Miscarriage and Abortion

Have compassion on me, Lord, for I am weak.  Heal me, Lord, for my body is in agony.   Psalm 6:2  NLT

The reality of abortion is before us. The videotapes taken undercover show barbaric practices. What about the women that received abortions? Did they suffer? In the fifth video one of the abortion clinic workers affirms that the women receive conscious sedation but sometimes it doesn’t cover the pain—the patient may not be cooperative for a good collection of the fetus.

I recalled an experience that I had as a nurse in the hospital. My patient experienced a miscarriage. At sixteen weeks gestation, the infant had died in the womb.  The mother had experienced wrenching physical and emotional pain as she labored.   She had moaned, tossing and turning in bed.   As her nurse, I had given morphine ordered by the doctor, but it had not covered the pain.  After eight exhausting hours the body of the tiny girl baby was delivered.

We wrapped the baby in a blanket and after the mother held her, I made the memorial card. I held the tiny feet gently, applied ink and made footprints on the bereavement card—a memorial to the life of a baby girl and one aspect of bereavement care provided at the hospital.

At the nurse’s station, a doctor was explaining various medications that he had used to abort pregnancies.  He talked about the abortion process and it struck me that women going through abortion may have experienced the same misery that I had just witnessed.   The difference was that they did not receive bereavement care.  Women went home from the hospital or clinic quietly. The experience may have been traumatic and done in secret.

Health care has physical, emotional and spiritual aspects. That is what I learned in nursing school in the 1970s. Whether a woman experiences a miscarriage or an abortion, it is traumatic. It is helpful if she can talk about it. Our God is merciful and compassionate.  He is able to bring healing. As believers we can affirm life, acknowledge loss and speak truth in love.  We can reach out to hurting women and tell them about God’s love and compassion.

Here are some specific ways to help.

1.  Support your local pregnancy care center. In the Chicago area we have Informed Choices, Caris and Care-Net.

2.  If you know a woman that has had an abortion or miscarriage be willing to come alongside her and listen. Let her know that God loves her.

3. Some of the pregnancy care centers provide post-abortion counseling. Rachel’s Vineyard offers a retreat for women that have had an abortion.

4. The bill to defund Planned Parenthood, sponsored by Joni Ernst, provides funds for women’s health though other health providers. Continue to contact your senators and congressmen, asking them to defund Planned Parenthood.

Linking with Coffee and Conversation, the Homemaking Party and A Little R & R