A mental health professional and abortion survivor refuted an actress’s tweet justifying abortion recently with some reality about the procedure and its negative effects.
“Because I knew I wasn’t ready in any possible way,” Amy Brenneman had tweeted, presumably in explanation for having had an abortion. “My mother made the same decision, as did 1 in 4 of us.”
Robin Atkins, a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and new Associate Scholar for the Charlotte Lozier Institute, spoke in response from her own personal experience with abortion.
“I am 1 in 4,” Atkins said. “Abortion didn't solve any of the issues I was struggling with. It just deconstructed my healthy biology and ended the life of my son. Our society is so broken that we think women's bodies are a problem and/or a costume.”
I am 1 in 4. Abortion didn't solve any of the issues I was struggling with. It just deconstructed my healthy biology and ended the life of my son. Our society is so broken that we think women's bodies are a problem and/or a costume. https://t.co/EEFQdQCy6V
— ?Robin Atkins? (@TruthAgape) October 28, 2022
Our society is indeed broken. Women are capable, beautiful, incredible creations.
But what is ringing so loudly in their ears?
“You can’t … you’re not capable … you can only succeed if ….”
You finish the sentence and many of the responses lead a woman to feel trapped and isolated - believing the lie that the only solution to her challenging pregnancy is abortion.
Ms. Atkins boldly speaks to this lie. She experienced the lie firsthand; and what good has come from it besides more brokenness?
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False compassion; let’s talk about what it means to have compassion for someone in a manner that sounds good, but is superficial and convenient and lacks components of true compassion.
Telling a woman that ending the life of her unborn child to solve a problem she may be facing is a form of false compassion.
Tweet This: Telling a woman that ending the life of her unborn child to solve a problem she may be facing is a form of false compassion.
You can pick any number of major hurdles: the child is a product of rape, financial crisis, job loss, homelessness, single parenthood, etc.
But can anyone please explain to that woman who is being referred for abortion exactly HOW abortion is going to solve her problem?
Tweet This: Pick any hurdle; but can anyone explain to the woman who is being referred for abortion exactly HOW abortion is going to solve her problem?
In essence it is the easy way out for the one making the recommendation to abort the child. It is the “get out of jail free card” for the partner and father of the child who doesn’t want to be involved, the quick fix so friends and families don’t have to offer additional support, or so employers don’t have to step up to actually care for women, etc., etc.
In the case of rape, this false compassion manifests itself as the child receiving a harsher punishment than the perpetrator of the insidious violence and the mother being told that passing this violence along to her unborn child will somehow heal her pain or erase the terrible crime.
The two victims in this case should both be recipients of true compassion, nothing less, and sufficient justification for the elimination of a life to fix a problem has yet to be put forth.
And Ms. Atkins apparently agrees.
Her abortion experience like that of so many others (yes, contrary to popular narratives) bears the harsh reality that ending the life of your own child solves nothing - it only adds to the pain, shame, and sorrow that already existed.
What if women just wanted, needed, and demanded love?
I’m not talking about false compassion. I’m talking agape love. The kind that lays down its life for that of another. The kind that sacrifices and serves.
What if as a culture we actually listened to Ms. Atkins’ heart (and all those like her) and attended to the needs that she had before she chose abortion?
What if instead of demonizing places and people that give of their time, energy, and resources to support women in their time of need, we poured into them and built them up?
What if we deconstructed the narrative that women are incapable and replaced it with the essence of true empowerment - selfless giving to strengthen someone into a position of championing their needs?
Tweet This: What if instead of demonizing places & people who give their time, energy & resources to support women, we poured into them & built them up?
Ms. Atkins, we stand ready to love you and all of those who are experiencing the grief, trauma, and destruction that abortion has brought to your life.
Why?
Because that is true compassion.
No woman should ever feel as though abortion is her only choice and no woman should ever walk the long road of recovery after abortion alone.
You are not alone; the pregnancy help world is ready to walk your healing journey with you.
Editor's note: Help is available 24/7 from Option Line at OptionLine.org, or by calling or texting 1-800-712-4357. Post-abortion healing resources are available HERE.
