Marie Claire article, Baby Boomers' Legacy, and Teens' Poetry [UPDATE 4/15/09]

1. Marie Claire article on the Abortion Pill RU-486

"Please forward this to as many postabortive women friends as you know who may be able to help with a compassionate educated response. Because I know that the women of Operation Outcry are so compassionate and know how to encourage, I encourage you to please reach out in love."

The request was sent to me, and now I'm sending it to our readers:

Hi. I just checked back at the Marie Claire article again. This is by a woman who had an RU-486 abortion. This is the type of abortion where you take a pill (mifepristone) and then additionally another drug, misoprostol, which causes you to cramp and bleed heavily and eventually abort the baby. This type abortion is much more life-threatening than surgical abortion and some women have died from this, while hundreds of others in the U.S. have had to have blood transfusions, surgery, and/or ICU treatment because of it. This is NOT the "morning after pill," it is an abortion pill.

This author tells her own story of her abortion. She had very severe physical effects and also had depression severe enough to need medication.

But there is a place to leave comments, and many people are leaving very nasty, judgmental comments about the author who should not have been using abortion for birth control (this was her second abortion; she's pro-choice), and so on. There are now 12 comments up there and most are neutral.

There are two comments which I posted previously on this list, and for a full week those two comments were the most recent comments up there. In both those comments, it is suggested that those suffering from abortion should contact Rachel's Vineyard or another post-abortion website. Those two posts also give additional information on how harmful abortion is to women, especially the RU-486 abortion.

Now that two other posters have added sort of mean, judgmental comments, it would perhaps be a good thing for someone else to add their own abortion story. One could also point out that abortion takes such a heavy psychological toll-so many people are told it is nothing, by the doctors and nurses and then only later realize, they have depression, suicidal thoughts etc. And...here is where to go for help. Post-abortive women ARE reading this. One of the comments was from a woman who said RU-486 ruined her life.

I think this is an awesome opportunity to "talk about" this issue with the general public in a positive way and create better awareness. We need to be careful what we say and how we say it, but for those of you who are post-abortive, and especially for those of you who had an RU-486 abortion, you have something very worth sharing from your experience, as well as your experience in Rachel's Vineyard. Some of the women who are the most critical seem to have had fertility issues themselves, and it makes them angry to see someone else abort when they would have given anything for that baby...

People have not been attacking other people within the "comments" section but those who "attack" have thus far been attacking the author. It would be better not to respond to their criticisms but just to make your own comments about the article which might be a little different from what the last two posters put up there.

For those who do share your story, this is a place where you could share a little, and you can do so anonymously there.

2. Since I am a Baby Boomer, this truly hits home as truth, now:

"Exodus 20:12 - Honor Your Parents

"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you.

"As the most narcissistic and self-absorbed generation in human history, the Baby Boomers are slowly discovering this Scripture, like all the rest of Scripture, is a description of the way things are. The Boomers set about reinventing everything from culture to religion to sex in the confident assurance that they could do it right and that their fathers and mothers were fools for countless generations past. They have ended by proving that they excel their parents in one special way - by being greater fools than any other generation. When we do not honor our fathers and mothers we succeed only in creating a world where our children have nothing to honor in us. Thus, the sexual license cultivated so assiduously by the Boomers leads to an abortion culture in order to avoid the consequences of sexual license and abortion culture leads to euthanasia. The young who survive their parents' assault on unborn life learn an important lesson - inconvenient people should be killed. When the parents get old and the children get restless and impatient with their narcissistic, self-absorbed and increasingly inconvenient parents, the lesson is acted on. That's a world in which our days will not be long."
~ from a meditation email sent by a friend

3. Two poems printed in my local paper by local teens

I felt so strongly about these two poems that I am reprinting them here with attribution to their authors. The first is by a high school senior, another a student at a local college, year unspecified. Both women.

I know I'm reading them through the prism with which my long-ago and now deeply-regretted abortion colors all things since. I don't know if either of these young women have had abortions or if these poems are about such abortions. Perhaps they had other awful experiences, for example, with a parent who was clinically depressed but didn't know it at the time. I do know that these words parallel far too closely the emotions and path that I myself still travel on the path toward post-abortive healing.

Should either author wish to have us remove her poem from this site, please email me (Annie--the email addy is at top right of the sidebar) and we'll gladly do so. We think your poems are wonderful and deserve a wider audience and we post them as we also believe they would be most helpful to many of the hurting women readers of our website, irrespective of the life experiences by which your writing is informed.

[UPDATE 4/15/09: The author of the second poem left us a recent comment, which I have added to the post below. Thank you Ariane, we appreciate hearing from you and receiving your permission to leave your poem here. If that ever changes, please just email me.]

Her Silent Struggle

In the daunting chaos of this
crazy world
It is all she can do to keep her
feet on the ground
She is barely able to make it
through the dragging days
With all the brazen anarchy
that surrounds

Her every waking moment,
minute after minute
She is forced through the shuffle
of everyday life
And though she hides behind a
happy face
Her big secret brings her down
into endless strife

In the quiet sanctity of her
own home
She secretly pollutes her own
body and soul
So that, for a second, she can
escape her troubles
The pills and alcohol she takes
quickly reach their goal
Suddenly, she is unconscious,
she can't feel anymore
She passes out on the floor,
and no one will know
Until the next day, when she
gets up, and something has
changed
Out of the blue, her persona
has a brand-new glow

Because that last night, she
had a grand experience
In the midst of her loneliness,
she heard a voice from above
Before that day, she was lost--
she had never known God
Or had the chance to feel His
unconditional love

She had previously been too
secluded in her own mind
To realize that she needed a
power greater than herself
But as she lay there, confused,
it finally hit her
She gave up the charade and
admitted she needed God's help.

She prayed for His guidance
to put her life on the right
track
To lead her to a path of righteousness
and good
She asked for forgiveness, and
God sensed her sincerity
And forgave her poor soul, as
only He could

Then she awoke, feeling newly
refreshed
And decided to take care of
her bad choices over the years
Now, she is ready to begin on
her life's true mission
As a child of God, rid of her
old, secular fears

by author Lisette Carde, senior, Shelton High School-All Rights Reserved by Ms. Carde.

The second poem:

Angels

I hear the screams
oftentimes when I dream
of fallen angels with broken
wings
Their voices they can no longer
use to sing
because they chose to do wrong
and from their fates
they, forever, could not run

I hear the voices
sometimes at night
of all those sinners who could
do no right
When all is quiet and I can't
feel alive
their nails tear sharply at my
insides
in blood-covered hands, I make
no noise
as on my knees I plead to that
higher voice

"Let me be free
Please don't forget me
I've done my wrong
but this agony
I can't bear for long"

The voices crowd my better
judgment
but in fear I'm still a servant
Though not very valiant
I hold my ground
as the voices still surround
all I had one day known

Broken wings
Shattered dreams
Bloody hands
shivering from too many demands
Yet, firmly, I hold my ground
'til the day the nightmares end
and for my sins I've made amends

"Let me be free
Please don't forget me
I've done my wrong
but this agony
I can't bear for long"

From the heavens I hear a
voice
and in tears, I can finally
rejoice
with my wounds healed
I can't help but to kneel
as bright white wings
from my back began to spring
and holy songs from beyond
I can finally hear the angels
sing

by Ariane Rasmussen, student at Sacred Heart University - 2007 - All Rights Reserved by Ms. Rasmussen

NOTE FROM THIS AUTHOR:

It's funny that I found my poem here only now. I am the one who wrote the "Angels" poem posted on this site. My poem actually has nothing to do with abortion, it's about going through a spiritual conflict. I am against any type of taking away of life, but if this poem has helped others I see no harm in leaving it here.
Ariane Rasmussen