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“When someone is in danger or pain, it is the nature of one who considers life valuable and worthy to go and rescue,” explained Pat Layton, author of a newly released Bible study for women who are dealing with the post-traumatic stress of abortion.
“There has been a crisis going on for 35 years as millions of men, women and children have been caught in the rapids of sin and death and they need a hero,” she said, appealing to a gathering at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention last fall to accept that challenge. “One in three women have abortion in their past” and there is a great need for heroes to share the rescue that God offers, she added.
Layton is scheduled to speak on Connecting the Church to the Mission Field Created by Abortion at the Jan. 22-23 Extraordinary Women’s Ministry State Leadership Conference at First Baptist Church of New Braunfels.
She describes her own life as a series of rapids she sought to navigate from the age of 16, having made many bad choices that put her in need of rescue.
“I became a single mom at 18 and my parents rescued me, taking care of my young son while I went back to college to get my degree. When I discovered I was pregnant again, I was very ashamed to tell my parents.”
Having fought for a woman’s right to a safe and legal abortion, Layton said that was the last thing on her mind when she entered an abortion clinic to “solve” her problem pregnancy.
“I felt shame, guilt, fear and the lack of power. The windows were covered with bars. The confused nurses wore dirty tennis shoes. It was dark and dreary. Even though I didn’t have Jesus in my life, I knew I was standing in the pit of Hell with all of these women sitting there crying and alone.”
Instead, Layton opted to pursue “a nicer abortion” from the obstetrician-gynecologist who had delivered her older son. “I thought, ‘It will just take a minute. I’ll go in in the morning and be out that afternoon.'”
Her doctor did not ask the reason for seeking an abortion nor did he tell her how far along she was in the pregnancy.
“I was willing to pay the extra bucks to be put to sleep. I didn’t want to experience the ugly clinic, but go on with my life.” After dropping her child off at daycare, she headed to one of Tampa’s nicest women’s hospitals, planning to retrieve her son that afternoon.
“The next thing I remember was waking up with a tube stuck down my throat from a respirator and my parents standing at the foot of my bed. My secret wasn’t a secret anymore.” They picked up her son while she checked out of the hospital to recover at her apartment.
However, an allergic reaction to anesthesia sent her back to the hospital as she began running a high fever. There she learned that parts of the fetus had been left behind and the doctor would need to re-perform the abortion.
“What parts? A head, a heart, arms or legs? For the first time when he said those words I realized it was the parts of a child?a living human being that I had fought for the right to destroy.”
After crawling off the abortion table a second time, Layton spent the next seven years with no idea of who she was. “I was lost to my feelings, any self-esteem I might possibly have had, and lost any values.” Like 92 percent of the women surveyed regarding their abortion experiences, she was experiencing a traumatic disorder described as post-abortion syndrome.
Three years with a secular counselor only served to empty her pockets of the dollars she had to spare.
