Our culture is of the walking wounded. That’s why there is wailing about abortion after Roe v. Wade. Some of the anger — and even the outright lies — are wrapped up in the misery the gravity of abortion wreaks on lives. On Friday, I will talk with Theresa Bonopartis, who is on the front lines of addressing the pain. She runs a ministry called Entering Canaan, which she developed with the Sisters of Life, who do post-abortion healing ministry, too. Bonopartis is the author of A Journey of Healing through Divine Mercy.
I often get the honor of standing beside her praying outside abortion clinics in the New York metropolitan area. She often has a sign that says:
I had an abortion.
Life does not go back to normal.
Save your baby and yourself!
And she includes a phone number and the ministry’s website.
Bonopartis will help any woman or girl who is pregnant to keep her baby. She knows the pain of abortion and she also knows that many of the women who are going for abortions are pressured into believing there is no other option.
Please consider joining us on Friday at 2. Register here.
Bonopartis was recently included in a New York Times piece:
Theresa Bonopartis had a legal abortion in New York before Roe v. Wade, and in the decades that followed, she said, she was tormented by guilt. She felt her father had pressured her into it, threatening to throw her out of the house if she went through with the pregnancy.
“I had low self-esteem,” she said. “I hated myself for caving in to the coercion.” She ended up in a bad marriage, dealing with depression and anxiety, and when she sought help from therapists, she said, they told her that her emotional problems did not arise from her abortion.
Finally, she said, she got help from a priest and a therapist who addressed her abortion.
Ms. Bonopartis, who is now 70, drew on that experience to start Lumina, a Catholic ministry in Westchester County that offers “post-abortion help.”
The American Psychological Association has long held that having an abortion is not linked to mental health issues but that being denied one is, a position supported by decades of research.
Ms. Bonopartis does not accept this view. “I understand that it doesn’t happen to everyone, but it happens to a lot of people,” she said. She said she gets calls from 200 women a year who say they are in emotional distress and need help. She refers some to mental health professionals, while others get spiritual counseling. It has become a quest for her, she said.
“It’s really crazy when you think about it. Women are made to feel like there’s something wrong with them if taking the life of their unborn child causes them to be upset.”
She has mixed feelings about the Supreme Court decision, she said, because “it was like saying, ‘Oops, we made a mistake’” in legalizing abortion for five decades. And even before the decision, she noted, Gov. Kathy Hochul committed $35 million to abortion providers in New York to help them deal with increased demand and bolster security. “People can’t afford food and gas, and she puts aside $35 million,” Ms. Bonopartis said.
“I understand why women are angry, but they’re angry about the wrong thing,” she said. “They should be angry about what abortion has done, not about overturning Roe v. Wade.”
Again, you can register for our live conversation here.