“We live in a fallen world.”
We’ve all heard this statement. Maybe even a few too many times, enough that it hurts a little.
And when it comes to the issue of abortion, it probably hurts even more. For some of us, it strikes more personally.
If you’re like me, you’ve wondered what it was like to live in the Garden of Eden before the first sin was committed—the sin that corrupted all of humanity and brought pain, suffering, and death into the world.
You might even wonder, how on earth could Adam and Eve sin when they had everything? They had perfect lives, they lived in a perfect world, and they had perfect access to a perfect God. Why did they have to mess it all up?
But we find ourselves asking the same question sometimes, don’t we?
“Why did I have to mess it all up?”
What does it take for us to realize we made a mistake?
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Oftentimes, it’s making the mistake in the first place.
One of the most striking realizations I’ve had during my time answering calls on the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN) hotline is how similar an experience the women who call our hotline have to the experience Adam and Eve had in the Garden of Eden when they sinned.
All it took for Adam and Eve to realize what they did was wrong was taking the step to go against God and do what He said not to do.
All it takes for the women who start their chemical abortions to realize what they did was wrong was starting the chemical abortions in the first place.
Adam and Eve each took a bite of the forbidden fruit, and their eyes were opened. The women swallow the first abortion pill, and their eyes are opened.
It may have seemed like the right choice before they took that first pill, and they may have even been dead set on their decision. But as soon as they take that pill, that’s all it takes for them to truly realize what they have done.
They just started an attempt on their babies’ lives. And their babies were on their way to die.
Since the reversal of Roe v. Wade, our hotline has been receiving more calls from women while they are far from home, states away from where they live, either because they flew or drove to another state to get the abortion pills.
Many have driven several hours or flown hundreds of miles to go to a clinic and obtain these pills to end their pregnancies, only to realize after starting the process that they were about to end their babies’ lives.
I can’t help but think what a strikingly different headspace these women have from the time they start a long journey to an abortion facility to their journey back home.
On their way to the abortion clinic, they are thinking about abortion. Before they even get home, they are thinking about their babies.
Sometimes women call our hotline within the first few minutes or first few hours of taking the first abortion pill.
We recently had a woman contact us from Europe just 10 minutes after taking the first pill. It doesn’t take long for these women to realize what they’ve done and that they’ve been lied to by the abortion industry, just like Adam and Eve realized after they ate of the forbidden fruit that they had been lied to by the serpent in the garden.
After serving on the hotline for the past two-and-a-half years, their cries for help are all too familiar to me now and all very similar.
Some of them might not have even been sure about their decision, but they took the first pill anyway. The circumstances that led them to choose abortion may all be slightly different, but in the end, they all bear the same regret.
“I took the first abortion pill, but I don’t want to continue the abortion anymore.”
“I took the first pill, but I don’t want to take the second set of pills.”
“I started the abortion, but it was the wrong choice.”
“I took the first pill, but I’m having second thoughts.”
“I took the first abortion pill, and I really regret my decision.”
And then:
“I want to know if it’s possible to reverse this.”
“I want to know my chances of my pregnancy continuing.”
“I want to know if my baby will still be healthy.”
“I want to keep my baby.”
“I want to reverse.”
Just like in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened after they ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and did the one thing God commanded them not to do, they realized what they had done.
Their eyes were opened.
When they’ve realized the gravity of what they had just started, they search for a way to undo what they’ve done, and by the grace of God, they find us and have the courage to call.
To ask for a second chance.
Another option.
A better choice.
A way to save their babies.
And by the grace of God, we can provide them with the opportunity to reverse and hopefully be able to continue their pregnancies.
According to initial studies, 64-68% of reversal attempts are successful, and statistics show that over 4,000 lives have been saved through the abortion pill reversal treatment.
That’s over 4,000 living, breathing, unique human beings born to over 4,000 grateful, joyful mothers.
We all make mistakes in life. While sometimes we wish we didn’t, so that we don’t have regrets later, sometimes it really does take making the wrong choice to realize it was the wrong choice.
And thankfully, God in His mercy provides a way out.
A way to make the right choice.
A way to get back up after we’ve fallen down.
While we may not be able to undo some mistakes in life, we can still move forward, forgiven and redeemed, because of the love God showed for us by sending His Son Jesus to pay the penalty of all our mistakes, past, present, and future.
God provided a way for humanity to be reconciled to Himself after the fall in the Garden of Eden. And He has provided a way for women who regret their decision to abort with a way to save their pregnancies and have their babies through the abortion pill reversal process.
What a mighty, sovereign, Provider God we serve!
Even though we are human, and we are prone to wander, prone to make mistakes, and prone to sin, we have a gracious and merciful God who stands ready to love and forgive us no matter what we may have done.
1 John 2:1-2 says, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”
And we are reminded in Psalms 103:8, 10-12: “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love…he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
Truly, the fall in the Garden of Eden wasn’t the end. It was only the beginning of the redemption story God was writing.
Similarly, the women who start the chemical abortion process may feel like it’s the end. But not all hope is lost. It may just be the start of a beautiful redemption story, the story of another life saved by the abortion pill reversal treatment, a second chance at choice.
And even if a reversal attempt is unsuccessful, we were able to provide hope. And those on our hotline team and the women who call our hotline can take comfort in knowing that God is the God of love, forgiveness, redemption, and restoration. He extends all of this to all who come to Him and call on His Name.
So let us continue to pray and persevere in our work in the pregnancy help movement. We may not be in the Garden of Eden anymore, but by the grace of God and Jesus’ sacrifice for us, we have moved from darkness into the light and can bring others from darkness into the light with us, too.
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN) and Pregnancy Help News.
