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Last Updated: Friday - 09/24/2010

Week of May 24, 2004

'Silent No More' on abortions

Women speak out about their post abortion anguish at March for Life

By ART BABYCH
Canadian Catholic News
Ottawa

Georgette Forney was 16 years old when she had an abortion in Detroit. She thought it would be a simple procedure that would enable her to get on with her life quickly.

"It was not. It was awful," she says. "And for years I feared having other children, I used drugs and alcohol, I was promiscuous."

Sidetracked, she says, because of the emotional pain the abortion caused her, it wasn't until 19 years later that "I finally faced the truth and I finally found the forgiveness that God offers to all of us.

"And that forgiveness is available for everyone who has had an abortion."

Share the truth

Today, Forney is executive director of NOEL, a U.S.-based Anglican pro-life organization which, along with Priests for Life USA, co-sponsors the Silent No More Awareness Campaign - a national effort to "share the truth" about the emotional, spiritual and physical consequences of having an abortion.

Forney, more than a dozen other women and one man whose girlfriend had an abortion shared their stories on Parliament Hill May 14 with hundreds of people who had earlier taken part in the annual national March for Life through downtown Ottawa.

Angelina Steenstra, who operates a post-abortion counseling centre in Toronto called Second Chance, told of having an abortion in Buffalo, N.Y., at the age of 15 after she had been date raped.

"No one told me the consequences I would suffer," she said.

"No one told me about the physical aftermath, or the self hatred that I experienced after the abortion or the self-destructive behaviour - the drugs, alcohol and promiscuity to numb the pain."

Considering suicide, her turning point came when she called out for help after an invitation was made on a Christian TV show inviting people in trouble to call in.

Steenstra, who organized the event on Parliament Hill, told those gathered, "I want you to know that if you know someone who's having an abortion that help is available. There are many good programs in this country."

Father lost his voice

The only man in the group was Ottawa Christian recording artist David McDonald, who was in the cast of the U.S. national tour of "Cats."

After he and his girlfriend agreed to abort the couple's baby, he lost his voice and was forced to leave the company.

"I was 24 years old and I couldn't talk for three years, I did so much damage to my voice," he said.

"The very thing that I tried to protect with the abortion was gone," said McDonald.

"God removed it from me to wake me up and to show me what I had done to this little human being."

When he realized that abortion was murder, McDonald said he fell on his knees and asked God for forgiveness.

"I'm here as a testimony that men have feelings about abortion," he said. "But sometimes they are more silent."

The Silent No More campaign invites women to unite in "speaking the truth" about the negative effects of abortion.

Its web\site is www.silentnomoreawareness.org.

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