Abortion affect women

Just like any other condition that takes out humanlife, abortion affects women. Those who are affected can find themselves having problems with a common set of physical or emotional issues. After an abortion it's possible that a woman will have some normal feelings of grief, guilt, sadness, crying and loss. If the feelings become severe, interfere with her daily activities, persist for a long period of time, or lead to other more serious problems, she may be suffering from PASS

The Post-Abortion Bible Study used at The Comforter’s Center is called "Binding up the Brokenhearted"from The Healing hearts ministries.
Healing Hearts Ministries was formed in 1988 by Sue Liljenberg and her husband Gary. Sue personally experienced an abortion in 1972 at the age of 17, and for many years suffered both emotionally and physically. In 1982, she was given hope for her life when someone loved her enough to tell her about Jesus and how He died on a cross to pay the penalty for her sin. She received Jesus into her life and knew that she would never be the same again, but she also knew that there was something keeping her from a deeper walk with God; something that kept her thoughts captive and ruled her life. That something just happened to be her abortion, and the realization that she took the life of the only baby she would ever conceive. After seeking help from physicians and psychologists with no lasting results, she turned to the only source that she knew: the God who saved her and His Word.
For several years God walked Sue through the Scriptures. As she learned the truth in God's Word regarding her sin, which she was in Christ and how much God loved her, healing came. She knew this healing was not just temporary but eternal, and she longed to show other women how they, too, could become whole again. She began writing a Bible Study entitled "Binding up the Brokenhearted" so other women could walk the road she had already walked and find hope and healing for their lives.
After several years of counseling post-abortive women, Sue decided it was time to train these women so they could reach out and help others. In 2007, sue her self travelled to Uganda for the first time to train coordinators of the Binding up the broken hearted. And more than 100 women have received healing through this Bible Study.Because of the tremendous success of ministering to the brokenhearted Sue has authored a nother Bible study entitled "The Hem of His Garment" to will help those who have not had abortions but have areas of their lives that need a healing touch from the Lord
On Saturday 24th April 2010, The Comforter’s Center held a conference with the theme: Healing Sister’s Heart’s”.
The conference started as early as 10:00am with praise and worship together with 2 sisters from the Healing hearts International ministries. In the USA. www.healinghearts.org.
Healing hearts sister began the conference by sharing with women their testimony. It was really a very touching testimony and most women were surprised to learn what their fellow sisters from the USA went through. After sue Sanford had shared her testimony, she invited her colleague Camille to also talk to the ladies. After hearing Sue’s testimony, women were eager to hear from her friend Camille because Sue’s testimony had already touched their heart. They had already realized that African women are not the only one who have problems but also the whites too. Unlike Sue’s testimony, Camille’s was an odd one. Camille lost two babies almost at the same time. One was due to an abortion that she did out of anger and another one was due to her boyfriend’s fault. Her boyfriend raped her daughter and when she was taken to the hospital, the baby died. This was too much for her. During that time, Camille was pregnant with her boyfriend’s child, the one who had raped her daughter and when her daughter died, she could not see herself carrying the child of a rapist. She had to abort that baby something that made her to develop certain behaviors like taking drugs, drinking alcohol yet she was a Christian.

After hearing the two testimonies, you cannot believe what most women felt. They became very strong and courageous. They realized that women throughout the world face almost similar challenges/problems. It was now time for the ladies also to share their life testimonies and give their ideas. This time, there was no fear. Every woman was ready to share her testimony with the facilitators. It was really very wonderful and women learnt a lot from each other.

After they had shared their testimonies, the facilitators encouraged women to be Christ Ambassadors. The facilitators told women that sitting in church on Sundays is good but God wants them to do more than that. She encouraged them to start from their families/communities to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sue told women that our problems will not be solved as long as we bring people closer to God. She encouraged women who have undergone abortions to ask for God’s forgiveness and guidance and never to do it again and to take the gospel of life to fellow women as well as men in their churches.

Camille on the other hand also encouraged women to join the Healing Hearts Bible study which is called the, “The Hem of his Garment”. She told women that going through this bible study will really change their lives as well as strengthen them in spirit. She also encouraged women to come to the comforter’s to be trained such that they can be able to take the bible study in their churches.

At around 5:30pm, the conference was closed. In her closing remarks, the Director Comforter’s Center thanked all the participants and she told women who attended that it was God’s blessing that they were among the women who were invited. She told them that God wants to use them to reach out to women have not been preached to and she also encouraged them to come to the center for more training. All in all, the conference was very wonderful and we thank God for making everything possible.

April is Abortion Recovery Awareness Month and Jackie’s testimony;

April is Abortion Recovery Awareness Month. And Jackie’s’ testimony

While the number of women who suffer post-abortion trauma is unknown, the characteristics of women most likely to suffer severe post-abortion problems have been identified. The new life, little one, being created inside her physically, and to whom she is attached at some level emotionally, psychologically and spiritually has been taken from her
Abortion is unnatural and is generally not acknowledged as a death-event, and because abortion grief is not societal recognized and accepted many women feel isolated and alone with their grief and anguish. It can help to talk it through with someone uninvolved, who has special skills in caring and listening, and knowledge of abortion-specific effects and issues.
Contact The Comforter’s Center for more information on how you can get abortion recovery services. +256312113635 or e-mail:ourcomforter@yahoo.com.
Jackie’s testimony;
There are certain things that we do that keeps on haunting us and sometimes we think that nothing can change that situation. Some times we receive clients who have a feeling that what they did was unthinkable and no one can forgive them including God. But by God’s grace, we able to counsel these ladies and make them realize that their situation can be changed as long as they trust in God and believe that there is nothing impossible with God. This is a story of a 24 year old lady who came to our center feeling guilty of her past abortion.

I am called Jackie Onencher and married with one child. One day, I was going to town and on my way I saw a sign post by the name of The Comforter’s Center. On that sign post, there were several activities that they do at the center but what touched me most was Post abortion counseling. The reason why it touched me was two years before I got married, I was involved in a relationship with another man and I became pregnant. I realized that this man did not care about me and I had to abort that baby. After carrying out that abortion, I read an article which says when you have an abortion; you are at a risk of not giving birth or becoming infertile.

So, a year after I got married, I could not see any signs of pregnancy. We tried all means but still I could not become pregnant. I thought that may be the abortion I had made me infertile. When I was still dating this man, I told him about my past relationships including the abortion that I had. So when I failed to become pregnant he also became suspicious. The situation became worse when his relatives started pressuring him that he married a barren woman because they did not believe that you can stay with a man for a year and fail to get pregnant.

Two days after reading the sign post, I made a decision and came to The Comforter’s Center for Post abortion counseling. When I reached at the center, I was welcomed by the counselor who made me develop a feeling that I was really in a right place. Inside my heart, I was feeling ashamed to talk about what I did. I knew abortion was bad and I knew that God will never forgive me because I had already read in that article that abortion is sin and murder of an innocent child. I was really condemning my self for the sin of murder. But when I started this counseling, it really helped me to know that abortion is not the end of everything.

The counselor told me to join the bible study called The Healing Hearts for women who are facing post abortion trauma and I welcomed the idea. Few days after I had started the study, I realized a big change in my life. I came to know that if you confess your sins, God is a kind and forgiving God and he can forgive you which I did. Through prayers also, the counselor made me develop faith that I was going to have children.

Two months after visiting the center, I came back for a pregnancy test. I had not seen my periods and I developed a feeling that I might be pregnant. Guess what! The test was positive. I was very excited and immediately I called my husband and gave him the news. He was also very happy. By that time I had not finished the bible study but I did not give up. I kept on praying to God to protect my baby and my life.

On February 27th 2010, I gave birth to a baby boy whom we named Godwin Layika and I am really proud of him. Actually this came as a surprise to everyone in my husband’s family because anyone who gives birth to a baby boy dies on the spot but mine is alive and very healthy. I give glory to God and I pray that he keeps on protecting my baby.

Finally, I thank The Comforter’s Center for their services because Post Abortion Counseling brought me hope that I had lost and it made me realize that when you trust in God, He is able to do anything that you need in life.

By
Sister Joy

Abstinence Education

Each time we visit a school or community to talk about sexual abstinence, we usually learn some new ideas. Sometimes I ask myself what is really happening to our teenagers. In most schools that we visited this month of March, the ideas we got from the teenagers were almost the same. Sexual abstinence is not an easy topic to introduce to some one who has never heard about it. Before we do anything, we usually ask God’s grace to be with us as we share our views with teenagers. Some teenagers take sexual abstinence as a joke and they tend to believe that they are big enough to involve in sexual relations.

In one of the schools we visited, we were surprised to learn of what was happening in that school. You cannot imagine what we found there. We believe that God directed us to that school. This school has a population of almost 2000 students and most of which come from slum areas of Kawempe a Kampala suburb. Prior to our visit in this particular school, they had organized a pregnancy check up for all the girls. There were some girls who were suspected to be pregnant. To their surprise, this came out to be true. After the check up was done, the tests revealed that two girls were pregnant while other three girls had abortions.

As we were still in that school, I managed to talk to one of the girls who had an abortion. This girl told me that she could not believe the fact that she was pregnant. I used to go out with this man but I never thought about pregnancy but the day I missed my periods, I became very nervous. I went for a pregnancy check up and I found out that I was pregnant. I went and talked to my boyfriend and he did not deny it. But still I had a lot of thoughts because my mother was not aware and telling her that I was pregnant it would break her heart. My boyfriend one day told me to meet him at the clinic. He had arranged with the nurse to carry out an abortion. When I arrived at the clinic, she took me into a room and did what she did and minutes later I started bleeding and she told me that I had lost my baby. This was an experience that I will never forget in my life. Actually when they talked to us about abortion, I realized the terrible mistake I made by engaging into sexual practices and I promise not to do it again
Justine Asiimwe