Voices are raised in defense of innocent life

Every voice raised in defense of life is crucial to our efforts in the pro-life movement. But those who are most uniquely qualified to speak on behalf of the unborn are the women and men of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign. They know first-hand and forever the pain of having lost a child to abortion. With conviction and immeasurable courage they proclaim that they regret their abortions.

Those who are no Silent No More hold signs in public gatherings that say “I Regret My Abortion”. This is the front line of the war for life. Since 2003, almost 3,500 men and women have given their testimony at 489 public gatherings in 48 states and seven countries. They tell their stories on videos that can be viewed by millions on YouTube and other web sites. But most significantly, they speak of their regret every year at the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court on January 22, the anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion throughout pregnancy.

Among the 45 speakers who will share their stories will be Margaret S., who, at 50, has not forgotten the mistake made by a 17-year-old girl in Brooklyn afraid of what her parents would think. She allowed that fear to make the “choice” for her. “I knew inside me it was wrong,” Margaret says. She remembers the waiting room of the clinic with its metal folding chairs. She remembers crying and being told by a nurse that she was being silly. She remembers the face of the doctor. And she remembers waking up, bleeding and in pain, in the grip of a pervasive sadness. “I knew it was a terrible sin,” she says. “I thought I was going to hell.”

Ultimately Margaret turned to God and sought healing and forgiveness to escape what she calls a “life of guilt and shame.” Convinced, finally, that God had forgiven her, she was able to forgive herself. She became Silent No More and two years ago found herself “shaking in my boots” in front of the Supreme Court. Prepared for ridicule, scorn and rejection from the crowd, she instead found compassion and welcome. “They actually hug you and thank you and they call you a hero. I’m not a hero though. It was my duty to tell my story.”

The culture of death won a decisive battle on Jan. 22, 1973 but the war is not over yet, and there is every indication that the tide is turning. Every opinion poll conducted over the last year has revealed more Americans as pro-life. Gallup puts us in the majority. Pew Forum and other respected surveyors report an even split, while the polling company inc. found, by digging beneath the surface of the issue, that when many people check themselves off in the pro-choice column, they are indicating support for abortion for women who are the victims of rape or incest or whose lives are endangered by the pregnancy. Support for abortion on demand and late-term abortion is on the wane.

Thanks to the debate over health care reform, more Americans are becoming aware of abortion and who pays for it. They resolutely do not want to pay for it with their tax dollars. This week’s election of Scott Brown express voters’ concerns about a majority party that has given up serving the will of the people in favor of serving the will of the president, and this president is more pro-abortion than any former occupant of the Oval Office.

But we can change the imbalance in Congress. This year’s elections will give voters all over the country the opportunity to choose candidates who will work for them, who will choose life. Pro-lifers must mobilize at the voting booth to elect those who will shape public policy in the direction we, the voters, want it to go. With every seat in the House of Representatives and at least 38 seats in the U.S. Senate at stake, now is the time to get to work. Abortion is not the only issue, but it is the foundational issue. And, as we are seeing in the effort to reform health care, it is pivotal.

The importance of a pro-life Senate cannot be overstated. Senators have the power to turn away judicial appointments. The more pro-life senators, the less likely it will be that a pro-abortion ideologue like the late Harry Blackmun, author of Roe v. Wade, will find his or her way to the high court.

The more Americans know about abortion, the better. The men and women of Silent No More are vital in raising this awareness. They brave frigid temperatures and the enmity of the pro-aborts to tell their stories in the very place where the killing of 50 million babies began. These women are tired of having pro-choice advocates pretend to speak for them. They want to tell the world, in their own words, that what is too easily celebrated as a "choice" and a "right" is in fact a painful burden.

No one can argue or disagree with a woman who has given up her anonymity to share her most private story in this very public place. Every story is different yet women of every age, race and income level have chosen to come together in this sisterhood of shared regret. They regret their abortions but they are empowered in their mission of saving babies and their mothers.

Rev. Frank Pavone is the National Director of Priests for Life. See his blog here.