Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - November 22, 2021


Ep 527 | Healing from Abortion & Using Your Story for Good | Guest: Victoria Robinson


Episode Stats

Length

53 minutes

Words per Minute

190.4377

Word Count

10,210

Sentence Count

708

Misogynist Sentences

60

Hate Speech Sentences

32


Summary

In this episode, my friend Victoria Robinson shares her story of how she became a pro-life advocate and how she overcame the trauma of having an abortion. She also shares some tools for those who have had an abortion and those who know someone who has.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable.
00:00:10.780 I've got a treat for you today.
00:00:12.180 I am talking to a pro-life activist and advocate, Victoria Robinson.
00:00:18.820 She works with women who have had abortions.
00:00:22.000 She also helps men heal from the experience of abortion that the mother of their child
00:00:30.820 went through.
00:00:31.540 And she just has so much wisdom, so much godly encouragement for us today.
00:00:36.280 I'm really excited for you to hear her story, how she became such an outspoken advocate,
00:00:41.900 how she came to do what she does now.
00:00:43.900 She's also going to give us some tools for us who are pro-life and who have relationships
00:00:50.340 with people who have had an abortion, or we have friends who are dealing with an unplanned
00:00:56.700 pregnancy, how we love those people, how we balance accountability through the law with
00:01:02.100 love and nurturing for people who have experienced or who are considering abortion.
00:01:06.580 So without further ado, here is my friend, Victoria Robinson.
00:01:11.940 Victoria, thank you so much for joining us.
00:01:14.640 Can you tell everyone who you are and what you do?
00:01:16.480 I would love to.
00:01:17.320 First, thank you for having me.
00:01:18.760 Of course.
00:01:18.920 I've always been a big fan.
00:01:20.340 I am Victoria Robinson, and I have been working in pro-life issues.
00:01:24.580 I guess you'd say I'm an activist, a pro-life activist for 25 years now, I think.
00:01:29.200 Wow.
00:01:29.720 I've been working with men and women as well who have had abortions with recovery from
00:01:34.620 the trauma that happens after that.
00:01:36.600 So I speak at different events across the country, fundraising events for pregnancy resource
00:01:41.180 centers, and I'm just anything pro-life, I'm involved in it somehow, or I try to be.
00:01:47.280 And I want to talk a little bit more about that because you do work with women who have
00:01:51.980 had abortions, and you've also talked to a lot of men who's the mother of their child
00:01:56.820 had an abortion.
00:01:57.620 So you know a lot about the trauma aspect of it, which we don't talk about quite as much
00:02:01.900 because we're so dedicated to changing people's minds beforehand.
00:02:05.720 But that's a big aspect of it, the post-trauma.
00:02:10.240 Before we get into that, though, I want the people who don't know a little bit about your
00:02:13.960 story, why you got into this pro-life work, if you could just fill us in on that.
00:02:18.240 Okay.
00:02:19.760 Unfortunately, I got involved because I chose abortion over 30 years ago.
00:02:23.420 I was a single mother with two little girls.
00:02:25.780 They were nine months and three months old when, or three years old when their dad decided
00:02:30.560 he didn't want to be married anymore.
00:02:32.420 So he left.
00:02:33.560 So here I was, this desperate single mother who had to work two jobs just to feed them and
00:02:38.860 take care of them, dropping them off at daycare every morning at six, picking them up every
00:02:43.180 night at six.
00:02:43.800 I was working as a real estate paralegal.
00:02:46.500 And also on the weekends, I worked at a health club.
00:02:49.320 So I tell you that because it was a really tough time in my life, Allie.
00:02:52.880 And I met a guy at my second job.
00:02:56.440 We fell madly in love.
00:02:57.680 My self-esteem had already been shot to pieces from my husband leaving.
00:03:01.980 And nine months later, I was pregnant.
00:03:04.120 I called the abortion clinic in Charlotte, North Carolina, told her my story about my
00:03:09.500 husband leaving, about now being pregnant.
00:03:12.860 I'm unwed.
00:03:13.700 I have these two little girls.
00:03:15.060 And she convinced me that there was nothing there, but nothing more than a blob of tissue,
00:03:19.700 a clump of cells.
00:03:20.580 And I'd be really selfish, is what she said, to have another child when I could barely take
00:03:25.960 care of the two I had.
00:03:26.980 My boyfriend was saying, let's do this.
00:03:29.060 We can have kids later when we get married.
00:03:31.760 All of those things that, you know, when you're so desperate, you're very vulnerable.
00:03:36.480 And I bought into the lies.
00:03:39.200 So on a Saturday morning, I drove myself to an abortion clinic, same one in Charlotte, and
00:03:44.580 chose abortion.
00:03:45.580 It wrecked me.
00:03:46.680 It changed who I was.
00:03:48.560 The woman I was that walked in wasn't the same one who walked out.
00:03:52.060 I knew my life was never going to be the same.
00:03:54.360 But I kept that secret for over a decade before I finally walked into a pregnancy center and
00:04:00.620 spoke to the director there, told her my story, and asked her for help.
00:04:04.360 And she said, let's get you an after-abortion recovery.
00:04:07.080 And that's what she did.
00:04:08.000 And it changed my life.
00:04:09.400 So I knew after that that I had no choice but to share what I'd been through for other
00:04:16.100 women, first of all, to not make the same choice and realize there are other options
00:04:20.240 besides abortion, much better options.
00:04:23.420 And that if they'd already chosen abortion, they could find healing through recovery.
00:04:29.300 What was the motivator to go to the pregnancy center after a decade of secrecy and silence?
00:04:38.520 Was there something that happened that made you realize, okay, I've got to talk to someone
00:04:42.880 about this?
00:04:43.960 So many things.
00:04:45.120 I would say in those 10 years, I felt such guilt and shame.
00:04:49.380 I got involved in my church.
00:04:50.680 I became a Christian, if you will, and thought, if I say enough to the church, yes, I'll lead
00:04:56.900 worship.
00:04:57.960 Yes, I'll work in the nursery.
00:04:59.440 Yes, I'll do whatever you need me to do.
00:05:01.520 I would stop feeling those feelings of pain and regret.
00:05:06.320 And then I felt so rejected by God that I knew if people knew my secret, they would reject
00:05:11.000 me for sure.
00:05:12.160 So nobody knew.
00:05:13.800 So all of these years, I started getting more and more involved in church.
00:05:17.300 And women started coming to me, Allie, telling me about their abortion story.
00:05:20.680 Not knowing I had my own.
00:05:23.340 For whatever reason, I know now why, but at the time I didn't.
00:05:27.040 I felt like God was torturing me, basically.
00:05:29.600 They would come and whisper in my ear and say, I had an abortion.
00:05:33.560 Can you help me?
00:05:34.740 Can you pray with me?
00:05:35.780 I can't get over it.
00:05:37.140 And I get so angry, Allie, honestly, with God.
00:05:40.100 And I did.
00:05:40.880 I got really mad, more mad at him, thinking, you hate me so much that you want these women
00:05:46.780 to always signal or choose me and seek me out to tell their stories so that I can continually
00:05:53.960 be reminded of what I'd done.
00:05:55.700 Well, there was a woman in my church named Mary who was the director of the pregnancy
00:06:00.780 center.
00:06:01.200 And for about three years, she kept approaching me at church saying, you should come volunteer
00:06:06.360 at our pregnancy center, Victoria.
00:06:08.480 And you'd be so good.
00:06:09.800 You're really good with the youth groups here.
00:06:12.320 And I'd say, yes, sure, Mary, I will.
00:06:14.720 And then I'd go back to God and say, what are you?
00:06:17.380 There you go again.
00:06:18.260 And for about three years, that went on.
00:06:21.920 And there was a particular woman that came to me at a women's event.
00:06:26.140 And I was standing at the altar to pray with women because I was part of the women's ministry
00:06:30.640 team, even though I felt like a fraud, Allie, because they didn't know about my abortion.
00:06:36.400 But once again, trying everything I could to make me not feel so bad about myself.
00:06:41.560 And so this woman came to me, and she was a prominent person in the community and whispered
00:06:48.440 in my ear again, like so many before, telling me her story.
00:06:52.040 And she was so broken.
00:06:54.600 And I just, at that moment, I prayed with her and watched God transform her, as he had
00:07:00.620 with many others before.
00:07:01.840 But for whatever reason, this particular time was the one that got me.
00:07:07.400 And I went home, and I had it out with my creator.
00:07:12.360 I mean, it was pretty ugly.
00:07:14.720 And I kept putting my fist up to him and saying, why, why, why, why do you heal everyone but
00:07:21.220 me?
00:07:21.700 When is it going to be my turn to find the same freedom and healing they're finding?
00:07:26.420 And I felt like he impressed upon my heart to think about Mary.
00:07:32.980 And Mary's face came to me.
00:07:34.640 And I just thought, wow.
00:07:36.460 And I felt like he was trying through Mary.
00:07:40.700 So I called her the next day.
00:07:42.520 I'm ready to volunteer.
00:07:43.940 I went to her center.
00:07:45.000 It took me a few more months before I actually confessed to her.
00:07:48.340 But when I did, she looked at me and said, now we're going to take what the enemy meant
00:07:53.880 to destroy you and turn it into good.
00:07:55.900 And God's going to use your voice, Vic, to talk to the nations about what abortion really
00:08:00.500 is.
00:08:00.860 So let's get you in after abortion recovery.
00:08:03.960 And she signed me up.
00:08:05.580 And that was 25 years ago.
00:08:07.660 So when did you know, OK, this is what I want to dedicate my life to?
00:08:11.580 Oh, gosh.
00:08:12.200 The moment I walked out of that retreat, it was a three and a half day retreat, Allie,
00:08:16.000 that I now conduct myself today.
00:08:19.000 In three and a half days, what I had tried to do in 10 years on my own, tried to do on
00:08:24.920 my own, God in three and a half days transformed my life.
00:08:28.180 So on Thursday night, when I got there to that retreat, I can remember looking at those
00:08:32.060 two facilitators and I had such a bad attitude even then and just said, I don't know why
00:08:37.680 I'm here.
00:08:38.800 This is probably a waste of my time and your time.
00:08:41.480 But Mary said I needed to be here.
00:08:43.060 So I'm here.
00:08:43.780 I don't know how you're going to help me.
00:08:44.960 I've been in church.
00:08:45.780 I've been begging God all these years.
00:08:47.960 And nothing's going to take this pain and this regret and this guilt from me.
00:08:52.040 And they were like, we're just happy you're here.
00:08:55.020 That moment, I wanted to hit them.
00:08:56.960 You know, they're sweet church ladies.
00:08:58.720 And I just thought, oh.
00:09:00.060 But on Sunday at noon is when it was over and I had gone through the process and trusted
00:09:06.400 the process.
00:09:08.100 I looked at them and said, every woman who's had an abortion needs to know about these
00:09:12.100 kinds of healing retreats.
00:09:14.140 Every woman that's had an abortion needs to know there is redemption, that she can find
00:09:19.080 healing, and that God does forgive even for abortion.
00:09:23.280 And they looked at me and said, we know, and we're going to train you how to do it.
00:09:27.420 So those two facilitators trained me, and I've been doing these retreats ever since.
00:09:32.140 Sounds like you had a very redemptive and healing and welcoming, accepting church experience when
00:09:38.180 you came to people in your church and said, this is what I did.
00:09:41.420 It sounds like they were very quick to extend grace to you or show you God's grace and then
00:09:47.280 have you be a part of other people's healing process.
00:09:49.680 But we're hearing a lot from Christians and maybe people who would consider themselves
00:09:55.880 ex-Christians that the church doesn't do a good job in helping women who have had abortions,
00:10:00.660 that there's only condemnation.
00:10:02.380 I imagine that probably both are true, that some people have had really bad experiences and
00:10:07.840 some people have what sounds like a really good experience like you.
00:10:11.220 Can you talk about just kind of what you've seen, not just in your own life, but maybe other
00:10:15.500 women who have gone to people in their church, maybe they haven't had the same experience,
00:10:19.520 or do you think the church in general is doing a good job?
00:10:22.540 What's really kind of the truth there?
00:10:24.460 I'm glad you asked that, because unfortunately, I do not think as a whole in general, the church
00:10:29.420 is doing a good job.
00:10:31.140 I practically have to beg pastors to let me have five minutes of their pulpit time on a
00:10:36.560 Sunday morning to talk about this issue.
00:10:38.900 And I hear things like, we don't have that issue here, Victoria.
00:10:41.900 I know we have people here who are pro-choice, they may be offended, people who had abortions,
00:10:47.460 they may be hurt and offended.
00:10:49.240 And I look at them and say, okay, first of all, that's asinine to me, that you're not
00:10:55.100 speaking about this issue from the pulpit.
00:10:57.600 Because what I want them to understand is that those, their congregants who are sitting
00:11:02.820 there, Allie, one out of three people has had an abortion in this country.
00:11:05.940 They're sitting in churches every Sunday.
00:11:07.520 When the pastor refuses to talk about the issue, they're internalizing that.
00:11:13.300 And they're feeling like, see, even my own pastor won't talk about it.
00:11:16.660 That's how bad it is.
00:11:18.260 So that continues to put them in this place of rejection and no hope.
00:11:25.680 And that's the one thing God can't forgive for because he won't, or she or whoever is
00:11:30.480 in that pulpit won't even speak about it.
00:11:32.260 So I tell pastors, if you're afraid of the issue, bring someone in like me.
00:11:36.200 It doesn't have to be me, but bring someone in to talk about it.
00:11:39.520 They need to hear it.
00:11:40.840 Those churches that have been brave enough to bring me in, when men and women approach
00:11:45.160 me afterwards, they say, thank you.
00:11:48.120 Thank you for coming.
00:11:49.460 I'm so thankful my pastor's addressing this because I didn't understand why we've never
00:11:53.720 addressed it.
00:11:54.520 Or even the pastors will say to me, you know what?
00:11:57.640 I should have done this a long time ago.
00:11:59.280 I had no idea this many people were hurting from abortion.
00:12:01.920 Well, I challenge pastors and say, they are.
00:12:05.880 They're sitting in your church every week.
00:12:07.480 So it's your responsibility.
00:12:08.880 If you're preaching about other sin, you should be preaching about abortion and hope and healing
00:12:14.720 as well.
00:12:15.720 So it's not, we're nowhere near where we need to be.
00:12:19.140 Unfortunately, if we were doing what we should be doing in the church alley with this issue,
00:12:24.120 let's be honest, we wouldn't be in the shape we're in today in this country.
00:12:26.820 Yeah, with 2,300 plus children being aborted each day and with the abortion laws that are
00:12:32.540 being passed.
00:12:33.400 And I'll take it a step further with the candidates that are being put in positions to continue
00:12:38.680 voting for these pro-abortion laws.
00:12:41.200 I think one problem that some people have is they feel like if they condemn abortion as wrong,
00:12:50.640 then they are not dealing with people's feelings and people's so-called lived experiences.
00:12:57.420 And they are being unempathetic and unkind.
00:13:00.220 And so it's a kind of a false dichotomy.
00:13:02.460 It's like either you're condemning abortion as bad and you hate the women who have had abortions,
00:13:07.240 or you say abortion should be legal and fun and fine in order to love the women who have
00:13:12.900 had abortions.
00:13:13.480 But that's kind of like a false binary, right?
00:13:15.560 How do we do both?
00:13:16.580 How do we condemn abortion, but also unequivocally say, like, we want grace and redemption and
00:13:23.500 hope for the women who have had abortions?
00:13:26.600 You can do it with grace.
00:13:27.560 You can do it with literal grace by, you can't, okay, so, and this is the real million dollar
00:13:35.640 question because it can be done.
00:13:37.340 I do it every single day.
00:13:38.920 And I never condemn the woman who's had the abortion.
00:13:42.040 First of all, she's been manipulated at the most vulnerable time of her life.
00:13:47.200 People have to understand that those who do hate women who've had abortions, when I go
00:13:51.440 speak at different events, Allie, I know there are some people in the audience thinking,
00:13:55.380 who is this woman telling us about abortion?
00:13:58.120 She's had one.
00:13:58.860 I've had people write me on social media and say, who do you think you are telling me I
00:14:03.080 can't have an abortion when you got to have your abortion?
00:14:06.520 So these are pro-choice people saying this?
00:14:08.620 These are pro-choice people or people that are hurting.
00:14:10.940 I'm convinced, Allie, as well, that many, I would go so far as to say almost the majority,
00:14:17.120 but many, let's say many for the sake of argument, of people who are adamantly pro-choice either
00:14:22.920 have had an abortion or someone close to them has had an abortion.
00:14:26.620 So exactly what you're saying.
00:14:27.940 They feel if they become pro-life or condemn abortion, they're condemning themselves or
00:14:33.820 the person.
00:14:34.640 So we're not condemning anyone for having the abortion.
00:14:38.560 Do I condemn abortionists who know exactly what they're doing?
00:14:41.140 Sure do.
00:14:41.820 I have no problem with it.
00:14:43.240 When the Praise God for Texas with your heartbeat law came out, I was asked the question, do
00:14:47.940 you think someone should have the right to sue these women from their abortions?
00:14:52.000 I said, I'll put it to you this way.
00:14:53.800 If I could go back 30 years and sue that abortionist who lied to me, sue the woman who took my money
00:14:59.240 who lied to me and said it was nothing more than getting a tooth pulled, when you leave
00:15:03.260 here, never think of it again.
00:15:04.940 If I could go back and sue these people who lied to my face that this would not affect my
00:15:09.880 life in any way, I'd be the first in line.
00:15:12.140 Yeah.
00:15:12.840 And people don't realize, people like to say that the woman with this Texas law is being
00:15:17.740 sued.
00:15:18.000 It's actually not the woman.
00:15:18.880 It's all the people that you just listed.
00:15:20.660 There's a ton of misinformation, as there always is, surrounding abortion law about that.
00:15:25.840 And I think you're right.
00:15:26.580 I think some people feel like they're either going to condemn themselves by saying abortion
00:15:30.800 is wrong, or they're going to condemn someone that they love.
00:15:34.340 And like we were saying earlier, it's that false binary of saying, I can't say this is
00:15:37.580 bad without being hateful towards the person who did it.
00:15:41.060 And you are walking out how to balance both of those things.
00:15:43.880 I do find myself more on the side of just trying to desperately convince people that
00:15:50.280 abortion is wrong, that abortion is bad.
00:15:53.500 Not that obviously I don't believe that there is grace and redemption and acceptance for people
00:15:57.400 who have had it, because of course I do.
00:15:59.200 But I think it also gets more and more difficult as we see just some of the rabid, truly pro-abortion
00:16:05.020 rhetoric, even that we're seeing from Hollywood, but also activists who are now saying there's
00:16:10.140 nothing wrong with abortion.
00:16:11.260 It's not safe, legal, and rare anymore.
00:16:12.760 It's without apology through nine months.
00:16:14.660 We saw that New York law in 2019, the buildings lit up pink for abortion through nine months.
00:16:20.820 And this was a celebratory thing.
00:16:23.060 Sometimes I think it's hard for me to look at that and think that, okay, are all women
00:16:31.440 who have abortions, are they all truly victims of manipulation and deceit?
00:16:36.620 Or is there a point where it's like, okay, some people are celebrating this and they're
00:16:41.200 proud of the fact, or they say that they're proud of the fact that they did.
00:16:45.000 It's hard not to be just completely adversarial towards the pro-abortion side when you see
00:16:49.240 that kind of attitude.
00:16:50.780 So how do we deal with that?
00:16:53.540 You know, that's really good because I've been involved in this work for a long time,
00:16:57.560 and even that can be difficult for me.
00:17:00.640 And I've counseled and met these women throughout my career.
00:17:03.620 I had someone recently who went through a retreat who felt her baby kicking on the way to the
00:17:09.620 abortion.
00:17:10.580 So that's hard.
00:17:12.480 That's hard, man.
00:17:13.480 It's hard.
00:17:14.140 I'm human.
00:17:15.080 I mean, that's hard.
00:17:16.300 But I'm telling you, this woman is a good woman.
00:17:21.800 She's not a horrible, wicked, mean, evil person.
00:17:25.640 She's a woman who was in terrible pain, which is why she chose from her background.
00:17:32.020 But she had to disassociate herself with it.
00:17:35.280 But what happens and what I try to get women to understand is right now, you're here because
00:17:40.980 you need to be here for whatever desperate situation you think you're in of why you're
00:17:45.840 choosing to have an abortion.
00:17:47.060 And you're right.
00:17:47.780 There are those women that I have met who said, I'll just have it again.
00:17:51.620 Didn't bother me at all.
00:17:52.780 And I watch their attitudes about things and think, you don't think it bothered you
00:17:57.160 at all.
00:17:57.740 But this is the person you are.
00:18:00.140 If you weren't defensive about it, that'd tell me a lot more.
00:18:02.940 One of my friends, before I chose abortion, I would have said I was pro-life.
00:18:06.860 She had had seven abortions.
00:18:08.620 Wow.
00:18:09.300 And it ended our friendship because I'd watch her sleeping around and going out every weekend
00:18:14.020 saying, what are you doing?
00:18:15.680 What are you going to do if you get pregnant again?
00:18:17.480 I'll just have another abortion.
00:18:18.380 Now, that person and I, our friendship ended, but I've kept through circles, I know what
00:18:23.920 she's up to.
00:18:24.800 She's become a full-fledged alcoholic and drug addict.
00:18:28.760 And her life has been a train wreck.
00:18:31.840 I know part of that, maybe not all of it.
00:18:34.520 She had a pretty rough childhood as well.
00:18:36.040 But a lot of that stems from seven abortions.
00:18:39.280 And who knows, maybe she had more after I saw her.
00:18:41.940 So it is hard.
00:18:43.140 So I try to, I can't not condemn the abortion, Allie.
00:18:46.680 I condemn abortion.
00:18:49.200 I don't condemn the woman because of my experience with these women who come to me so broken
00:18:57.140 and so feeling lied to and manipulated and all those things I've already mentioned that
00:19:03.520 are genuine.
00:19:04.240 There are those who say as well to my face, I don't really care what you say.
00:19:08.680 I have been fine and I'd choose it again.
00:19:10.780 And I just say, well, if you ever need me, here's my card.
00:19:14.560 There's not really more I can do than that.
00:19:17.160 But the majority, even though the pro-abortion side wants us to believe that abortion does
00:19:23.620 not affect a woman in any way, they're lies.
00:19:26.140 Recently, again, I had another woman here in Texas that went through a retreat.
00:19:31.300 And we started on a Thursday night.
00:19:33.400 And by Friday afternoon, she said, 18 and 19 years ago, I had abortions.
00:19:39.020 She boarded her two baby boys.
00:19:41.220 She was in her first trimester.
00:19:43.040 So 18 years ago, 19 years ago.
00:19:45.160 She said all these years since then, and it had been probably 15 years since her abortions.
00:19:51.400 I have Googled or went online to put in, am I doing this because I had two abortions?
00:19:57.340 Is this why I'm depressed?
00:19:58.560 Because and everything that came up, no correlation between depression and abortion.
00:20:02.860 There's no issues from abortion for women.
00:20:06.000 All these lies, because it's all propaganda from the pro-abortion side to make sure that's
00:20:10.660 what a woman finds.
00:20:11.680 But it's simply not true.
00:20:13.400 And she sat there and said, all these years, I have felt like I was crazy.
00:20:18.120 Now, listening to all your stories in this group, I've realized those things were from
00:20:24.060 choosing abortion because you've all experienced the same things.
00:20:27.760 And that's what infuriates me about the abortion side.
00:20:31.280 They try to paint this picture like you said, oh, big deal.
00:20:35.080 We're sitting, someone was telling me earlier that women were sitting in the room, girls
00:20:39.280 on their phones, laughing and giggling there for abortions.
00:20:42.800 It's just this narrative they paint that everything is cool and it's okay.
00:20:48.660 Just like sleeping around is cool and doing this is cool.
00:20:52.080 So is having an abortion.
00:20:53.280 Have you had your first abortion yet?
00:20:54.860 It's almost become this badge of honor.
00:20:57.840 So demonic.
00:20:58.180 It's demonic, completely demonic.
00:21:00.240 You cannot walk into an abortion clinic and not feel a sense of oppression there.
00:21:05.300 Totally.
00:21:05.760 Because it's there.
00:21:06.920 How can you walk in and kill babies every day without that sense of being like this?
00:21:13.940 So I think what I'm hearing you say is that not every single woman who has an abortion
00:21:18.160 is necessarily a victim.
00:21:20.060 There are some, a minority maybe, but there are some who know what they're doing.
00:21:24.860 And they do it anyway.
00:21:26.540 They either disassociate themselves from it.
00:21:28.520 Like the woman that you said, she felt her baby kick and she still chose it.
00:21:32.060 And then there are some that they don't have to disassociate themselves.
00:21:36.300 They truly do have like, they've completely calloused hearts.
00:21:39.020 They have hearts of stone and they can just go through with something like that.
00:21:42.680 Most women do feel it.
00:21:44.680 They do feel a sense of trauma.
00:21:46.180 And something that I'm thinking, because it just, it truly does make me so angry because
00:21:51.320 as pro-lifers, we are so inclined to think of the baby because no one else is thinking
00:21:55.600 about the baby.
00:21:56.400 And so just thinking about that precious child kicking and being killed, it is hard for me.
00:22:01.920 I'll just be honest.
00:22:02.960 Like it's hard for me to feel bad for the mother.
00:22:05.900 It's hard for me.
00:22:06.860 Not that I don't feel bad for the circumstances.
00:22:08.860 Like she could have come from abuse.
00:22:10.360 I don't know.
00:22:10.880 So many different things, but I still am like, how could you, how could you do it?
00:22:17.980 You know, can you take us into kind of that mindset?
00:22:21.320 Cause you've talked to these women more than I have.
00:22:23.600 Can you take us into your conversations with women who have ultimately made that choice,
00:22:28.960 but has still evokes just that feeling of sympathy and compassion from you?
00:22:32.420 How do you not just take them by the shoulders and say, how could you do that?
00:22:36.480 You know?
00:22:37.320 Because I'm one of them.
00:22:38.760 Yeah.
00:22:39.000 Because I had two children already.
00:22:42.020 I knew the outcome of a pregnancy yet at six weeks, I chose abortion.
00:22:47.980 And knowing that conception at conception, that baby was a human being with their own unique
00:22:53.600 DNA, whether I was six weeks or six months, I get what you're saying.
00:22:58.360 That was still my baby.
00:23:00.100 So for me, I think I can empathize and sympathize because your mindset, it's hard to describe
00:23:07.600 to someone who's never experienced an abortion or felt that's her only option.
00:23:13.360 And they do come from all walks of life.
00:23:15.460 There's no way a girl who walks in at six, seven months or long, or even four or five months
00:23:20.820 doesn't have trauma to bring her to the place where she could walk into an abortion clinic,
00:23:26.460 lay on a table and let an abortionist who cares nothing more than for that paycheck to end
00:23:31.860 the life of her child.
00:23:33.940 So that's probably the best answer I can give for me because I've been there.
00:23:39.420 And on the way to the abortion clinic, Allie, I hired a sitter to take care of my older girls.
00:23:46.120 And I told her I was going shopping.
00:23:48.720 And my boyfriend couldn't even take me.
00:23:50.820 He went out of town and wasn't even driving me.
00:23:53.020 So I had to drive myself 20, 25 minutes to that abortion clinic from my apartment.
00:23:58.380 And I can remember vividly having my hand on my stomach, telling this blob of tissue that
00:24:07.520 I was told that that's all that it was.
00:24:11.080 I'm really sorry for what I'm about to do, but this is the best choice for you because
00:24:15.100 my life is a wreck and I'm struggling to take care of your sisters.
00:24:18.820 And I'm having this conversation with this blob of tissue.
00:24:22.300 So you would think that would be enough of a revelation for me driving there to go,
00:24:27.740 what are you doing?
00:24:29.620 But it wasn't.
00:24:30.780 I got there and convinced myself as well as others convincing me around.
00:24:34.760 But I take responsibility.
00:24:36.360 No one put a gun to my head.
00:24:38.100 But there were definitely influences around me to convince me this was the best choice.
00:24:42.900 When you're that desperate and you're a mom that has other children or you're a girl
00:24:47.640 who knows your parents are going to throw you out if they find out you're pregnant because
00:24:51.680 they've threatened you with disowning you.
00:24:54.720 And whether they do or they don't, and many of them don't, that's just their threat.
00:24:58.600 They don't understand the damage they're doing, though, to their daughters when they say this.
00:25:02.840 They're convinced.
00:25:04.120 And when I'm sitting there saying to them, they won't, honey, I promise you.
00:25:07.220 And if they do, I'll find the resources for you.
00:25:09.720 You're going to be OK.
00:25:10.700 No, you don't understand what my family means to me.
00:25:12.860 I can't be without my family.
00:25:14.220 This is the I have to choose this because I got to save my all these different stories
00:25:18.760 that I hear.
00:25:19.780 So I think that's probably a long answer to your question, because that's why.
00:25:26.880 Now, I said earlier, and I can't lie either.
00:25:29.880 It is difficult for me to meet someone who's had a late term abortion.
00:25:34.760 Even in the back of my mind, I'm going, would I have done that?
00:25:41.320 Could I have felt my baby's hiccups and felt my baby kicking me and still gone through with it?
00:25:50.260 I would like to believe there's no way.
00:25:52.800 I truly believe had I seen the ultrasound, even at six weeks, he told me I was six to eight
00:25:58.300 weeks, the abortionist, because as he was walking out the door and I was a wreck, I called
00:26:03.600 after him and said, was it a girl or a boy?
00:26:07.860 And he just turned around and said, I don't know.
00:26:09.780 You're too early for me to tell.
00:26:11.180 I don't have time for this.
00:26:12.320 And he walked out.
00:26:14.140 And even even lying on the table, Allie, at the moment that I heard the machine turn on.
00:26:21.720 And I wanted to scream, I've changed my mind.
00:26:28.640 I was saying to myself, what are you doing here, Vic?
00:26:31.880 Get out.
00:26:33.180 What are you doing here?
00:26:35.340 I was so paralyzed with fear.
00:26:38.880 And all of the thoughts, everything everyone had been saying to me was going through my
00:26:44.520 head.
00:26:44.960 You'd be selfish to bring another child in.
00:26:47.200 You can barely take care of these two.
00:26:49.120 It's not really a baby.
00:26:50.660 Let's get it done before it's a baby.
00:26:53.000 I mean, all the lies that I was told.
00:26:56.320 And I allowed them in 10 minutes to end my child's life.
00:26:59.980 And they took my baby that day, but they never took the memory of my baby that day.
00:27:08.480 And like I said, it almost destroyed me.
00:27:10.820 But I knew I had to go on for the two I had.
00:27:14.020 And then I felt like getting involved in abusive relationships is what I deserved.
00:27:19.720 Because I did not deserve any form of happiness when I killed my baby.
00:27:24.620 So I was in relationships that weren't good for me, that were abusive and cheating on
00:27:31.440 me or calling me names.
00:27:33.020 Well, you know, I deserve it.
00:27:34.600 What else do I deserve but that?
00:27:37.580 Because my self-esteem was gone and I had no sense of worth until I met Mary.
00:27:43.340 And until Mary said, Vic, God loves you.
00:27:46.280 God will forgive you for that.
00:27:48.180 He wants to redeem your life.
00:27:49.740 And I didn't believe her.
00:27:50.900 That's why I still had an attitude that Thursday when I showed up.
00:27:53.440 And she was right.
00:27:55.840 And God transformed my life and showed me, hey, I got you.
00:28:01.280 And I'm taking care of your baby.
00:28:03.620 Your baby's with me.
00:28:05.100 Now you need to do the work I've called you to do so that other women don't make the same
00:28:08.820 choice, which is why I will always, always fight for the unborn.
00:28:13.040 And now you're going to help those people who have made the choice so that they know I
00:28:17.580 love them too.
00:28:18.660 Because Christ didn't just die for these unborn children.
00:28:21.680 And as you're talking, you, you know, the main thing that you said, the reason why you
00:28:31.680 can't judge and condemn these women is because you've been there too.
00:28:34.520 But the reality is whether or not we have experienced an abortion, whether or not we've
00:28:40.280 gone through with that, Jesus says, if you hate someone in your heart, you are a murderer.
00:28:44.360 And we've all hated someone in our heart.
00:28:47.980 And so that means we really don't have a place of condemnation.
00:28:52.040 That doesn't mean that we can't say, as you've said very clearly, hey, that was wrong.
00:28:56.260 That was wrong.
00:28:56.960 It was murder.
00:28:58.020 That ended the life of a child.
00:28:59.160 We don't have to use, as pro-choicers or pro-abortionists do, euphemisms to try to cover
00:29:03.940 up what an abortion is.
00:29:05.720 We can be so clear on that while also saying, hey, I am the worst of sinners too, because
00:29:13.360 that's what the Bible tells me.
00:29:14.380 I've hated someone in my heart.
00:29:15.940 I've lied before.
00:29:17.000 I've cheated before.
00:29:17.820 I've been a blasphemer before.
00:29:19.760 And all of those things, God says, that's enough to condemn you to hell, but God, but
00:29:24.860 God.
00:29:25.320 So they're in the same place of the need of redemption that we have all been at one point.
00:29:29.920 And so that, I think, is where we can all come from to say, as angry as I might be at
00:29:35.500 that situation, as hard as it is for some of us to understand, there are all different
00:29:39.100 kinds of sin that maybe we haven't experienced and that it's so hard for us to understand.
00:29:43.080 But hey, we've all been murderers in one sense, but God, right?
00:29:47.120 And you know what, Allie?
00:29:48.260 Here's another thing I would say about those women who it is difficult for those that aren't
00:29:52.980 involved in the work I am or with meeting these people on a weekly basis is that these
00:29:58.520 women are going to go through much more than we could ever do to them with any condemnation
00:30:06.920 we might put on them.
00:30:08.280 What they have to live with, especially those, and I don't want to say especially if they're
00:30:13.040 late term, but there's definitely a difference when a woman says to me, I actually felt my
00:30:17.940 daughter kicking and still chose, than for me who didn't feel or look pregnant.
00:30:22.340 I'm not going to deny that there's definitely a difference.
00:30:25.060 But what she has to live with, oh my gosh, they condemn themselves every single day.
00:30:32.900 And I just want any woman who's gone through an abortion to know, even those that are saying
00:30:36.960 I'm okay with it, and some, not all, are lying to themselves, that there is help.
00:30:43.740 And once you walk in the truth and you realize the truth, I handed a woman the embryonic stages
00:30:48.280 when I was doing the retreat.
00:30:49.420 That's part of the healing.
00:30:50.880 And she threw it at my face.
00:30:52.260 Why do I have to look at that?
00:30:53.520 I know how far along I was.
00:30:55.500 I know my baby had arms and legs, and when I committed an abortion, I know all of that.
00:31:00.220 Why are you doing this to me?
00:31:01.780 And I just said, look at it when you're ready.
00:31:04.400 Then the next day, it was different.
00:31:06.740 And she said, I get it now.
00:31:09.100 I had in my mind there was nothing there.
00:31:11.680 So I could continue to live in that denial.
00:31:14.320 But now I saw in my face, and now I'm hurt.
00:31:17.840 I'm so in pain, and I hurt for what I did.
00:31:20.520 But can I say I'm also excited now because I believe I'll see her in heaven?
00:31:25.760 And I said, yeah, you can.
00:31:27.580 Yeah.
00:31:28.000 And you understand all those emotions because you felt that anger.
00:31:30.680 You felt that defensiveness.
00:31:32.220 Even after you were a Christian, I think maybe that might be where some of the shame comes from
00:31:38.080 for women who maybe since they had an abortion, they became a Christian.
00:31:41.220 So they think that, OK, I'm not supposed to be angry about this anymore, or I can't be defensive
00:31:49.160 about this.
00:31:49.920 Or even after they become Christian and pro-life, they still don't want to talk about their abortion
00:31:53.740 because, well, now they're a Christian.
00:31:56.180 And you're supposed to say the right things and feel all the right things about that.
00:32:02.260 And so they don't want to come across as hypocrites.
00:32:05.620 So maybe if there are Christian women out there who haven't admitted that they had an abortion
00:32:09.700 and who are feeling maybe even more shame and guilt than they did before, which I would
00:32:14.320 say is the conviction of the Holy Spirit, if you're feeling like, wow, that was wrong
00:32:17.820 for the first time.
00:32:19.180 How do you encourage them to go about revealing this to someone?
00:32:23.040 How do they start seeking healing if they're feeling that defensiveness that you did?
00:32:27.060 I would say, honestly, reach out to your pregnancy resource center, your local pregnancy
00:32:30.840 center, and you can do that anonymously because that's the greatest fear.
00:32:35.560 When I counsel or meet with people at retreats, they always say, do I have to do what you're
00:32:39.340 doing now because I've told you guys I had an abortion?
00:32:42.720 I'm like, no, because I don't want to do what you do.
00:32:44.520 I don't want the whole world to know.
00:32:46.640 No, I've been called to do this.
00:32:49.880 I mean, I couldn't even look in a mirror and say I had an abortion by myself in my bathroom
00:32:54.100 before I went through healing.
00:32:55.480 Now, God's taken me everywhere.
00:32:57.460 And it's like, I mean, I'm telling everybody.
00:32:59.960 So, but I let people know that it's not something you need to have fear about because that is
00:33:04.500 one of the greatest things.
00:33:05.340 Well, if I start talking about it, does that mean I have to tell everyone?
00:33:08.500 No, it doesn't.
00:33:09.580 I would say call your local pregnancy resource center.
00:33:12.320 Get in touch with someone like me.
00:33:14.620 Share that for the, many people have shared with me for the first time and I'm the first
00:33:19.400 person they've told because they feel safe.
00:33:21.580 So find that safe place.
00:33:23.840 Pray.
00:33:24.200 If you're a Christian, then pray.
00:33:25.320 God, send someone to me that I can talk to who won't judge me and condemn me because
00:33:30.820 that's their greatest fear, Allie, is being judged and condemned.
00:33:34.260 I hear from women all the time.
00:33:35.680 I don't want this person to know this.
00:33:37.280 They won't want to be my friend anymore.
00:33:39.060 I was that person.
00:33:40.240 I was on a team of 12 women involved heavily in my church.
00:33:44.440 None of them knew.
00:33:46.200 And post-abortive men and women will keep people at a distance because if I let you get
00:33:50.620 too close, you're going to know my secret and if I can't tell you that secret.
00:33:55.780 So that's what I want people to know is there are places available to reach out to that are
00:34:00.560 safe, that will keep your secret and walk through that with you through after abortion
00:34:06.200 care.
00:34:07.060 And like with men, men are the ones who we want to say, shut up, sit down.
00:34:13.280 It's not your body.
00:34:14.940 Well, here's a scientific fact.
00:34:16.740 It's not her body either.
00:34:18.080 And these children had mothers and fathers.
00:34:21.040 So one of the things we have done that I'm determined to put an end to, we've got to
00:34:25.820 talk about these fathers.
00:34:27.340 And these fathers are hurting too.
00:34:29.540 After my book came out, okay, I called the father of my aborted child.
00:34:34.160 Allie, we hadn't spoken in over 10 years.
00:34:36.900 And I'd gone through after abortion recovery.
00:34:40.180 My book was getting ready.
00:34:41.740 I knew we had a lot of the same friends in the same circles.
00:34:44.600 I wanted him to know I didn't give any identifying factors about him in the book.
00:34:49.400 I called and said, hey, it's me.
00:34:51.960 That's all I said.
00:34:53.120 He began to weep.
00:34:55.060 Wow.
00:34:55.680 Where I couldn't understand him.
00:34:57.100 Wow.
00:34:58.420 He said, I've been waiting for this call for over 10 years to beg you for forgiveness for
00:35:03.080 what I made you do.
00:35:04.500 It's haunted me all these years.
00:35:05.940 And I've been in therapy eight years dealing with it.
00:35:08.280 Wow.
00:35:08.560 Can you please forgive me?
00:35:10.440 I should have protected you and our baby and I failed you both.
00:35:14.540 In that moment, I realized two things.
00:35:16.600 One, oh, this good little Christian I thought I was had not fully forgiven him.
00:35:22.900 And I forgave him on the spot.
00:35:24.760 And it was like full circle for me for my healing.
00:35:27.680 The second thing that I realized was I felt Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and said, do not
00:35:33.160 forget these men.
00:35:34.500 These children had fathers.
00:35:36.340 Never forget to talk about them.
00:35:38.280 Yeah.
00:35:38.440 And I have ever since.
00:35:40.580 And I'm telling you, as I've opened that door up, when I speak, wherever I speak, and
00:35:46.200 I mentioned men and talk about, the men are coming to my book table saying, thank you.
00:35:51.360 Nobody ever talks about us.
00:35:53.300 I talked her into it.
00:35:54.720 I paid for it.
00:35:55.780 I lied to her to get her to do it.
00:35:57.400 I drove her there.
00:35:58.280 I didn't know.
00:35:59.360 Whatever their stories are, they say the same thing.
00:36:02.200 Thank you for finally recognizing that we're hurting too, but we're just not allowed to
00:36:08.540 say we are.
00:36:09.400 Yeah.
00:36:09.740 And I want to talk a little bit more about the men.
00:36:12.620 And the book, just so everyone knows that you were referring to, it's called They Lied
00:36:16.260 to Us, and you've got another book coming out, They Lied to Us Too, about men's stories.
00:36:19.880 And I want to talk about that more in a second.
00:36:21.820 But kind of going back to what you were talking about, about someone who has had an abortion
00:36:26.020 in the church, they want healing from it.
00:36:28.240 Or maybe they're not even Christians yet, but they want healing from it.
00:36:31.220 And your direction there.
00:36:32.100 What about the friend of someone who has had an abortion?
00:36:37.560 Or people have come to me and said they don't even know me.
00:36:42.220 And they said, I am thinking about this, or I have an unplanned pregnancy.
00:36:48.200 I don't know what to do.
00:36:48.840 And I've come to you and been like, Victoria, what do I do?
00:36:51.960 And you're a great resource for all of that.
00:36:53.940 But not everyone, not every friend of someone who is considering an abortion or who has had
00:36:58.000 an abortion has anyone else to turn to.
00:37:00.260 And they don't feel like they are equipped to help this person.
00:37:04.200 So I guess the first, the friend who has a friend who is considering an abortion, what
00:37:10.400 does she do?
00:37:12.000 Okay.
00:37:12.520 If you're a friend and one of your friends comes to you and says, I'm having an abortion
00:37:16.560 or I'm thinking about it, first of all, listen.
00:37:19.160 Just listen.
00:37:20.700 Don't react.
00:37:21.920 The last thing you want to do, even if you're 100% against it, just listen.
00:37:26.400 Because right now, what she just needs is to talk and share what's going on and let her
00:37:31.900 continue to talk.
00:37:32.860 When she's done, hug her.
00:37:34.780 I mean, these things are little simple things, but that's what she needs.
00:37:37.920 She needs support.
00:37:39.520 Look at her and say, hey, I love you.
00:37:41.660 You're my friend.
00:37:42.300 We're going to get through this together.
00:37:43.340 You are not alone.
00:37:44.640 That is the biggest thing, Allie, that young women feel or older, whatever age, they don't
00:37:50.140 want to feel alone.
00:37:51.340 I had to drive myself to an abortion clinic.
00:37:54.540 How more alone could I have been that he couldn't even take the time to take me and
00:37:59.900 go with me?
00:38:01.760 Women need support.
00:38:03.140 They need to know they have support.
00:38:04.340 So that just reiterated to me, see, nobody's helping me.
00:38:07.860 And I didn't tell anyone, you know, I wasn't going to tell your mother.
00:38:10.860 Girls, if you're not telling your mother something, that's called a clue, by the way.
00:38:14.020 But listen to her.
00:38:16.100 Show her support.
00:38:16.960 The next thing I would do, and I keep going back to it, but I will, until I can never shut
00:38:23.740 up, I'll never shut up about it, is what I should say.
00:38:26.620 Pregnancy resource centers are one of the greatest resources in your area for these kinds
00:38:32.240 of situations.
00:38:33.320 They have compassionate women and men who are working there, who are volunteering there,
00:38:38.400 who that's what they're waiting for is a call like that.
00:38:40.660 They're not there to condemn and judge.
00:38:42.180 And if they do, if you called one out of the blue, um, that was one that was doing
00:38:46.860 that, hang up and call me, get in touch with me or call the next one.
00:38:51.080 The majority, if not all of them are not going to have that kind of response.
00:38:54.960 No, I've never, I've never seen that.
00:38:56.540 And you have, you know, you've worked with a lot of them too.
00:38:59.160 And I have met.
00:38:59.920 They have incredible compassion for people in this situation.
00:39:03.220 So if you're the friend, call them.
00:39:05.020 They may say, well, we got to talk to your friend to schedule that ultrasound or the appointment.
00:39:08.600 That's protocol, but at least be on the phone and then hand the phone to your friend.
00:39:13.160 Call with her.
00:39:14.380 Don't just say, well, let me know what you decide and leave.
00:39:17.000 Yeah.
00:39:17.220 Because what she's going to feel is isolated and alone.
00:39:19.760 So support, support, listen, and then find that resource, which if you don't know it,
00:39:26.780 well, if you're listening to Allie, then she's telling you right now, um, reach out to Allie
00:39:31.720 if you have to, sorry, Allie, Allie will get in touch with me like you have it already
00:39:35.700 in the past and we'll help you find the resources.
00:39:38.760 Don't believe the lie.
00:39:40.160 There's no help available because it's simply not true.
00:39:42.700 Yeah, that's absolutely right.
00:39:44.040 And then for the friend who found out that a friend had an abortion, how does she help
00:39:50.520 her heal?
00:39:52.400 Same way.
00:39:53.220 You got to listen, listen and don't react.
00:39:56.140 Um, whatever you do, you don't want to look at her and go, how could you?
00:39:59.840 Yeah.
00:40:00.680 That's the last thing you want to do because then if she had more to tell you, she's going
00:40:04.460 to shut down.
00:40:05.080 She's not going to tell you.
00:40:06.060 If you're her, if you're truly her friend, for one thing, you're, you're a good friend
00:40:10.540 if she's willing to open up to you to tell you something she's probably not told many
00:40:13.840 people.
00:40:15.060 Listen, hug her, support her, and then tell her, I'm going to walk through this with you.
00:40:20.280 I know there's got to be help for people like you and I'm going to help you find it.
00:40:24.380 And I, I'm telling you the floodgates open up.
00:40:27.580 Yeah.
00:40:27.680 A lot of times when a friend tells you she's had an abortion, that may be a time for you to
00:40:32.280 tell her, so you, so have you.
00:40:33.800 That happens a lot.
00:40:35.960 When people feel safe, um, they feel more, they have more courage.
00:40:41.260 And my prayer always is when someone says, I need to tell somebody, pray about who that
00:40:47.400 person is.
00:40:48.100 And if you don't have that person, call your local pregnancy center.
00:40:51.520 Let them be the first one.
00:40:52.880 Because the worst thing that can happen is if you go to that judgmental friend or that
00:40:58.300 friend who's going to condemn you, that's just going to put her 20 steps back.
00:41:02.700 And it seems like from the stories that I've heard of women who were considering an abortion,
00:41:11.040 I asked, um, I just asked people on Instagram who follow me, tell me how you became pro-life.
00:41:16.860 And I got just a couple messages of people who had unplanned pregnancies when they were
00:41:21.060 a teenager and, um, the reasons why they changed their mind in not having an abortion.
00:41:26.900 One, I saw a lot of people say, um, that the boyfriend stepped up, that the guy stepped
00:41:32.560 up and said, don't do that.
00:41:34.000 That can be an absolute game changer.
00:41:35.920 And also the parents said, you don't have to go through with that.
00:41:39.580 We're going to support you.
00:41:40.440 So it seems like lack of support could be a reason why a lot of women have an abortion
00:41:45.200 and just support someone saying, you're not doing this alone.
00:41:49.280 Parents stepping up and saying, I'm sad that you're in this position, but we're going to
00:41:53.900 do everything we can to support you and gosh, the men, the men stepping up and saying, you
00:41:59.880 don't have to do it.
00:42:01.160 You're not going to do this alone.
00:42:02.580 Right?
00:42:03.040 No question.
00:42:03.760 No question.
00:42:04.500 Had my boyfriend walked into that abortion clinic and I was sitting in the waiting room
00:42:08.860 to be called back and said, Hey babe, let's go.
00:42:13.820 I'd have gladly took his hand and walked out.
00:42:16.600 Um, support is everything.
00:42:19.540 The last thing we want women to feel is that they're alone.
00:42:22.300 So men do need to step up.
00:42:24.840 But the problem is they don't know what to do or say because they've been told, shut
00:42:29.960 up, sit down.
00:42:30.880 Yeah.
00:42:31.180 It's not your body.
00:42:32.140 No opinion.
00:42:32.960 Exactly.
00:42:33.800 And so then I want to see men rise up and I'm convinced Allie with the millions upon millions
00:42:40.920 of people that are post-abortive men and women, once they find healing from having and choosing
00:42:46.840 abortion, it's going to change the landscape of pro-life.
00:42:50.660 I truly believe it because a lot of these people are keeping their mouths shut.
00:42:55.320 They don't want to tell anybody they're not healed.
00:42:57.380 When you're healed, you can't help it.
00:42:59.160 And that is not to say you have to do, go travel and speak like I do.
00:43:02.840 That's not what I mean.
00:43:03.560 Or telling everyone your story.
00:43:05.000 It may be your neighbor.
00:43:06.520 It may be that one coworker.
00:43:08.380 But 72 million abortions, I believe, since Roe v. Wade and counting, 140 million for the
00:43:16.160 sake of math that are out there that have had abortions.
00:43:19.560 If a percentage of those people found healing and then told one person, it would change everything.
00:43:25.600 I'm convinced after abortion recovery is a backdoor approach to how we're going to make
00:43:31.320 abortion unthinkable.
00:43:32.360 Yeah, dealing with the healing.
00:43:34.740 And like you said, when you're healed, you can't help it.
00:43:37.300 It changes things.
00:43:38.340 It changes your life.
00:43:39.240 It changes how you see things.
00:43:41.260 It changes what you talk about.
00:43:43.960 Talk about some of the lies, as you already touched on just now, but some of the other
00:43:48.820 lies that men are hearing or that we have believed that this is just a women's thing.
00:43:53.880 This is just a women's movement.
00:43:55.940 Men are totally unaffected by abortion, we hear.
00:43:59.460 But that's not true, as you've already touched on.
00:44:02.100 That's not true.
00:44:02.780 As I touched on with the father of my aborted child and how that conversation with, I spoke
00:44:07.520 at an event a couple years ago.
00:44:10.360 It was a men's event called It's New Canaan Men's Society, if you're familiar with that.
00:44:14.360 And they did their big conference in Orlando, Florida.
00:44:16.920 And they very rarely have female speakers.
00:44:19.420 And I spoke at their event.
00:44:22.180 After I spoke and shared my story, shared the story I shared with you about the father,
00:44:26.980 these men stood in line, Allie, for over two hours just to talk to me.
00:44:33.620 And some of them, for the first time, saying they had an abortion in their past because
00:44:38.200 they always felt they weren't allowed to say anything because that's what they've been
00:44:40.960 told.
00:44:41.680 This is a women's issue, not a man's issue.
00:44:44.600 Men who said, this is why I can't.
00:44:46.540 I have an issue committing.
00:44:48.120 I've never been able to commit.
00:44:49.260 When a woman gets too close, I break up with her.
00:44:51.400 Men telling me, this is why I'm a workaholic.
00:44:53.460 This is why I'm an alcoholic.
00:44:54.460 This is why I abuse drugs.
00:44:56.280 This is why I don't feel like I can relate or connect with my own children because of
00:45:01.500 fear.
00:45:02.500 All of these different things, same kinds of things I hear as well from the women.
00:45:07.100 Not a whole lot of difference.
00:45:08.840 I look at it like this.
00:45:10.040 When a woman finally comes to the realization she ended the life of her child, when God made
00:45:15.240 us to be nurturers, to be mothers, to care for our young, et cetera, it's devastating for
00:45:21.500 us to know that we ended the life of our child.
00:45:25.540 But for a man, men were made to be protectors.
00:45:29.160 Men are made to look after their women and their children.
00:45:32.480 When they did not protect their child and they participated in the death of their child,
00:45:37.640 they're just as devastated.
00:45:39.380 So there are men and women walking around with wounds all over this country.
00:45:44.280 And the fact that this is only about women infuriates me.
00:45:49.920 I had a man recently, I spoke in California last week, and this gentleman came to me and
00:45:55.600 said, you know, your keynote was a full package.
00:45:59.800 I said, how's that?
00:46:00.720 He said, you're not just pro-unborn and pro-life.
00:46:03.800 You're pro-woman and you're pro-man.
00:46:06.340 Because I mostly hear how much women hate men because it's their fault these women are
00:46:11.540 having to choose abortion.
00:46:13.300 And I said, that's just a lie and propaganda that they've been fed to keep their mouths
00:46:18.780 shut.
00:46:19.300 Because think about it.
00:46:20.020 If men rise up and say, no, babe, you're not doing that, or they walk in that waiting
00:46:24.820 room, hey, let's go.
00:46:26.060 You don't belong here.
00:46:28.580 The abortion industry knows when men take their place in this issue, their business is going
00:46:35.220 to be hurt very badly.
00:46:36.960 They're a multi-billion dollar business.
00:46:39.660 And many times people tell me, Allie, I never thought of the abortion industry as a business.
00:46:45.360 Oh, wake up.
00:46:46.680 It's a multi-billion dollar business.
00:46:48.860 It has nothing to do with women's health or women's rights.
00:46:52.820 It has to do with their bottom line.
00:46:54.580 Oh, I think we, even people who are aware of that, we probably don't even know all of
00:47:00.880 the evil that goes on.
00:47:02.460 Thankfully, there are great journalists.
00:47:04.720 David Daleiden is one of those undercover journalists.
00:47:07.160 We saw the University of Pittsburgh doing these horrific experiments using baby scalps
00:47:14.000 funded by our tax dollars.
00:47:18.020 And I think that's just what we know.
00:47:20.760 There's so much and people just don't understand because of the euphemisms and the propaganda
00:47:25.420 that, you know, you talk about often that's surrounding abortion, what it actually, what
00:47:31.560 it actually is.
00:47:33.060 So SBA, which is the bill that became law in Texas, as we kind of already mentioned earlier,
00:47:42.040 it would allow a citizen to sue, say someone like your boyfriend, if he helped you in any
00:47:50.640 way or someone who helped the abortion, aided and abetted the abortion financially, even I
00:47:55.860 believe it would if the babysitter who babysits the woman's other children while she's going
00:48:03.340 to get an abortion, all of those people are not condemned under the law.
00:48:06.700 They can just be sued for, I believe it's up to $10,000.
00:48:10.120 Now, you're talking about this being a men's issue where, for example, your boyfriend realized
00:48:16.560 years later, wow, this was wrong.
00:48:18.860 Now, I wonder if SB8 had been in place and someone had sued him into what may have been
00:48:26.100 at that point financial ruin, like, do we think the redemption that he then experienced and
00:48:31.740 the healing that he then experienced would be possible?
00:48:34.020 I guess what I'm asking is, as someone who is supported, I support pro-life laws.
00:48:38.260 I support SB8.
00:48:39.620 Um, but do we think that it can be counterproductive to the healing process that you and I both
00:48:49.500 believe is important to people who have experienced abortion?
00:48:53.840 I don't know.
00:48:54.180 I'm kind of putting you on the spot, but what do you think about that?
00:48:57.780 I support it as well.
00:48:59.420 Um, for sure.
00:49:01.160 Do I think it would be counterproductive had it been in place then is what you're asking
00:49:05.280 me?
00:49:05.440 Or do you think it could be counterproductive for men now, say a man is sued because they
00:49:10.700 helped their girlfriend get an abortion?
00:49:13.460 Um, do you think that it could be counterproductive in his healing process and ruin his life in
00:49:19.260 some ways?
00:49:20.220 I mean, what do you think about that?
00:49:21.920 Or do we just kind of have to live in that tension of not really?
00:49:24.820 I think we have to live in it.
00:49:25.980 I think that the law is, I'd love to see this law in every state.
00:49:29.800 Um, I think that if people are so concerned about it, they should get educated and pay attention
00:49:34.900 and ask it, look, if you're going to drive someone to go drive a car and they're going
00:49:38.900 to go in and rob someone, but you didn't, you know, well, Hey, I didn't, I didn't go
00:49:43.140 in there and they killed them.
00:49:44.320 You're going to be held accountable.
00:49:46.280 Yeah.
00:49:46.480 So, um, I think that, um, I just, I don't want it.
00:49:51.020 I think it's a great law.
00:49:52.380 I don't want it to change.
00:49:53.520 I think more people have got to start taking responsibility instead of sticking their heads
00:49:57.840 in the sand or saying, that's not my problem.
00:49:59.880 Yeah.
00:50:00.040 I don't want you to have a baby.
00:50:01.080 So you're going to go have this abortion.
00:50:02.320 You know, they're not thinking about what it's going to do to her, um, because they
00:50:07.220 don't care or they, they do know, and they still don't care.
00:50:10.220 Yeah.
00:50:10.720 So no, I think, I think part of the healing is going to come because you're so desperate
00:50:15.560 and you're so vulnerable that you get to a place where you're sick and tired of feeling
00:50:18.900 that way.
00:50:19.440 Allie, I've had people that are atheist and agnostic who at least profess they are.
00:50:24.360 Tell me, I want to go through your healing retreats because I don't believe like you do,
00:50:29.400 but I cannot live this way anymore.
00:50:30.980 I have been seeing a, a doctor for years and years.
00:50:34.520 I've been on different antidepressants.
00:50:36.380 Nothing is changing how I feel.
00:50:38.580 What they don't know that I know is that our children were, were created before in our,
00:50:45.960 in our mother's womb, you know, he knitted us in our mother's womb, knew us before we
00:50:49.980 were even knitted in our mother's womb.
00:50:51.460 So it's only a spiritual God that can fill that void that you feel from abortion.
00:50:58.780 And that's why I think so many people looking at other ways to find healing aren't finding
00:51:03.300 it.
00:51:03.800 Yeah.
00:51:04.320 And that's the reason because the secret is only God can do it.
00:51:07.640 Yeah.
00:51:07.840 There has to be that balance of accountability because the accountability that is placed
00:51:13.880 on people who aid and abet and perform abortions is for the protection of the child.
00:51:19.380 We care about the protection of the child, even as we care about the healing for the men
00:51:22.980 and women who have had abortion in their lives.
00:51:25.300 But we can't say that healing and accountability are mutually exclusive.
00:51:30.720 Yes.
00:51:30.940 I mean, they, they have to go together if we care about the right to life for the baby,
00:51:35.040 which we unequivocally do, even as we care about.
00:51:37.620 Absolutely.
00:51:37.980 We can't say, well, this may hurt your healing.
00:51:40.320 So we're going to make an exception for you.
00:51:42.940 Yeah.
00:51:43.240 I agree.
00:51:43.800 I hear, I hear exactly what you're saying.
00:51:45.280 I totally agree because the unborn child has rights as well.
00:51:49.020 Yeah.
00:51:49.320 And so you can't.
00:51:50.760 That's what's so often forgotten in these conversations.
00:51:52.540 It is.
00:51:53.060 Not our conversations, but pro-choice conversations for sure.
00:51:56.280 It's just.
00:51:56.600 Oh, it's not forgotten.
00:51:57.340 They know.
00:51:57.980 Yeah.
00:51:58.140 They know.
00:51:58.620 They just paint the narrative the way they need to, to keep that
00:52:00.920 multi-billion dollar industry alive.
00:52:02.820 Yeah.
00:52:03.140 They know.
00:52:04.140 Abortionists have even know they're aborting children.
00:52:06.340 They've said it.
00:52:07.460 They know exactly what they're doing, but if they can convince enough people to believe
00:52:11.840 it's not, the child has no rights because there's nothing there.
00:52:16.400 Yeah.
00:52:16.640 They'll keep their business going.
00:52:18.600 Yeah.
00:52:19.400 So it's a sick business.
00:52:20.680 It's a sick business.
00:52:21.740 Sick, evil, wicked business.
00:52:23.240 You're doing amazing work from all different sides, convincing people that abortion is wrong
00:52:27.880 while also offering help afterwards.
00:52:31.100 A lot of people, I won't say a lot of people aren't doing that because I think there are
00:52:35.100 so many pregnancy resource centers that are doing that, but a lot of people don't know
00:52:39.160 that that is what is being offered.
00:52:42.760 Can you tell people, like, how can they get in touch with you?
00:52:45.360 How can they learn more about these healing retreats?
00:52:47.340 I know there are people out there that are saying, wait, I need that.
00:52:50.360 Where can they buy your book?
00:52:51.540 All that good stuff.
00:52:52.360 You can go to reassemblelife.com and find out about the retreat, send an email through
00:52:57.760 there, and you can get my book right now on Amazon.
00:53:02.360 Apparently, Amazon bought my publishing company, so it's on Amazon now, but I will be offering
00:53:07.060 it as well on the website because a lot of people tell me, can I get your book a different
00:53:10.940 way?
00:53:11.700 So reassemblelife.com is a way to get in touch with me.
00:53:14.420 I'm on social media, Instagram, Facebook.
00:53:17.040 I deleted my Twitter account.
00:53:18.860 Yeah, I understand.
00:53:19.680 During the election period, but find me, and I will make sure and help you find the resources
00:53:25.680 you need, whether it's a reassemble retreat or a different kind of retreat.
00:53:29.940 Whatever works for you, I will help you get the help you need.
00:53:33.580 Okay.
00:53:33.980 Well, thank you so much.
00:53:35.100 Thanks for taking the time.
00:53:36.140 Thank you, Allie.