When LifeNews first published a piece on the Abortion Diary project, creator Melissa Madera claimed that she wanted to give a voice to women who are glad they had abortions – without political influence.
In February, Madera told the Washington Post that the Abortion Diary, a podcast that she created as an outlet for people to share their abortion stories, would honor “the experiences of people who are totally fine with [abortion], with people who are not and people in the middle.”
However, her newest with The Pool seems to indicate that this is not the case. Instead, Madera appears to be falling in line with the pro-abortion movement’s attempts to normalize the killing of unborn babies.
The 36-year-old has been traveling across the U.S. to record abortion stories for the podcast. Many of the almost 200 women who she met in her travels said they felt traumatized by their abortions; however, Madera blamed the negative emotions on social stigma, rather than the death of their unborn children.
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“Trauma is a very commonly-used word when describing abortion,” she said. “But that trauma can stem from feeling unsupported in the choice you have made and there being a lack of empathy around you; not the procedure or the decision to have the abortion itself.”
Kirstie Brewer, who interviewed Madera for the piece, said the abortion activist was wearing wristbands and a bag with the slogan “I have had an abortion” printed on them when they met.
The project is personal for Madera. She told Brewer that she had an abortion when she was 17 and under the roof of her “strict Catholic” parents. When they found out that their unmarried teen daughter was pregnant, they pushed the situation onto an aunt. The aunt “hastily arranged” for Madera to have an abortion, and then the family never talked about it again.
Eventually, Madera said she found a friend who she could talk with about her abortion.
“Sharing what happened felt very freeing and I wasn’t alone anymore,” she said. “It opened me up to talking to other people about it too and I wanted to create a safe space for other women to share like I did.”
Sharing abortion stories is something that the pro-life movement also welcomes from women as a way to help them heal from the pain of their abortions. Unlike Madera, however, pro-lifers recognize that women can only fully heal when they acknowledge the root of the pain – the abortion that intentionally killed their unborn baby.
The Silent No More Awareness Campaign is one outlet where women, men and others involved in abortion are welcomed to share their stories on their journey to healing.
Co-founder and pro-life advocate Georgette Forney, who had an abortion when she was a teenager, said one of their goals is to “share our personal testimonies of hurt and healing to help others avoid the pain of abortion.”
Silent No More also facilitates healing by encouraging people to attend abortion after-care programs and to speak the truth about abortion’s negative consequences.
Forney said the new pro-abortion campaigns to normalize abortion through storytelling are excluding many women who have had negative abortion experiences and sometimes hurting them even more.
“It sends the message that if you are hurting after abortion, there is something wrong with you and actually I think it is just the opposite, if you are not hurting, or at least a wee bit sensitive about the enormity of the choice, then you are really good at numbing your pain,” she said.
