There are thousands of women sitting in church services who need to hear that God's gift of forgiveness is offered to all - even those who have had an abortion.
In an article recently shared by Care Net, the author expressed his frustration towards pastors and clergyman who avoid the topic of abortion. He then explained that for many pastors, their silence on the issue of abortion is "not due to cowardice or apathy, but due to a very understandable concern of emotionally damaging their congregants who they know are post-abortive."
He writes, "I'm not saying that the best response to that fear is silence on abortion. I'm merely acknowledging that when a pastor is shepherding hundreds of people, and he knows that some of them are post-abortive, it's at least understandable for him to be very concerned for their well-being if someone says something in church that equates abortion to killing babies."
The author goes on to describe a woman who shared her personal testimony as both a church attender and woman who had gone through with an abortion.
She said to a group of pastors in attendance, "Twenty years ago I had my abortion. The week before I had my abortion, I was sitting in my seat in my pew at my church. The week after my abortion I was sitting in my pew at my church. For the last twenty years, I've sat in that same seat, in the same pew. Never once has there been a message in our church offering hope and healing, and as a result, I assumed [abortion] must not only be the unspeakable sin, but therefore it must be the unforgivable sin."
The pastors began to weep and she challenged them saying, "If you think you are doing something compassionate by not bringing this issue up, if you think by being the priest or the Levite by avoiding it and just hoping it will go away, and you're helping people, you're not." Do everything you can. Help those in need. Help those in unexpected pregnancies. Help our culture that is sick. We have the answer. The gospel of Jesus Christ was not only a gospel of salvation, but it was a gospel of building His Kingdom here on earth. The way we do that is to love our neighbors as ourselves."
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