Tuesday March 16, 2010
‘Abortion Changes You’ Messages Meet Commuters in St. Louis
By Peter J. Smith
ST. LOUIS, Missouri, March 16, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The city immortalized by the Judy Garland musical “Meet Me in St. Louis” will now meet a new message over the next few weeks: “abortion changes you.”
Five different billboards have been set up on the thoroughfares of the city, and form part of the same outreach appearing this month in New York City subways to offer those struggling after an abortion hope for healing.
The billboards echo some of the experiences of men and women after an abortion. One woman shares, “I thought my life would be the way it was before,” while another says, “We made the decision together but I’ve never felt so alone.” An ad featuring a young man states, “I thought I was helping my girlfriend”.
The billboards refer viewers to AbortionChangesYou.com, a website intended to provide individuals affected by abortion – directly or indirectly – a space insulated from the highly charged politics surrounding abortion, where they can begin to heal.
A welcome box greets visitors to the site saying, “Abortion can produce troubling emotions. You are not alone. Many are seeking to make sense of their own or their loved one’s abortion experience. This website is a safe place to begin.”
The campaign claims to have nothing to do with politics: pro-life vs. pro-choice, or where public policy on abortion should be. Instead, the Abortion Changes You outreach deals only with the too-often-ignored reality that many actually do have grief – to one degree or another – after having an abortion. (See LSN’s previous in-depth coverage here)
The site includes an interactive grief and loss healing model, which the outreach says was developed with the help of psychologists. Visitors to the site can also connect with support groups and counseling in their local area through the “Find Help” section.
“One in three women will have an abortion in the United States – and many women and men feel isolated and alone after their experience,” said Michaelene Fredenburg, 44, creator of the ads and founder of the Abortion Changes You outreach in a statement. “When I had my abortion I kept it a secret for a long time because I was afraid of how people would react. Few people know how to talk about abortion in a safe way.”
“I believe that women, men, and family need a safe place to experience their own range of emotions apart from controversy and debate. That is why I started the Abortion Changes You outreach,” added Fredenburg.
Fredenburg points out that individuals can experience a whole range of emotions after their own abortion or the abortion of someone close to them: they have admitted feelings ranging from relief, to confusion, to profound grief.
The grief associated with reproductive losses (such as abortion, miscarriage, and stillbirth), however, is often minimized, denied, and considered to fall outside the normal “grieving rules” of society – especially when it comes to abortion.
In an earlier interview with LifeSiteNews.com on their New York City campaign, Fredenburg explained that individuals struggling with the aftershocks of an abortion can feel “isolated and alone with the troubling emotions or the sadness that they have” – and the intense debate surrounding abortion can keep these people from seeking counseling or acknowledging their grief.
But her outreach, she said, “keeps sight of the people involved” by giving them a non-judgmental environment in which they finally come to healing and peace, even though the loss of a baby from an abortion may always be felt in some way.
The Abortion Changes You outreach billboards in St. Louis, Missouri will remain on the I-207, Highway 367, I-270, US 40, and I-64 roadways through the first week of April.
Read previous coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:
Massive “Abortion Changes You” Campaign Greets New York Subway Riders
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/mar/10031108.html