Their voices were heard loud and clear among the more than 100,000
people who attended this year's 31st annual March for Life in Washington,
D.C.
From all across the United States - and even from Canada - they came,
the latest vanguard in a growing movement that seeks to end an almost
conspiratorial silence about the myths of "safe and legal" abortion.
There were dozens of them, carrying placards and offering harrowing
testimonies about the physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual
devastation abortion had wreaked upon their lives.
In the midst of the National Silent No More Awareness Campaign demonstration
in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, there was a sense among the participants
that those who turned out were only a tiny fraction of the numbers that
would have materialized, if it weren't for the stigma that still surrounds
a procedure deemed by that same court as being perfectly in line with
the Constitution of Canada's neighbour to the south.
But great legal minds notwithstanding, no one could fool the women
who had "been there."
There
was actess Jennifer O'Neill, who shared how her abortion experience
ripped her marriage apart. Elvita King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King,
said her uncle would have attended the event if he was still alive.
She also told how her grandfather fortunately intervened in her life
to stop her from undergoing a second abortion episode.
Another woman, who had had her breasts removed, came forward as a living
verification of the abortion-breast cancer link.
"There were things that were the same in every story, but every story
is also unique," said Angelina Steenstra, a co-founder of Second Chance
Ministries who travelled from the Toronto area to attend the Silent
No More event.
Steenstra was no stranger to testimonies about the negative effects
of abortion, as she regularly counsels women in such circumstances through
her work with Second Chance.
"It was quite an experience to be there. It's certainly been a desire
of my heart to see men and women mobilize and come out to speak about
what's happened in their lives. It takes an incredible amount of courage."
The National Silent No More Awareness Campaign was founded by two women
who had their own abortion experiences and who went on to assist others
with post-abortion recovery: Georgette Forney, executive director of
the National Organization of Episcopalians for Life, and Janet Morana,
associate director of Priests for Life.
The campaign as a whole seeks to make the public aware of the devastation
abortion brings to women, men and their families. It also seeks to expose
and heal the wounds of abortion upon them, and to break the shroud of
secrecy and silence that has surrounded the issue for decades.
The campaign is a corollary to Operation Outcry, an effort that works
in the legal sphere by collecting and compiling legal documents that
can be used in a court of law.
The campaign itself, however, has no legal or political agenda. It
functions under the premise that abortion must be addressed on many
fronts, and that one of the most effective is by making the option of
abortion unthinable to a pregnant woman.
(More information on the U.S. National Silent No More Awareness Campaign
can be found at the movement's website: www.SilentNoMoreAwareness.org.
See the February Interim for details on a Canadian Silent No More campaign
to obtain legal affidavits from women who feel they've been harmed in
some way by their abortion experiences.)
"It's gaining momentum," said Steenstra of the Washington event, which
she first learned of last year in the pages of The Interim. "I went
for the purpose of participating. This was my first experience joining
with women to tell the truth about what abortion did to our lives in
three minutes or less. I've never been together with that many people.
The stories were incredible."
The demonstration began with a gathering at a "safe haven" shortly
before the end of the main march through the streets of the city. Participants
then walked two-by-two toward the Supreme Court building, holding vigil
lights and signs reading, "I regret my abortion."
At the court, the testimonies began - or, as Steenstra put, "the lies"
about abortion were exposed.
In listening to Elvita King, Steenstra was reminded of the immortal
words of Dr. Martin Luther King in his "I Have a Dream" speech.
"That was very profound for me, because several years ago, I was prompted
to read that speech before I spoke at the Canadian March for Life in
Ottawa. His words, 'I have a dream,' stood out for me. I remember saying
publicly that I have a dream that one day, from coast to coast, men
and women will stand up and tell the truth (about abortion)."
Steenstra recalled a 19-year-old girl who stood up in Washington and
told how devastated she was after being administered the RU-486 "abortion
pill." The girl said she was told nothing about what RU-486 would do
to her.
But there were not only young women, speaking of recent abortion experiences,
making their voices heard in Washington. Others were telling of what
happened to them in the early 1970s.
The rally was an official part of the March for Life and was endorsed
by it. Many who took part in the Silent No More event also participated
in the main march, carrying their " I regret my abortion" signs.
A contingent of them plans to be present in Washington again in April,
when the pro-abortion faction rallies for what it sees as women's rights.
The need to work at the local level to assist men and women damaged
by abortion experiences is greater than ever. Organizations such as
Steenstra's Second Chance Ministries are a vital resource for the legions
of women - now numbering in the millions in the U.S. and hundreds of
thousands in Canada - who have undergone abortions.
As this issue went to press, a receptionist at the Campaign Life Coalition
national office in Toronto told The Interim of a recent call she took
from a woman in her 30s, who described how devastated she still is by
an abortion she underwent as a college student at 17: "She was crying
on the phone," said the receptionist. "She felt sad and guilty. She
said it almost destroyed her life."
