The month of April has been designated Abortion Recovery Awareness Month. Did you know that since 1973, there have been more than 63 million abortions in the United States? That means that more than 126 million men and women have suffered from the aftermath of abortion, including things like grief over ending the life of their child, shame, and sometimes even PTSD and medical side affects. Did you know that many post-abortive individuals are inside our churches and need our help, love, and compassion?
Did you know?
- About 1 in 4 American women have had at least one abortion.
- 70% (or 7 in 10) post abortive women identify as Christians
- 36-40% report attending church regularly at the time when they chose abortion
- 51%+ of those regular churchgoers still haven’t told anyone at church about their abortion and “don’t believe churches have a ministry prepared to discuss options during an unplanned pregnancy.”1
Lifeway Research goes on to report that most women who have abortions don’t look to the church for healing or help recovering “because most don’t see the church or the people there as safe and feel they will be judged, not loved.” Others cite fear of gossip within the church. Post-abortive women (and men) need the love of Jesus to find forgiveness, redemption, healing, hope, and freedom. It’s up to God’s people to meet them where they are and share the hope and love of Jesus. (See Galatians 6:2, James 5:16, and Titus 2:4-8).
Post-abortive women (and men) need the love of Jesus to find forgiveness, redemption, healing, hope, and freedom. It’s up to God’s people to meet them where they are.
How the Church Can Help:
- Talk About It & Teach The Truth: Yes, abortion is a grievous sin, but we have a mighty Savior who can cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Abortion is not too great a sin for our God to forgive and like the father of the prodigal son, He is waiting with open arms with love and forgiveness to lift the heavy burdens of those who ended a pregnancy.
- Create a culture that is pro-life, no matter the circumstances of conception: The Lifeway study shows that some women (especially women already inside the church) has abortions in part becasue of fear of how others would respond to having a child out of wedlock. In cases of rape and other violence, the enemy of our souls loves to pray on wounded women and add to their brokenness with more lies. After all, he come to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10), but Jesus brings abundant life. A life conceived in rape or out of wedlock or in some other circumstance is still a life created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and is precious in God’s site. We need to challenge our brothers and sisters in Christ to find ways to walk alongside and support women in choosing life in every circumstance.
- Cut the Gossip and Judgement: Scripture is clear that gossip has no place in the Kingdom of God, and as Jesus taught, “Judge not, lest ye be judged (Matthew 7:1).” Proverbs 18:21 teaches that the very power of life and death are in the tongue and Ephesians 4:29 beseeches us to use the power of speech to build others up according to their needs in Christ, rather than tearing them down. The culture in the body of Christ needs redemption and must conform to the Word of God. You can be a part of the solution by leading by example. Pray and ask the Lord to help you “take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ” before you ever speak it (2nd Corinthians 10:5).
- Encourage people to Surrender the Secret: Healing and freedom happen when we repent of our sins to Jesus and confess them to one another. James 5:16 says, “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” Pastor & Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote of unconfessed sin, “Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disastrous is his isolation. Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light. In the darkness of the unexpressed it poisons the whole being of a person. This can happen even in the midst of a pious community. In confession the light of the Gospel breaks into the darkness and seclusion of the heart. The sin must be brought into the light. The unexpressed must be openly spoken and acknowledged. All that is secret and hidden is made manifest. It is a hard struggle until the sin is openly admitted. But God breaks gates of brass and bars of iron (Ps. 107:16).” There is power and freedom in bringing things out into the light.
- Offer Bible Study, Counseling, & Support: Romans 1:16 teaches us that the Word of God is a powerful part of healing an restoration- it “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” When we teach and disciple one another in the Word (Titus 2:4-8) and obey the teaching of the Word to carry one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2), immense blessing and beauty follow.
Find more resources to help women and men heal from abortion from our friends at Family Life Radio here: https://www.focusonthefamily.com/get-help/post-abortive-recovery-resources/
- Lifeway Research. “7 in 10 Women Who Have Had an Abortion Identify as a Christian”. December 3, 2021. https://research.lifeway.com/2021/12/03/7-in-10-women-who-have-had-an-abortion-identify-as-a-christian/ ↩︎
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