By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
An abortion survivor intent on reaching out to women who are hurting after their abortion has posted 2,000 posters throughout the nation’s “abortion capital” – New York City – in order to lead them to a “safe place” for healing.
LifeSiteNews.com is reporting that this “safe place” is a website erected by abortion survivor Machaelene Fredenburg, 44, founder of Abortion Changes You.
After her abortion at age 18, Fredenburg described experiencing “periods of intense anger followed by periods of profound sadness. When my feelings became too difficult to deal with, I reached out for help from a trained counselor. With counseling and the help of supportive friends, I was able to enter into a healthy grieving process.”
Fredenburg wants to offer others the same help and includes a variety of resources on her site such as a page where individuals can enter their zip code and find local and national resrouces for professional counseling. Another section, called “healing pathways,” identifies potential networks of support, ways for individuals to work out their emotions “in a safe environment,” identifying harmful behaviors, and even submitting stories, artwork, and poetry as part of the healing process.
Unfortunately, some pro-abortion groups are accusing Fredenburg of having an anti-abortion agenda, something she finds regrettable. The highly-charged politicization around abortion only keeps those struggling with the aftershocks of an abortion “isolated and alone with the troubling emotions or the sadness that they have. Their pain or lack of pain shouldn’t be politicized,” she told LifeSite.
“We recognize that not everyone after an abortion is going to have difficulty, but we certainly know from experience that many do, and that can range from feelings of sadness … all the way to someone who isn’t functioning well, who has an extreme range,” she said. “So there is a whole range, but we feel that there needs to be acknowledgment and a place to go to begin that process [of healing].”
The site is already having an impact. One woman wrote to say she started crying when she spotted a poster while riding a train.
“At the time I felt it was my only choice. Even now, I feel I couldn’t have given him the amazing life he deserved. But, the thought that he just deserved a life period haunts me everyday … A part of me died in that sterile room the day he was terminated. This part of me will always ache for him, and wish he were here. But, I want to stop hating myself for what I did. How do I do that? Do I even deserve to?”
Fredenburg says this is just one of many heartrending stories of abortion she’s heard over the years, each of them unique, but all of them sharing one common thread – “abortion changes you.”
She’s hoping her campaign will help men and women find the healing they need after suffering the trauma of abortion.
If you know someone who’s hurting from abortion, ask them to visit http://www.abortionchangesyou.com/home
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