The Daily Signal - She Had an Abortion. Why She's Glad Roe Was Overturned.

Episode Date: June 25, 2022

When she was 17, Cathy Harris had an abortion. After her abortion, Harris says she felt "immediate regret, immediate just grief that fell upon me." "I wasn't really sure what to do with it, where to put it," she recalls. "A lot of people, friends of mine had continued to tell me that's not a baby, just get over it, move on and I couldn't." It took a long time to heal from her abortion, but eventually Harris began sharing her story, and became a leader in the pro-life movement. She shared her story by writing the book "Created to Live: Becoming the Answer for an Abortion-Free Community." Harris joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to discuss the Supreme Court's ruling overturning Roe v. Wade and what the decision means for the pro-life movement. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a daily signal bonus episode for Saturday, June 25th. I'm Virginia Allen. On Friday, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. This is a moment that the pro-life movement has been waiting for for about 50 years. And here with us to talk about this historic time in history is pro-life advocate Kathy Harris, who is also the author of Created to Live becoming the answer for an abortion-free community. Kathy, thanks so much for joining us. Of course.

So what was your first thought, first reaction when you learned that, yes, the Supreme Court has officially overturned Rovi Wade? Oh, my goodness. It's such an overwhelming feeling. So many of us have prayed and waited for this day. And it's hard to hold back tears when you've waited for something for so long. It's exciting. It's a big day.

It is a big day. It's a huge day. And, you know, you have been involved in the pro-life movement for so long. Of course, you've written a book, created to live, sharing a lot of your own story, your own passion for the pro-life cause. So I want to take a few minutes and just ask you to share a little bit of your personal story and how even as a young person, you were exposed to abortion. Sure.

Yeah. So I am almost 40 now and had an abortion when I was. And so I've experienced the fear that many young women have experienced and maybe even experiencing today. And I get it of not really knowing where to go when you find out that you're pregnant, especially as a young teenager as I was, just not knowing where to get answers, how to get help. And so for me, like a lot of women do, I turn to a plan parent. that was down the street from my high school. And really, it was the only place I felt comfortable going in the moment, but realized very

quickly that it was a bad decision. You know, I made a decision out of fear because of a lack of support. And just in, as I've been a part of the pro-life movement, as I've processed my own decision and obviously in pro-life now, I have realized that really what I needed in that moment was support. I needed someone to come alongside me and say it was okay to make a life decision in fear was wrong, and it impacted my life traumatically in many different ways for years and years. It's a decision I can never take back. And so, you know, really it's what prompted me to join in the fight and join in the pro-life movement to be able to help women and bring light to the support that women really need and not just, you know, kind of choosing the cop-out road of sending them to an abortion clinic.

It wasn't the answer for me, and I don't believe that it's the answer for other women as well. Do you remember what those thoughts were that were running through your mind at the age of 17 when you walked out of that Planned Parenthood after having had an abortion? Yeah, I remember it like yesterday. I mean, it was it was immediate regret, immediate just grief that fell upon me. And I wasn't really sure how what to do with it, where to put it. You know, a lot of people, friends of mine had continued to tell me, you know, that's not a baby. just get over it, move on, and I couldn't. And, you know, just that day for so many years was just a day of darkness.

When I looked back on it, I remember them telling me, you know, it was all going to be over. It was all going to be better. And I remember walking out of that abortion clinic realizing that that was a lie. It wasn't over. It wasn't better. And now I was without a baby. And so it was worse than, you know, what. I was told it would be when I walked in the door. And so, yeah, that feeling sticks with you for sure.

Yeah. Yeah. So then how did you ultimately decide, okay, wait a second. I'm going to take some of that that hurt and that pain from having had an abortion and get involved in the pro-life movement? Sure. It took me a few years. And finally, when I realized that it's okay. It's okay for me to move on. I need help. I need to be able to talk about this for for two or three years. I didn't talk about it at all. I didn't share with other people, you know, what I had been through, the thoughts that were in my mind, honestly, because I felt like they were illegitimate. I didn't feel like anybody was going to agree, you know, of why are you grieving over a person who wasn't a person, so to speak, you know, as many people thought. But it took me a few years and I decided to just

start volunteering in a pregnancy center. And I just sat in rooms and listened to women, to young girls that were in the same boat as me. And I felt like, you know, I can't get my baby back, but I can share with other women that are in my same boat of the grief that I felt at that point. And so that's really how I stepped into the pro-life movement, just sitting in a counseling room talking to a woman holding her hand and sharing my story. Yeah, yeah. What would you want to say two women right now who have had abortions and might be feeling a lot of different emotions as they've just learned that Roby Wade has been overturned and maybe just feeling a lot of confusing, confusing feelings. What would be your message to them? Yeah, absolutely. I think it is an emotional day

for those women, especially women who haven't found healing. And really, that would be my encouragement to them, that if this day is hard, if you're finding yourself in a place of confusion, of not knowing, do I rejoice, do I cry, how do I feel about this? I would encourage them to talk to someone about it, talk to a pastor, go to a pregnancy center. There are counselors all across the country that are expecting and waiting to have these conversations, even if, you know, you're not looking to have an abortion, but in your abortion was years ago, they're happy to help. I think anytime that we find ourselves in a moment like today,

it brings up feelings and emotions. Maybe we didn't even know we're there. And so, again, I would encourage them to just talk to someone that they trust. Yeah. Well, and, you know, now we know that at this point in history, what the Supreme Court has said is that the Constitution does not provide a right to abortion. So now what happens is that abortion returns really to the people to decide in states, to state lawmakers to make those decisions. And there's a vast difference across our country in states that have put very, very pro-life laws in place and states that are, you know, still saying that they will allow abortion

up until, you know, the time a baby is born. So, Kathy, how do we actually, you know, as someone who has been so, involved in the pro-life movement who's written a book about being pro-life, how do we actually go about creating a culture of life in our country? Yeah, I mean, I think we can make that into a complicated answer, but really, in my opinion, it's pretty simple. Just coming alongside people who need help. I mean, the reality of today, as exciting as it is, there are a lot of women who are going to need help. And it's our job to come alongside them and provide that help.

And if you aren't in a place where you can help physically, you know, or you don't know a single mom or someone, then give. Give to those who are helping. Give to pregnancy centers. Give to ministries that are helping. Adoption agencies. These are real practical needs. And we need to give to those.

and we need to offer our time. You know, it's one thing to pray and to be excited about a decision. It's another thing to step up to the plate, and I think that's what today is about. Yeah. What was most helpful for you in your own journey when people did come alongside of you? What did that look like and what was helpful? Yeah, when I started volunteering in a pregnancy center, it was pretty clear from the very beginning from other more seasoned counselors

that perhaps I was the one that needed the counseling. And so I had a lot of women who came alongside me and just let me talk. You know, I think sometimes we don't, we don't come alongside someone because we don't know what to do or we don't know what to say. And I think for me, it was I just needed to be heard. I needed someone to just listen to the feelings that I had bottled up inside of me that I was scared to share with someone. Again, because I felt like they weren't legitimate.

And so just talking to someone, listening to someone, opening your ears, not necessarily feel like you have to provide an answer all the time, but, you know, just listen, be a listening ear. Yeah, I love that. I think that's so practical. It's not complicated. It's like just get a cup of coffee and sit and listen. I love that. So in this majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, he writes that, like the infamous decision in Plessy, versus Ferguson, Roe was also egregiously wrong and on a collision course with the Constitution

from the day it was decided. So when we think about moving forward into this new air in American history in a post-Roe world, Kathy, how do you think that history is going to remember Roby Wade and talk about this legislation? You know, when we get another 50 years down the road, what do you think as a country we're going to say about the past 50 years of allowing of allowing abortion on demand yeah well thinking about that is overwhelming to me because we've prayed i've prayed for years that abortion would be in ash heap of history that we would look back 50 years from now and say wow how could we have how could we have done that that. You know, the 62 plus million babies who we've lost, generations that we've lost,

it's egregious. And, you know, my prayer is that 50 years from now that our eyes will be open to that. And we can say, wow, you know, similar to the way that we look back into, you know, Dred Scott days, slavery days in our history, we look back with amazement and, you know, just wondering how how do we get here you know and I and I pray that we can look back in the same way. Yeah yeah absolutely. Kathy Harris is the author of Created to Live becoming the answer for an abortion free community and you can find the book on Amazon. Kathy thank you so much for being willing to join us today to share your personal story really on this historic moment in American history. Of course. Thank you.

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