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Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Pregnancy Center Launches Anonymous Post-Abortion Support Group for Women Who Regret Abortions


By Jen Taggart
Life News

The shame of abortion can leave women in the dark of abortion—especially church-going women. That is a truth that Theresa Wilkins, executive director of The Pregnancy Care Center of Oswego County in New York, knows all too well.

That’s why the The Pregnancy Care Center of Oswego County is starting a monthly anonymous Post-Abortion Counseling Education (P.A.C.E.) conference call on June 9.

Post-abortive clients can fill out a confidential form to have the course book mailed to them and dial in at 10 a.m. on the second Saturday of each month. To grant even more anonymity, a PDF version to download from the website is in the works.

Though the Oswego pregnancy center offers one-on-one counseling using the book “Forgiven and Set Free,” not many clients have taken advantage of that service. According to Wilkins, many post-abortive women have hardly told anyone about their past—especially not their brothers and sisters in Christ.
“Some of the other centers we’ve talked to have tried to do group settings,” Wilkins said. “Now, if you get a churched woman where nobody in her church or even her best friends know that she’s post-abortive, she doesn’t know who she’s going to walk in and see.”
Wilkins had her own unexpected pregnancy when she was 18. Because the man she was with did not want the baby, she turned to abortion. Her life fell into promiscuity, drugs and alcohol. Wilkins had grown up in a financially comfortable family, but as an adult, her finances declined due to her poor life decisions. Eventually, she ended up living on welfare.

Then, when Wilkins was 32, she knew she needed a change in her life. After a friend invited her to an Easter service, she started attending the church regularly.

One particular Sunday, when a guest pastor spoke, something hit home. Wilkins learned what it meant to have a relationship with Christ rather than just the church. She read the New Testament four to five times in her first year of being a Christian.
“For a lot of years, I really felt guilty about that abortion,” Wilkins said. “I really had to learn that I was forgiven so that I could forgive myself which didn’t really happen until I came to know Jesus as my Lord and Savior.”
A few years after Wilkins devoted her life to Christ, a woman at her church, who was the executive director of what was then the Crisis Pregnancy Center of Oswego County, spoke about the ministry, and Wilkins saw it as an opportunity to redeem her abortion experience. Wilkins got involved volunteering at the center, doing administrative work, delivering gifts to young client families, and eventually, training to become a post-abortion counselor.


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Pregnant, need help or know someone who does?  

National Hotline: Call 1-800-712-HELP or Text 'HELPLINE' to 313131.
In Southeast Penna:  Call the Community Women's Center at  215-826-8090

If you or someone you know is suffering after abortion, confidential non-judgmental help is available.  Call Project Rachel's national toll-free number 888-456-HOPE (4673) or visit hopeafterabortion.org.  

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