{"id":298829,"date":"2023-09-19T06:43:50","date_gmt":"2023-09-19T11:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=298829"},"modified":"2023-09-18T15:51:31","modified_gmt":"2023-09-18T20:51:31","slug":"aborting-twins-too-late-healing-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/aborting-twins-too-late-healing-process\/","title":{"rendered":"She didn’t know she was aborting twins until it was too late. Years later, her process of healing began."},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Christine Harrington fell away from her Catholic faith after her divorce. Then, in her early thirties, she was living with a man when she learned she was pregnant \u2014 and he insisted she have an abortion. She felt it best to leave the relationship and move back to her hometown, hoping to make a fresh start. But there, she faced the same pressure to abort \u2013 this time from her mother.<\/span><\/p>\n

Harrington told Live Action News, \u201cMy mother was the biggest catalyst to my decision to end my pregnancy. She was so worried about me bringing shame to the family and she was concerned I wouldn\u2019t be able to raise a baby on my own. The stress was intense and consistent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Harrington went forward with the abortion but doesn\u2019t remember much about that day other than she felt emboldened to \u201clive it up\u201d since she was now a \u201cfallen woman.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, I\u2019m going to hell so I\u2019m just going to live it up,\u201d Harrington said. \u201cI got involved with another man and became pregnant again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet another conflict with her mother spurred Harrington to schedule her second abortion. This time, she was hoping for someone \u2014 anyone \u2014 to tell her she didn\u2019t have to terminate her pregnancy, but no other options were offered at the abortion business. <\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, the abortion facility staff gave her reasons to move forward in having the abortion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Harrington said, \u201cI felt like I was a piece of machinery on an assembly line, waiting for a procedure that would take the life of my child.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While she lay on the table, the abortionist informed Harrington that she was carrying twin babies<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI yelled at him to please stop, but he told me it was too late,\u201d Harrington said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Third pregnancy a way to make amends for past abortions<\/b><\/p>\n

With the condemning words of her mother, \u201cyou made your bed\u2026,\u201d ringing in her ears, Harrington\u2019s self esteem hit rock bottom. She returned to her abusive boyfriend after the abortion and almost immediately became pregnant again.<\/span><\/p>\n

Harrington said, \u201cI had to make amends somehow and getting pregnant soon after my abortion was my way of doing that.\u201d <\/span>This desire for a replacement child or “atonement” child soon after an abortion is not uncommon among post-abortive women.<\/p>\n

While Harrington was in labor, she was rushed into surgery for an emergency cesarean (C-section) and woke up four days<\/em> later.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was such a precarious time for both my son and me,\u201d Harrington said. \u201cWe both \u2018died\u2019 in surgery but were revived. My son had a collapsed lung and had to be on a ventilator. Doctors gave him a 50% chance of surviving. He was kept in the hospital for two weeks.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Harrington had the hospital chaplain pray over her tiny baby and credits that prayer for his healing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Six months after her son was born, Harrington left her boyfriend and tried to adjust to life as a single mother. She struggled with bonding with her baby, afraid she might \u201churt\u201d him unintentionally.<\/span><\/p>\n

Harrington said, \u201cI felt like such a fraud as a mother. What kind of mother kills the sibling of her child? I had convinced myself I was a monster who didn\u2019t deserve to be a mother.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Stifling the memories of her abortions, left Harrington feeling anxious and depressed, living every day in \u201csurvival mode.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Path toward healing and pro-life advocacy<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t heal myself and knew I needed help,\u201d Harrington said. \u201cMy mother had given me a priest\u2019s contact information in case I needed to talk to someone. I went to confession and sobbed as I spilled out all my guilt and shame.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Expecting to be \u201cexcommunicated,\u201d Harrington was met with compassion and understanding. The priest advised she seek healing at Rachel\u2019s Vineyard retreat and two months later, she did.<\/span><\/p>\n

Harrington said that the day she confessed to the priest was the anniversary of the day Roe<\/em> was decided by the Supreme Court.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Harrington\u2019s son was 16 years old, she felt it was time to come clean with him, especially since now she was a trained facilitator with Rachel\u2019s Vineyard and a Catholic pro-life speaker.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy son looked at me in horror, exclaiming that he could have had a sibling while growing up,\u201d Harrington said. \u201cHe wanted to know why I didn\u2019t just abort him, too. He said he didn\u2019t know if he could ever forgive me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She gave him time to process what she had revealed. He eventually chose to forgive her, though he didn\u2019t thoroughly understand why Harrington chose to abort her two previous children.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Harrington said, \u201cStill, he did come to my speeches and began to understand the pain of abortion and why, at first, I was so emotionally distant from him. He knows now how abortion disconnects women spiritually and emotionally from others.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, her son is married. He and his wife are parents to a son and are both pro-life advocates.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPlanned Parenthood doesn\u2019t tell women the truth about abortion, about how it destroys souls,” <\/span>Harrington said. \u201cNobody could condemn me more than I did myself. But God saw my heart, my pain and suffering and offered grace and mercy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She recalls a near death experience that occurred during her Cesarean surgery. As she lay on the table during childbirth, she floated lazily toward the ceiling when everything suddenly turned black.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Harrington said, \u201cI pleaded with God not to send me to hell, which is where I thought I was headed, when I saw a bright, white light ahead. I could feel the warmth and love from God although I did not see him. I had a choice: stay or go back. I wanted to go back for my son, but it was such a beautiful place that I wanted to remain. I learned from this experience how deeply God loves all of us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For Harrington, it\u2019s a memory that sustains her during the most challenging of times and fuels her passion for pro-life outreach.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christine Harrington fell away from her Catholic faith after her divorce. Then, in her early thirties, she was living with a man when she learned she was pregnant \u2014 and he insisted she have an abortion. She felt it best to leave the relationship and move back to her hometown, hoping to make a fresh […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":798,"featured_media":298830,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[9455],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nShe didn't know she was aborting twins until it was too late. 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