Guest post by Janet Morana, Executive Director of Priests for Life
Every January since 2003, the Silent No More Awareness Campaign has played an integral role at the March for Life in Washington, D.C. Through blizzards and rainstorms and the occasional balmy day, women and men whose children were killed by abortion stand in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building to talk about the worst choice they ever made, a choice made possible by 1973’s Roe v. Wade decision.
For many years, March founder Nellie Gray invited women from Silent No More to stand on the rally stage holding signs that say, “I Regret My Abortion.” Others, sometimes numbering more than 60, would march holding those signs and then, as marchers reached the Supreme Court, the testimonies would begin.
Every single one breaks my heart.
Ending abortion requires exposing abortion: Showing what it does to the baby, showing what it does to the mother and everyone else. The testimonies given at this gathering expose that damage, as the moms describe how they were deceived into thinking abortion was a solution to their problems, but how they learned – too late – that it only created more problems.
Rather than being a separate organization, Silent No More is a joint project of two groups, Priests for Life and Anglicans for Life. I founded the campaign with Anglicans for Life President Georgette Forney because we were convinced that the voices of women who had gone through an abortion could never be drowned out by those who – implying that they speak for all women — insist that legal abortion is the key to women’s happiness.
Experience trumps rhetoric, as we like to say.
The first year of the campaign, only mothers spoke about their experiences. Men joined the following year, with Silent No More in the vanguard of bringing recognition to the fact that abortion hurts men, too, no matter what role they played. Some coerced their partners into it. Others tried to save their babies but could not. Many, many others fall into the category of supporting either decision. All of them came to regret their lost fatherhood.
In 2015, Silent No More launched Healing the Shockwaves of Abortion, an initiative to give voice to the many people who are impacted by abortion, beyond mom, dad and baby. Grandparents mourn their lost grandchildren. Brothers and sisters miss their sibling. By comparing abortion to an earthquake whose violent shockwaves unsettle the earth for hundreds of miles around the epicenter, we were able to show that even abortion mill workers and pro-life activists are wounded by abortion.
At the March for Life that year for the first time, we had a former abortionist marching – and testifying – alongside siblings, grandparents and parents of aborted children. It was among the most powerful experiences in my more than 35 years working to abolish abortion.
The women and men of Silent No More speak out at state marches and pro-life events all over the country and throughout the world. But even though Roe v. Wade was overturned, they continue to return to the March for Life in D.C. every year to educate the public about the harm of abortion, to dissuade people from submitting to it, to offer the possibility of healing to those suffering from a past abortion, and to give hope to all sinners, for whom the Savior has come.
If you will be attending the March for Life on Jan. 24, make sure to end your day outside the Supreme Court to hear the testimonies of these courageous women and men who made the wrong choice and want to prevent others from doing the same. Likewise, if you will be at the Walk for Life West Coast the next day, join the Silent No More Gathering just prior to the main rally.
Find more details of these events at ProLifeMarch.org
Janet Morana is the executive director of Priests for Life and the author of Everything You Need to Know About Abortion – For Teens.
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