By: Rebekah Geer
I stood in the outdoor rotunda of the Texas Capitol in Austin as a woman gave her pro-life testimony. I still couldn’t believe that I was standing in the exact spot that I’d seen on Youtube only a week earlier, where a group of pro-abortionists chanted “Hail Satan!”
As I stood there taking it all in, a young woman in a burnt orange shirt approached me–“Did Wendy tell you that?”, she demanded. She was referring to my sign that I made on the bus trip down. It said, “Wendy stands with Gosnell.”
“Well no, she didn’t but…” “No?”, she interrupted, “Then you’re gossiping aren’t you? Doesn’t your religion also teach against that?” I did my best to remain calm as I talked with her. I explained that I was from Pennsylvania (home of the Gosnell “House of Horrors”) and that the regulations Wendy Davis filibustered to stop were aimed at preventing any “Texas Gosnells.”
I told her I do care about women as well as babies, and this bill will protect both. She kept arguing with me and remained very defensive. Then something happened. I can’t explain what caused it, but her demeanor suddenly changed. She confessed to me that she’d had an abortion last year. Later that year her fiance died. “I wish I hadn’t had the abortion…I wish I had part of my fiance with me. Now I’m alone.”
Her story struck me. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry you had to go through that,” I told her. “I’ll be praying for you.”
“Thanks for your compassion,” she said. Then said turned, told me her group was leaving the rotunda and walked away.
I didn’t forget this woman for the rest of the week. She came out to the Capitol wearing orange with all the other pro-abortionists–with those screaming, holding offensive signs, chanting “hail Satan” among other things, with a look of hate in their eyes. But even this woman who came with them is the testament to what abortion is and what the pro-life cause is all about.
Obviously the Pro-Life movement’s greatest objective is to save the lives of innocent pre-born children. But it’s more than that. It is also to expose the lies these women have been made to believe.
We know abortion hurts women physically. Today I learned of another heartbreaking story — of Tonya Reaves, a young Illinois woman who was left to bleed to death inside the clinic after her abortion. No one called for an ambulance–no one did anything. This was not at the Gosnell clinic–Tonya died at a Planned Parenthood–America’s largest and most lucrative abortion provider.
While she may not fully realize it yet, that young woman I spoke to in Austin has been hurt by abortion. She was told a lie–a lie Planned Parenthood has fed her and thousands of other women–that their lives will be better if they “terminate their pregnancy”, that having a baby will ruin their life, that an “unwanted” baby is a worthless baby. This woman believed that lie. Now her baby is dead, and as she said, she is alone.
I’ll be honest–at times it was hard to feel compassion for the protestors. Signs like “no rape babies”, “hoes before embryos” and ones profanity-laced. This, along with the hatred that I felt they had towards me and all those representing life, it was hard to maintain a loving attitude.
But after this encounter, I saw all the protesters through a different lens. While their actions were extremely offensive, I wondered, “How many of these women have had abortions? How many of them have been fed this lie? How many of them still ache because of the “choice” they made?” Abortion doesn’t just kill babies, it hurts women.
Rebekah is a summer intern with the Pennsylvania Family Institute.
Read Part One Here: http://thecapitolwatch.com/2013/07/my-road-trip-for-life/
