Post Abortion Woman's Vote

How Will Post-Abortive Women Vote?

by | Oct 30, 2018

Abortion is the reason many people will get out to vote in next week’s elections. If the last two years since President Trump was elected are any indication, the war surrounding legalized abortion has grown to hysterical levels.

Democrat pollsters believe they can take back the Senate because they are counting on the female vote. But what about the one third of American voting women who have chosen abortion? How will they vote? The answer often depends on the time that has passed since their abortion experience.

Since post-abortive women are impossible to identify, much less survey, early polls can’t project the impact our vote may have on this election. Because few of us confess to this choice, voting may be our only form of protesting a decision that left us mothers of dead children.

Immediately after aborting, many feel a temporary “relief” from the confusion, panic and upset that often surrounds this choice. I endured this momentary reprieve. Then I found myself continually recounting the reasons my abortion was a good choice.

Those excuses included:

  • Abortion allowed me to finish college
  • My mother would never endure community shame because her daughter had a baby without being married
  • I was no longer connected physically to my old boyfriend who threatened to leave me in the streets if I came out of that abortion clinic still pregnant

Within the few years after an abortion experience, women often specifically vote pro-choice out of a sense of OBLIGATION. They can make statements like, “They helped me in my crisis. Abortion needs to remain legal. I should support them.” These are often the young women on Planned Parenthood’s side at protest lines who write #shoutyourabortion posts or talk proudly about their abortions.

I was once like that. A year after my abortion, I volunteered for the Democrat Party during an election. Denial that my abortion had taken a tiny human’s life had full control over my heart and mind. I felt my abortion had been a GOOD decision. I wanted to “give back” to the pro-choice movement for allowing me to “control my body.”

It also seemed logical that serving pro-choice candidates could offset the unexplained guilt I was enduring. That shame arrived early every morning. Before I got out of bed, I had to expend extensive emotional energy trying to control these thoughts about my lost child. I went back over my excuses several times to remind myself that regret was NOT part of my abortion experience.

In that emotional quagmire, I worked to be proud of my abortion choice, even if that was a hard sell to my heart. I believed I could more successfully shut out the guilty thoughts by becoming involved in the Democrat party and/or vote for pro-choice candidates.

My first DNC call to voters required reading a script that outlined my support for abortion. I was shocked that simply voicing the word on that call produced instant anxiety in my heart. Feelings of horror surrounded me and I quickly fled that facility. I never again participated politically in the ongoing battle to keep abortion legal.

Political participation to defend abortion triggered that anxiety for me. After that I had to find better ways to keep my denial in place every morning. That political experience led me to avoid the abortion term whenever possible. If it was on the news, I’d change the channel. If abortion was discussed in the newspaper, I’d turn the page.

I don’t think I voted at all that year. That call triggered deep emotional pain which had no reason to exist in my mind. I thought I was simply going insane.

Seven years later, I experienced “motherhood wonderment” while first holding my next child after his birth. Abortion became a very different concept in that moment where I entered my motherhood experience.

I was instantly reminded of my lost child when I gazed into my newborn baby’s face. Guilt and horror flowed as I fell in love with my newborn. How could I love this child if I hadn’t loved my first?

My understanding that abortion had been a BAD choice began with that motherhood moment. I could still rationalize that if faced with a similar situation, I’d make the same choice. Yet that mindset didn’t settle my heart like it had before my son was born.

To avoid facing the truth that my abortion could have been my WORST decision, I began to search for other justifications. I worked to remain pro-choice by telling myself that my life would not be the same without my abortion. I wouldn’t be holding this beautiful baby because my life would have gone in an entirely different direction had I given birth back then.

God had a timetable in place to shatter my denial and toss out all my pro-abortion mindsets. That final and complete shift from pro-choice to pro-life occurred when I discovered the legality of late term abortion and heard a message of compassion for my pain as a post-abortive woman.

Incredulously, on my first day working for a large Christian ministry,Focus on the FamilyDr. James Dobson described a horrifying late term abortion procedure. He shared that abortion was legal up until the moment of birth. I had no idea. That understanding changed everything in my heart towards pro-choice mindsets.

Dr. Dobson then said, “I know I’m talking to many women who have experienced abortion. I want you to know that there is no sin that God cannot forgive. The problem maybe you don’t forgive yourself and you may need help….”

This pro-life leader spoke to my demographic directly, offering me the hope of God’s healing for my heart’s pain. I discovered peace through a Bible-based abortion recovery program. Then I began my ministry efforts to provide other choices to women in unexpected pregnancies by helping pregnancy centers.

Political candidates are still defending abortion – even right before the moment of birth. Their recent efforts have educated a silent demographic regarding the barbarity of a procedure that is never necessary for the health of the mother.

When that pro-choice to pro-life transformation occurred in my life, I never missed an election. My vote will now only be given to candidates who are against abortion.

If you are post-abortive, Proverbs 24:11-12a offers direction to your heart- Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.  If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will He not repay everyone according to what they have done?

You’ve now been educated at a different level. A good step in addressing any abortion pain is simply to NOT vote for pro-choice candidates. Casting a vote that keeps abortion legal can trigger emotional and spiritual pain because it means you are personally endorsing abortion. If you are confused about your abortion pain, avoid voting.

If election discussions produce any unresolved emotional or spiritual pain in your heart, or in those that you love, know that God’s redemption process is available to every person that has been involved in abortion. To learn more about God’s path to healing after abortion, visit our online abortion recovery website at HerChoicetoHeal.com.

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