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7.07.2004

Abortifacients...The Other Forbidden Grief

By Janet Morana and Theresa Burke, Ph.D.

We’ve learned a good deal about the emotional and spiritual pain of abortion. Aside from surgical procedures, the Pill, the IUD, and other hormonal "contraceptives" such as the morning after pill, Depro- Provera and Norplant can also cause an abortion of human life.

Ovulation is not always suppressed by oral contraceptives. In these cases, the egg is fertilized, conception takes place, and a new human being begins to develop. These abortifacients interfere with the pregnancy by changing the lining of the uterus so that a newly conceived child cannot implant in the womb. This hostile environment causes the child to die.

Janet Morana, Associate Director of Priests for Life and co-founder of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, shares her personal story:

"Three months before my wedding date I started taking birth control pills. I continued taking the pill for two years until it seemed like it was time to start a family... Eventually, I had a tubal ligation.

"As I began to study the teachings of the Church I learned about God's beautiful plan for marriage, including what NFP was all about.

"My grief finally hit me as I watched a video about the wonder of life and I realized completely what taking the birth control pills really meant: aborting new life. I came to grips with the fact that I had not only shut myself off to life, but had also destroyed an unknown number of children. At the end of that video I began to sob uncontrollably. I was overwhelmed with sudden feelings of grief and remorse. I was able to come to grips with these feelings of grief and loss recently at a Rachel's Vineyard Retreat. It was a first step in having my feelings validated, and I began to deal with my loss in a new light."

The Church has always asserted that the method by which a child is killed, or the age at which the killing occurs, do not make an abortion any less real or wrong. The Church can therefore serve at the forefront in ministry to the countless hearts wounded by abortifacients. Our church continues to be a prophetic guide in a new movement to re-claim inner voices that have been silenced, paralysed and obscured by the demands of a contraceptive and abortive culture.

Priests for Life invites all who have experienced the grief of abortion to share your testimony. Contact janet@priestsforlife.org

To find out more information about attending a Rachel's Vineyard Retreats for healing after abortion, visit www.rachelsvineyard.org


8 comments:

  1. Please ignore the ads that are being generated by the vocabulary in this article!

    Arrrgh!!!!!

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  2. Anonymous12:45 AM

    I do not remember quite how I came across your blogspot, I think tho it was from a Yahoo chatline. Anyways....good blog! I was reading our liberal paper the other day here in Minneapolis, and a columnist was touting how erroneous pro-lifers were in stating that the pill is an abortificant...because the fertilized egg must be implanted first before it is considered a pregnancy, and since the implantation is prevented, the loss of the fertilized egg is not a real abortion. It is distressing to me that such falsehood is so widely accepted, especially by people of the Catholic faith. Keep up the good work with your blog....I will read it more and more as time goes on, and I am sure I will also refer others to it, if I may. The Theology of the Body is such a beautiful study, it is so important to get the word out! Bit by bit, person by person, may we change the world.

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  3. Anonymous12:47 AM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  4. Amen! All we can pray is that the spark is kindled- the Holy spirit will start the fire!

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  5. Anonymous9:34 PM

    If a woman becomes pregnant from rape, incest or parthenogenesis, she should be allowed to get an abortion. She should also be allowed to get an abortion if the pregnancy endangers her life or her health. It is very cruel to force any woman to go through with an unwanted pregnancy.

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  6. These circumstances already damage, exploit, and traumatize women. Abortion only further traumatizes them, while the child conceived is punished by being put to death.

    Please visit http://afterabortion.org/rape.html to gain more insight.

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  7. Read the testimonies of those conceived through rape and incest:

    http://www.scvlcc.org/content.asp?id=47

    http://www.truthusa.org/articles/life/incest.htm

    http://afterabortion.info/Victims/index.htm

    http://www.family.org/cforum/citizenmag/features/a0013078.cfm

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  8. Parthenogenesis?

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