The Failure of Abortion by Katherine Marple
Katherine Marple is one of my heroes, and continually challenges me to be more active, but also more thoughtful and compassionate in pro-life work. Katherine is a Protestant pastor, and founder of Keep Life Legal, a pro-life group based in Ohio. She has kindly allowed me to reproduce her 5-part series which investigates reasons why women choose abortion instead of life for their children.
THE FAILURE OF ABORTION – Learn to Heal, Restore and Forgive.
INTRODUCTION
‘The Failure of Abortion’ is a five part series examining why we ended up on the abortionist’s table. Women are life-givers; women are entrusted by God to give life through birth, not take it. God gives us every tool we will ever need to be a parent. He has not and will not forsake anyone because they chose LIFE. But abortion happens every day, at least 4000 times per day just in the United States alone.
There is only one reason why we abort: FAILURE. Yes, failure - because there is not one good reason or purpose for aborting an unborn child; thus the answer to the abortion question is always FAILURE. Do NOT let the 1% (rape/incest/abnormalities) sway you to choose abortion and NEVER let the 1% take away your restoration or keep you from being 100% PROLIFE.
Think of the Parable of the Lost Sheep:
“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.”
Luke 15:4-7
This series is for post-abortive and pre-abortive women and men.
It is always the goal of KeepLifeLegal to steer the pre-abortive to parenthood instead of abortion death; however at least 1/3 of women and girls in the United States is post-abortive and need to heal. In order to heal we need to forgive and we need to be valuable once again – we also need to accept the fact that we failed along the way to get us to where we are today. Our failure can be our gain if we face it, accept it and forgive.
We will look at 5 types of failure that causes women and girls to abort:
Failure in Right Relationships
Failure in Right Decisions
Failure in the System/Government
Failure in the Church
Failure in Forgiveness
Failure is a tough word to swallow, it’s like this horrible demon that follows us and torments us wherever we go as a continual reminder of our indiscretions and carelessness of our lives. We did not end up on the abortionist’s table with the beaming smile of a martyr; we are not there because it is for the ‘best’ - we are there because we are broken and FAILED miserably.
Ultimately, we will understand that through failure we can forgive and be forgiven for our abortion failure. Is our affliction too hard to overcome? Nothing is too hard for God and He means for you to be healed, restored and FORGIVEN.
NEVER forget that YOU are also made in His image and created for such a time as this:
“For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Esther 4:14
THE FAILURE OF ABORTION, PART 1 - Failure in Right Relationships
How did we get here? What was the sequence of events that led us to the abortionist’s table? How did we ever get to the point in our lives that sacrificing a living unborn human being to be the right answer to anything? Who told you the lie that abortion is ever a right answer?
Our failure in right relationships is key to where we are in our lives, particularly in abortion failure. Think of the sequence:
- Met him/her (yes, men are post-abortive)
- had sexual relations without the benefit of marriage
- pregnancy became the result of the sexual relationship.
As elementary as that sounds, many other factors are in the mix. Being pregnant and unmarried brings in a plethora of people that feel they have the right to end your pregnancy. Think you’re alone? THINK AGAIN.
Who are the usual suspects in deciding your unborn baby’s fate? Remember, these people want your baby to die an abortion death for THEIR benefit:
- Parents. Yes, parents. Right now, they are worried about themselves, not you
- Boyfriend/Girlfriend. This is when you find out how they really feel about you, or DON’T feel about you.
- Friends. Incredibly, everyone has either had an abortion or knows someone close that has and they say they got over it
- Extended Family. This is where you find out about all of your post-abortive family members. Prepare to be amazed.
The father (or mother) of the baby, parents, friends and extended family feel they can make this decision for you, to protect you. They know better than you, they know what is best for you and have NO problem letting you know that your baby is about to ruin your life. However, the opposite is true: YOUR UNBORN BABY is going to ruin their lives, their reputation and their finances. What they don’t realize or CARE about is that it is your life that will change forever if you end the life of your unborn baby. The grief is immeasurable; the grief is forever and no one else will go through it but you.
These failed relationships mentioned in the paragraphs above are what brought us to the abortionist’s table - believing we are doing some kind of great humanitarian work by silencing the life of another to soothe a temporary situation FOR THEM. After abortion, everyone’s agenda becomes clear.
Our personal failure in relationships is not something that happened overnight. We procured and fed these relationships because of our own need to be accepted. We reluctantly gave in to social pressure because of our need for acceptance in the culture of the world. We lose our innocence; we maintain a steady quiet reluctance - all for the love we feel we need in order to survive. In the eyes of the world we have passed the test and now on our way to losing any respect we had for ourselves.
“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”
Genesis 3:8
We hide these failed relationships and what it has produced but what we really fail to do is know that God sees and hears everything. We cannot hide our abortion failure from God even though we make a nice front for everyone else. The failure of abortion results from years of wrong relationships. We trust, we get hurt. We love, we are abandoned. We get abort, we are ostracized. We expected more, we are let down.
But there is good news! Yes, we lost our baby to abortion. Yes, we are ostracized (thankfully!) from the social circle that led us to the abortionist’s table….but God has not left you! We ignored Him, we set Him aside…and worse yet we didn’t believe in Him anymore: “And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.” Deuteronomy 31:8
As this verse says, God goes before us to where we are about to go to save us from what the world will take from us. I FIRMLY believe that my abortion experience is where I went before you to show you that there is a better way than abortion. God knows what He is doing and He has used the afflicted to counsel you.
In finding right relationships, we look for more than the obvious…we look for the love of God rather than the love of the world, we think twice instead of not at all, and we are patient for the Glory that God has for us. And most of all, we ENDURE:
“But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”
Matthew 24:13
Part 2: Failure in Right Decisions
Part 3: Failure in the System/Government
Part 4: Failure in the Church
Part 5: Failure in Forgiveness
