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The startling article “What to Get a Friend Post-Abortion” was recently published by Teen Vogue, guiding teenage girls on how to comfort their friends who are recovering from abortions. Teen Vogue explains to their readers:
The worst part of all this isn’t the procedure itself (which by the way is completely safe as long as you have access to a good clinic) … but how you are treated afterwards … she shouldn’t have to feel ashamed because she made the right decision for her situation … and that’s OK … she will need you—not because the act itself is so terrible, but because the world can be.
It’s difficult to identify the most disturbing aspect of this article: A teen magazine meant to help girls learn about fashion and makeup is advocating murder? Standing up for equal rights for women is now synonymous with accepting and promoting abortion? Post-abortive teenage girls are encouraged to wear the F-Uterus pin (a uterus giving the middle finger)—proceeds of which go to Planned Parenthood—as a response to anyone who asks if a post-abortive girl regrets her decision?
While reading this article dedicated to explaining how teenage girls should comfort their post-abortive peers, I wondered if the author was a professional counselor, a physician, a social worker, or a health care professional of any kind who was qualified to give impressionable young girls healthcare advice. Not surprisingly, the author only cites her personal post-abortive experience as a source of medical advice.
As a licensed professional counselor who works with post-abortive women, I find the most inconsistent and harmful aspect of this article to be the way the author masks it as a help piece, while directing teenage girls to do the very opposite of what will actually bring them health and comfort. The author repeatedly tells readers they have no reason to feel shame and guilt. One would be hard-pressed to find a mental health clinician who regularly tells clients how they are supposed to feel—a fundamental tenet of Psychology 101. The very basis for processing grief and healing is identifying and exploring how an individual feels.
As a girls’ ministry director who ministers to hundreds of teenage girls weekly, I am praying for this generation of teenage girls to take stands for the principles of God’s Word. Generation Z is a generation who will no longer be able to be lukewarm in their faith or waver in their stance on religious, political or social concerns. The spiritual issues that my Millennial generation labeled as secondary and non-essential will be non-negotiable for Generation Z. With culture pushing liberal agendas, this is the generation of Christians where the rubber meets the road.
As a pro-life advocate who recently prayed at a pro-life rally in the very courtroom where Roe v. Wade first began, I want teenage girls and women to know the pain and regret that abortion brings. Abortion is not the only option to an unwanted pregnancy. An unwanted pregnancy does not mean an unplanned pregnancy because God has a plan for every life that is conceived, “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one came to be.” Psalm 139:6.
As a Christian Millennial who sees her Christian peers regularly waver on controversial spiritual issues, I pray my generation will start saying, “Enough is enough!” We must start standing up for the truth of God’s Word, or we will soon not recognize our country or even our churches. Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” must be our battle cry. As Christians, we are on a rescue mission to bring as many people to Heaven as possible. We must stop being ashamed of what the Bible says about abortion, gender, sex, homosexuality and marriage and start proclaiming God’s truth to an unbelieving world.
Norma McCorvey, “Jane Roe” of Roe v. Wade, famously stated, “However, upon knowing God, I realize that my case, which legalized abortion on demand, was the biggest mistake of my life.” Abortion is not the unpardonable sin, but the decision to abort an unborn baby affects its mother and father for the rest of their lives. We are never hurting people by telling them God’s truth. If we truly want to help a post-abortive teenage girl, the only comfort is in offering God’s heart on abortion. Abortion is murder. Abortion is a sin. Abortion is also forgiven when we receive the forgiveness God offers through Jesus’ death on the cross.
Julia Jeffress Sadler serves as the Girls Ministry Director at First Baptist Church in Dallas and is a licensed professional counselor, specializing in the treatment of anxiety, depression, eating disorders and self-harm. She is also a National Board Certified Counselor.
