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MILWAUKEE, September 29, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – By the time Yvonne Florczak-Seeman was 20 she had had five abortions and was contemplating her sixth. “To me they were just fetuses. I was in total denial,” she said. The Milwaukee Archdiocesan newspaper has published an interview with her describing her discovery of Project Rachel, the post-abortion healing and counseling programme.

She describes her last abortion as a harrowing experience after which she had to be admitted to hospital. The abortionist had not removed all the baby’s body. “It was the first time, that procedure, that they said the fetus was a baby.” She said that afterward she re-examined the entire proposal of the abortion lobby. “Choice was exposed for what it is, giving the woman the right to end the life of her child. Having ended five lives, I concluded that I didn’t deserve my own.”

Project Rachel was founded by Vicki Thorn in Milwaukee and can now be found sponsored by more than 160 dioceses in the United States and Canada. It is being taken overseas and is being established as part of Catholic missionary efforts in Russia. The premise of Project Rachel is the Christian notion of the forgiveness of God. The ministry has expanded and with the recognition of Post Abortion Syndrome, similar ministries are being established by non-Catholics. Ramah International was founded by Sydna Masse who had an abortion at the age of 19.  Florczak-Seeman discovered Project Rachel and forgiveness, is married and has three other children. She founded a post-abortion counseling ministry herself in 1999, Love From Above.  Thorn says that Project Rachel has empowered a wave of post-abortive women who have found the courage to speak out. At the March for Life in Washington a group of women carrying signs saying, “I regret my abortion” gained headlines. The group Silent No More, made up of women harmed by abortion was a presence at the March for Life in Ottawa this year. Thorn says, “Twenty years later, and I’m still in awe. There is now a multitude of women who are free to walk, smile and laugh again. God has restored a mother’s heart to them.”  Catholic News Service coverage:  https://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0405317.htm

National Office of Post-Abortion Reconciliation and Healing:  https://home.wi.rr.com/noparh/projectrachels.html

Ramah International:  https://www.ramahinternational.org/sydna_masse.cfm

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