By James Wilson
(Editor’s Note: Jim was invited to give testimony on the impact of abortion on women before the California Commission on the Status of Women in 2011.)
At the age of twenty I was approached by two female friends, pregnant and frightened of the dynamics and implications of their pregnancies. I was not the father in either case, but they were friends who trusted me. At the time – this was prior to Roe V. Wade – the only value I attached to the dilemma they presented was that you take care of your friends. I found a source of loaned funds and located a doctor who would perform abortions on both women. I borrowed the funds myself and on my responsibility because – in my view – that was what you did when friends were in crisis. In the aftermath of the abortions I noted that one of the women cut off our friendship – she virtually never spoke to me again – and the other – the friendship was maintained for decades after the abortion – could never speak of her aborted child. She spoke only of the child she lost. This was deeply troubling to me and incomprehensible until I came to understand the overwhelming love of Christ and His deep grief over the deaths of so many unborn children and the equally deep damage that is done to those who abort – some years later.
I have been an ordained pastor for the past twenty-five years. I have long since lost count of the post-abortive women I have counseled and the personal crises in which I have intervened. I have worked alongside many post-abortive women who make it their business to care for their sisters who have been injured by abortion. I have trained women for this service. My point is this – although I have interacted with hundreds of post-abortive women in the past quarter century – I have never met a post-abortive woman who was not torn apart inside over what she had done or permitted to be done. (And let’s face it, thousands of women who have abortions have virtually no say in the matter – their husbands, boyfriends, and families insist they accept what seems a simple solution to their problem and the culture offers little or no support to a decision to bear the child unless their families are both compassionate and pro-life in orientation.) Let me repeat – although the impact and consequences vary from the subtle to the dramatic and play out in multiple ways, I have never met a post-abortive woman who is not seriously damaged inside – spiritually and emotionally – by the abortion or abortions she has undergone.
My recommendation to the state of California is that you get out of the abortion business. The state provides approximately eighty thousand free abortions each year. That translates to eighty thousand women abused and wounded in ways they cannot anticipate. Our culture believes it is unjust to deny abortion to women who cannot afford it. The reality is that abortions are legal and no one is denying anything to anyone. But the state is complicit in the great harm that is done to every woman who undergoes abortion when the state provides – and encourages by that provision – the source of that damage. This is not about how some may view abortion – the women to which I refer live in a culture that is very tolerant of abortion. Those who might judge or condemn are viewed as aberrants themselves. The damage to which I refer is intrinsic to the reality of having undergone the procedure.
The root problem that leads to crisis pregnancies – and to the pain I describe that accompanies abortion and lasts a lifetime beyond it – is the low self-esteem that leads women into a subservient position before the men in their lives. There are many wonderful agencies and ministries up and down the state working tirelessly – and without judgment – to educate and assist women in addressing the issues that lead them into crisis pregnancies before a difficult situation becomes a train wreck. These groups do not waver in their commitment should a woman become pregnant; their compassion is redoubled should the woman enter a post-abortive state. They provide alternative solutions to pregnancy and to its aftermath – healthy and lifebreathing solutions for all concerned. If the state cannot bring itself to support these people, at least – for the love of God – get out of their way. Stop promising a simple bromide that taxpayers fund and which only makes the condition of these women more agonizing than it was before.
I beg of you to stop the state’s contribution to this ongoing pain in the hundreds of thousands of women who have been subsidized right into this pain by the state. Thank you for receiving my testimony.
James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships, The Holy Spirit and the End Times, and Kingdom in Pursuit – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at praynorthstate@charter.net
