

Back then, we also heard a happy update on the first DS baby, whom the mom decided to keep after all:

By February 2005, we heard from the CPC helper, Geri, that the mom who had been at first set to abort her child with Down Syndrome, had changed her mind after receiving over 600 emails of support and offers of help and adoption from multiple blog readers like all of you... and her unborn baby was now born:
I've met with baby Kristy, and she is wonderful! She was born on January 5, and is cute as a button.

She has no heart problems, and no hearing problems. Mom is madly in love with her daugher, and grandma and aunt and uncles also adore her. Mom is so very glad that others showed the worth of her baby before she could even begin to love her.

I thank you all so very much for your outpouring of love for this family. God continue to bless you and yours.

Because I've received over 600 e-mails originally, pls do not respond to this e-mail. We have other clients to take care of, and I'd be swamped once again. Please do know that I truly appreciated your concern and your prayers for this mom and her baby.

Geri
Shield of Roses
So this January 5, wish a silent Happy 2nd Birthday to baby Kristy, and right now, let's send all our friends an email with this new request and see if someone can help.

So now, come January 5, 2009, wish Kristy a happy 4th birthday!

2008-08-17T00:01:00.002-04:00

IN MEMORY OF:

August 17, 2007: Adrian Peter, child of Beth and Peter

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2008-08-14T13:09:00.001-04:00

In loving memory of my son, aborted in 1990.
Even though you were conceived during sexual abuse at 12 years old, you were still a part of me.
I think about you all the time and miss you terribly.
The agony I endure everyday is overshadowed by the thought that one day I will have the chance to hold you and see your beautiful face.

My baby boy, son of A.S.

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

2008-08-14T12:43:00.005-04:00

25 Girls Dead From Using GARDASIL (the cervical cancer vaccine against HPV) Since March 2007

(this is a short PDF, for a change, and easily skimmed through quickly)

This is 25 girls or young women dead in 18 months' time, one of which was 11 years old, four of which were 12 years old, and one of which was 15. This information is "based on new documents obtained from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, detailing reports of adverse reactions to the vaccination for human papillomavirus (HPV), Gardasil."

You can read the Judicial Watch press release here. The PDF file of their full report is here.

Judicial Watch had previously obtained 3,461 reports relating to Gardasil. On June 10, 2008, Judicial Watch received a compact disk from the FDA with a new total of 8,864 Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) records.

And especially read the comments on that JW page, going down to the rebuttal to the Australian commenter.

And while I haven't watched the entire thing, here's a surprise finding on Youtube. Anyone care to comment on the veracity or lack thereof, of this?

2008-08-13T06:16:00.002-04:00

In MEMORY OF:

My first child, lost in mid August 1984. I have always believed it was a boy so I give him the name Michael Barnett. His father A., whom I later broke up with, may have more scars than I thought (a new idea for me). I later married and suffered
9 year of infertility before having 4 children. Things could have worked out if we both had not panic and tried to make it all go away. It never has.

~ Michael's loving mom, Jane

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

After abortion

Welcome.

Welcome.

Welcome.

MARCH FOR LIFE 2012 -- January 23, 2012

More links on this day of the March for Life 2012

Another blog by a woman hurting from abortion: