Report from America - Day 26

It is not unusual for people standing vigil outside
an abortion facility during 40 Days for Life to be
the target of "drive-by anger." You may think the
people who offer you an unkind word or gesture simply
don't care for you or what you're doing.

But often, there's much more to it.

"We have had the expected negative response from
passersby," said Kelly in Severna Park, Maryland,
"but I just like to call this response 'ripping off
the band aid.' People are angry because they are
trying not to think about the pain they are in. By us
being there, we are ripping their band aids off and
so they project their anger at us."

Who's doing this? People who had unresolved abortion
experiences -- sometimes decades ago -- that may have
left them with feelings of guilt and anger. So they
lash out.

"I know that this may in fact be their first steps to
healing and so I don't mind," Kelly said. "I've
noticed that when I hold my sign with the personal
statement, 'I regret my abortion,' people get really
upset. So upset they feel the need to call me mean
names and yell to me that they don't regret their
abortions, but their anger tells me otherwise."

Through 40 Days for Life, however, many of these
people are taking that first step towards healing.

"A woman heard an interview I had done at a local
radio station about our 40 Days for Life campaign,"
said Alejandra in Orange County, California. "A
couple of hours later she called me, saying that she
wanted to be part of this campaign and that this was
what she needed."

The woman told Alejandra that 17 years ago, she had
two abortions. Ever since then, every time she sees a
17-year-old she wonders about her children. "It is a
scar she has in her heart and that she hasn't healed.
She is now ready to go to an abortion recovery group
and has begun to find healing."

With 50 million abortions over the past 35 years,
there is an unfathomable number of people who need
healing -- including people who didn't have abortions
themselves, but somehow participated in one.

Marti in Little Rock, Arkansas said one of the local
40 Days for Life volunteers confided in her that
shortly after Roe v. Wade, she took a friend for an
abortion. "She has struggled with guilt for all of
these years," Marti said. "She feels 40 Days for Life
has given her a way to begin to make amends for
assisting in an abortion."

This woman became excited about 40 Days for Life --
and much more. "She told me she went to church this
weekend for the first time in nine years," said
Marti. "She will be at the vigil for the first time
tomorrow. 40 Days for Life has given her renewed
passion for life, both hers and all of the yet-to-be
born babies."

Thank you for all you're doing to bring the healing
hand of Christ to those who've held so much guilt
inside for so many years.

For more information about post-abortion healing,
please see the online resources of Abortion Recovery
International at:

http://www.abortionrecovery.org