Abortion is the
bottom line of pregnancy centers, including the Community Pregnancy Center of
Pasadena, Texas. It’s no secret that our mission is to share the truth about
every option within a pregnancy decision. We don’t pressure a single girl into
a pregnancy decision, or a spiritual decision, for that matter. We don’t lie or
try to manipulate the facts of abortion in our favor, which is the common
attack from pro-choice organizations and individuals. The rumor has been out in
the media for decades and it is currently being publicized that pro-life
pregnancy centers deceive and talk their way around the assumption that
abortion is ok. To set the record straight, I want to present the unbiased,
un-doctored truth about abortion.
First, abortion
has emotional consequences. In
a personal interview with a woman who chose abortion, I asked her of her own
experience, and she was no exception. She confessed that she
suffered the emotional and psychological effects of abortion for over 15 years.
The decision led to alcoholism, depression, and an inability to trust anyone.
This is what abortion does to the mind. It’s not a made up generality.
Secondly,
abortion has great physical ramifications. While the immediate complications of
abortion are sometimes temporary and treatable, these complications frequently
lead to long-term reproductive damage to the female body, which commonly
results in infertility. A post-abortal infection can raise the probability of
later ectopic pregnancies to 5 to 8 times more likely.
Cervical damage is
also a risk. This could translate into a permanent weakening of the cervix,
meaning that the cervix is unable to carry the weight of a later, “wanted”
pregnancy. This then results in miscarriage or premature birth. In my previously
mentioned interview, the post-abortive woman revealed that she suffered from
cervical cancer due the effect of her 3 abortions. A major study conducted by
the After Abortion Organization is quoted to have reported that “among teenagers who aborted their
first pregnancies, 66% subsequently experienced miscarriages or premature birth
of their second, “wanted” pregnancies”.
This study also reported that the effects of abortions accounted for “3000 cases of acquired cerebral palsy amongnewborns each year”.
Planned Parenthood, the most well-known pro-choice organization in the
United States, hides these truths from the public. On their own website, the
organization calms readers by proclaiming “Serious, long-term emotionalproblems after abortion are about as uncommon as they are after giving birth”.
They also claim that physical side-effects are minimal, and treatable by their staff. They also rewrite the procedure of
an abortion to be almost poetic: “Medical instruments and a suction machinegently empty your uterus”. Calming, isn’t it? That description certainly sounds
more attractive than the facts I previously listed.
Of the women who
enter Planned Parenthood for counseling, 98% of them have abortions. In a
national abortion study, Planned Parenthood reported that they performed
332,278 abortions in 2009. At an average cost of $625 per abortion, that means
they made more than $200 million on abortion alone. And that doesn't include
the $363 million they received in government grants or the $209 million from private
donations. That’s 772 million dollars pushing this pro-abortion
origination—just in 2009 alone. Ignoring political stances and ignoring bold
statements made, our country, our society is financially supporting abortions,
and doing it quite generously.
This
is the vast abortion fight, but don’t be deceived into thinking this is a war
off in the distance. Planned Parenthood runs the largest abortion-operating
center in the entire northern hemisphere here in Houston, Texas with an entire
wing of the building dedicated solely to the medical abortions. This is a local
fight, and one we are fighting every single day at the Community Pregnancy
Center. In this summer alone, 17% of the girls who walked into our facility
were abortion vulnerable. They knew they were pregnant yet had no idea what to
do. They live in the society and the geographical area that tells them that
abortion is not only safe, but a relief. They hear these calming stories, and
view it as a viable option to consider. 17%. If you look behind this number,
you will see
the 41 girls it represents-41 girls and their 41 babies from this summer alone.
That’s 82 lives, and truthfully, those are only the ones who were willing to
admit out loud what they were considering. The actual number is beyond our
imagination.
Just three weeks ago, I answered the call of a mother calling on behalf
of her teenage daughter, trying to schedule an abortion for her teenage
daughter’s pregnancy. She herself wanted her daughter to “terminate” that
unplanned pregnancy. In a moment, Mikelle will further explain Krystal’s story,
but this is the fight that our world, our nation, and this pregnancy center
battles. In the face of all these facts I’ve shared with you about the reality
of abortion, remember Romans 8:31-32:
“What, then, shall we say in response to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but
gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us
all things?”
Our King is paying attention. Our King is fighting, next to you and next
to me, and I guarantee that our God is the god who wins.
