The Circle of Grief Is Not Limited to Two.(Brief Article)

Not long ago I was reading an e-mail (which I do a lot) when a sentence reminded me of something I hadn't given sufficient thought to for a long time. There are many, many hurting women out there who would rather die before allowing anyone to know they had aborted.

That does not mean, the author of the e-mail hastened to add, that abortion's deadly ripple effect does not reach many of those who surround her. Rather, because family and friends are not aware of the source of her soul-agony, they may easily miss many telltale signs of post-abortion syndrome and not know of her need for repentance and spiritual healing.

A few weeks ago I spoke with a remarkably candid woman, a friend, someone who illustrated the opposite reaction. She wanted me--and anyone who would listen--to know what she had done to her baby, to herself, and to her family. They had been devastated when they learned after the fact that she had been pregnant and (in fear and shame) had taken the life of a child she now missed enormously.

This death experience (which it is and we must never forget that it is) went back years. She talks often of the circle of grief that the loss of her baby caused. Ruefully, tearfully she lives with the thought that more than the lives of just herself, the baby, and the baby's father were ...