Lisa Luby Ryan is not “shouting” about her abortions as some politicians and political activists do today.
Instead, the pro-life Texas Republican has been sharing how deeply she regrets aborting three unborn babies as a young woman, Dallas News reports.
And she hopes to protect other women and children from the same fate through telling her story and hopefully as a state lawmaker. Ryan and pro-abortion Democrat John Turner are competing for the Dallas-area House District 114 seat in November.
Despite the hostile political climate surrounding abortion, Ryan chose to make herself vulnerable and share how she aborted three babies and later came to regret her decisions profoundly.
Growing up, Ryan said she suffered sexual abuse for years at the hands of her father.
“At the age of six, when your father, the one you adore and worship and you want to be noticed by, when he violates you like that – it distorts everything,” she told CBN. “And yet as I got older, that’s how I knew that you showed a guy you loved him; through a sexual relationship.”
Here’s more from her local news:
Her senior year of high school, Ryan said, she got pregnant for the first time. She said her mother packed her and her boyfriend into a car and took her to get an abortion.
Afterward, Ryan said, they went to have lunch and never discussed the matter again.
“It’s one thing to have guilt and shame about what others have done to you,” she said in the video. “It’s another to have guilt and shame about the choices you’ve made in life.”
In her early 20s, Ryan got married and had two sons, Kyle and Casey. She was married to her first husband for about eight years until she left him for another man. That’s when she had her second abortion.
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“After I left the boys and their father for the other man, I got pregnant, and I couldn’t have that child because of all of the guilt and shame I already carried,” Ryan said in the video.
Eventually, she met Jay Ryan, her husband of 24 years. She secretly had her third abortion while they were dating.
Later, Ryan said she became a Christian and was freed from the burdens of pain and guilt from her abortions.
“I know the other side of it now, I know who creates life. I didn’t when I chose to have my abortion,” she said. “I talk to young girls all the time about the side the world doesn’t tell you. It’s not a good side. And there’s a lot of guilt and shame.
“My story is about God’s mercy, grace, redemption and forgiveness. If more women could forgive, it would set them free,” Ryan continued.
Though she said pro-life is not her only issue, she will vote to protect unborn babies if elected.
“If and when it comes down to the floor, I will always vote for life,” she said.
