Who was that woman?

My August 21st post was entitled, “My role in long ago abortion still haunts me.” It prompted somebody to ask about the woman who was my girlfriend. Her name is LaRee and two years later (1973), we married. We will celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary this year.

LaRee and I had two other children and we now have five grandchildren. For years, LaRee grieved her abortion. When our next child was born, she looked into the baby's face and thought, “You are not my first baby.” For years we kept the abortion a secret from our children. We finally shared it with them in their teen years in hopes it might serve as a deterrent to them from making the same mistake. Happily, neither did.

LaRee recently became the provincial Director of a pro-Life organization in the Canadian province where we live (Alberta). A previous blog of June 9th announced her appointment.

Pro-abortion ideologues maintain that there is no such thing as post-abortion trauma. LaRee is a living example that trauma does occur after abortion. It can settle into grief, guilt and regret that can last for decades. To those who say that life in the womb is not a child, she says “Come look at the marvel of 3D and 4D ultrasound and you will see the humanity of the child.” To those women who regret their abortions – and there are millions -- she says,

“Give your sorrow to Christ. He will understand and forgive you – just as He has for me. We are part of that great family of the heavy-hearted people who know the poverty and lies of abortion. Into Christ’s gentle care we give our children, our sorrow, our shame. He frees us from our grief.”