When abortion activists failed to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a partial-birth abortion ban in 2007, they learned an important lesson: Stories matter.
The story of Sandra Cano, the woman behind the Roe v. Wade companion case Doe v. Bolton who later came to regret her abortion, made an important impact on moderate Justice Anthony Kennedy when he voted to uphold the partial-birth abortion ban.
Since then, abortion activists seem to have learned their lesson. As the high court considers a new abortion case out of Texas, they have flooded the court and the mainstream media with stories of women who say their lives are better because they aborted their unborn babies.
Many women who regret their abortions also have shared their stories with the high court, but they have not received the same attention from the mainstream media. Their stories run contrary to the pro-abortion narrative and expose how the abortion industry not only kills unborn children but also deceives and hurts women.
Tammy Romo-Alcala, who had an abortion in Texas more than two decades ago, is one of them. She shared her story with the Washington Post:
Tammy Romo-Alcala was the first person in her family to go to college, so she didn’t give her boyfriend a choice when she found out she was pregnant in 1991. Later, they would get married and have two children together, but they wouldn’t speak about the abortion in Dallas until 2012. When they finally did, Romo-Alcala said, they cried for two hours.
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“If I knew what I was getting into at the time, I wouldn’t have gone through with it,” said Romo-Alcala, now 44 and a registrar for a high school. She said that she battled depression and a drinking problem, and that painful scar tissue caused her to have a hysterectomy at 28.
This year, she will finally graduate from college, walking the same stage as her oldest child. Talking about her experience, she said, has helped her heal.
“For so long I thought I was the only one,” she said. “Now the reality is there are many women who feel the way I do, and we need to speak out about it.”
Another brief to the high court, filed by the pro-life Justice Foundation, shares the stories of 3,348 women who have been injured in abortions. Here are a few of their testimonies:
Amicus Nona Ellington:
“It ruined any chance of giving birth. As a result, I had 5 miscarriages, 3 of them tubal pregnancies, requiring emergency surgery and were very near death experiences. I have suffered from several bouts of depression and attempted suicide, self-mutilation and an 18 year-long abusive marriage as an aftermath of the abortion.”
Amicus Tina:
“Never was I told the emotional distress it would cause me for the rest of my life. I was a murderer. I took an innocent, helpless life out of the safest place life should be protected in ‘the womb.’ ”
Amicus Jennifer:
“I woke up in the middle of the procedure-literally feeling life being taken from my body. I became severely depressed, suicidal, I have had one preterm delivery because of a weakened cervix, numerous nightmares, fears, unhealthy relationships and shame for killing my child. I was told the baby was ‘tissue’ that was the biggest lie.”
Amicus Gina Bartok:
“No one told me what it would be like afterward. It was presented that it would erase all of my problems. All it did was add a huge burden and make things more difficult. I would have been better off keeping the baby and struggling or adopting out, but those were not offered as [an] option. I was told as a young collegiate with a bright future, abortion was my best path to fixing the problem.”
Amicus Sherri Lafferty:
“I’ve attempted suicide twice; have been struggling with depression and guilt for 27 years now. My next pregnancy after the abortion resulted in an ectopic pregnancy which ruptured. I feel that I lost 2 babies from that one abortion. I had scarring and pain from the time of the abortion onwards, resulting in having to have a hysterectomy when I was only 25.”
Abortion activists are trying desperately to silence these grieving women with stories claiming that abortions have positive results. But stories like Romo-Alcala’s and thousands of others’ are counteracting the abortion industry’s lies and influencing decisions about the lives of unborn babies and their mothers.
Their stories demonstrate that abortion is not a simple, safe medical procedure, an easy fix to an unwanted pregnancy. Abortion destroys the chance for an unborn child to have a story and causes a life-time of pain and sorrow for many mothers.
