Pro-Life Leader: I’m Pro-Life Because I Once Took the Life of My Child in an Abortion

Opinion   |   Lauren Enriquez   |   Dec 8, 2016   |   6:53PM   |   Washington, DC

Every engaged pro-life advocate has a story of how abortion became personal for him or her. For some, a chance encounter with a pro-life group sparked a passion for rescuing innocent human lives. Others become convicted when they experience pregnancy for the first time and come face to face with the incredible humanity of the preborn child and gain a deep understanding of who the victims of abortion are.

And for many, abortion becomes personal in very literal way when they or a loved one experience it first-hand. It was this first-hand experience with abortion which ultimately led Jeff Bradford, the Vice President of Human Coalition, into the pro-life cause. Last month, Jeff shared his story with the GPS: God, People, Stories radio program of the Billy Graham Evangelical Association.

Jeff shared that in the early 1990s, he and his then-fiancée, Tricia, were busy planning their wedding when Tricia became pregnant with their first child. “We were not serving the Lord at that point the way we should have been,” said Jeff, “and we got pregnant… Before you knew it, we were at Planned Parenthood. And we took the life of our first child.”

Listen to Jeff’s full segment with the Billy Graham Evangelical Association here.

Jeff shared that he and his fiancée saw abortion as the only viable choice in their situation. “When you’re in that situation and you don’t have someone standing in the gap to really counsel you that this is a life and that you can do this,” Jeff said, “we felt like that was the quick decision — to not shame our parents at the wedding [by] coming to the wedding pregnant… We didn’t feel like we had any other choice, and we didn’t have the right people speaking into our lives at that time.”

The couple got married and welcomed four more children, but never confronted the heartache of their abortion until many years later. Jeff shares that they were visiting a Christian counselor for a marriage “tune-up” when Tricia revealed the secret pain that she had carried for so many years because of the abortion. The experience spurred a redemptive process for both Tricia and Jeff, and the miraculous healing of the couple’s abortion wounds opened the doors for their own subsequent involvement in the pro-life movement.

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The same week, Jeff met Brian Fisher, the co-founder of Human Coalition, which was a small volunteer organization at the time. Brian needed someone with Jeff’s business acumen on the team, so he invited Jeff to volunteer. Ultimately, along with a handful of corporate experts who would leave their for-profit jobs to build Human Coalition, Jeff played an integral role in growing Human Coalition into what is now the most innovative and effective organization in the nation. To date, the organization has rescued over 5,200 children from abortion.

For Jeff, the work he does at Human Coalition is as much about rescuing children from abortion as it is about saving families from the heartbreak of losing a child. “That’s incredibly rewarding for us,” he shared. “God forgives us. There’s no sin bigger than the cross of Christ.” And while the pain of loss remains an enduring part of his life, Jeff says that he experiences the corresponding joy of knowing the redemption that only Christ brings.

Human Coalition has led the charge for men, including those who are post-abortive, to courageously engage in the battle to rescue children from abortion. In his book, Abortion: The Ultimate Exploitation of Women, Brian Fisher shares that the stories, pain, and perspective of post-abortive men “are what is missing from the abortion dialogue in America.” For his part, Jeff believes that God is working to awaken men to the impact of abortion on the world around them. “I believe the Lord is calling men in unprecedented ways to help build a movement to end abortion in America,” he says. “It’s time!”

LifeNews Note: Human Coalition is an organization of over 100 employees working cooperatively to rescue children and families from abortion in unprecedented ways. Learn more at HumanCoalition.org and AbortionExploitsWomen.com.

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