From the Director, Tim Bond

Recently social media has been filled with undercover videos taken by the Center for Medical Progress. These videos revealed conversations with Planned Parenthood employees and executives, showing their nonchalant, cold, and calculating attitude about life in the womb. They also exposed the reality of abortion providers who admit human lives are destroyed through the abortion procedure, yet simply don’t care.  As William Wilberforce once said, “You may choose to look away, but you can never say again that you did not know.”

For most it’s possible to walk away from this discussion and go on with life wearing blinders, avoiding the harsh reality of abortion.  But many women and men don’t have that luxury.  The sights and sounds of those videos triggered a post-traumatic reaction of repressed memories and emotions from their own abortion experience.  One in three women under the age of 45 has experienced an abortion.  No doubt, many silent and hurting women have been wounded again as they came face to face with the reality about their “procedure”.   

Perhaps some experienced heightened anxiety, confusion, and nightmares.  Deeper depression, sorrow, and shame may overwhelm many.  Maybe some will return to their personal method of coping with the grief and pain by drinking, drugs and other addictions.  These strong reactions are normal.  The trauma of abortion can result in negative emotions and behaviors that last for years. Many go through life unaware that their damaged relationships, inability to bond with children, and their addictions are related to the trauma of their abortion. They live in despair with these and other post-traumatic symptoms, not seeing any hope for a changed life.

But there is hope! A percentage of these post-abortive women and men seek healing for their post-traumatic stress. Recovery and healing are possible through the support and care offered by post-abortion recovery ministries like PCC’s Hearts Restored: Healing After Abortion.  

The release of these videos has elevated cultural awareness of the abortion issue. It is also an opportunity to increase awareness that hope and healing is available. Please tell your friends, your church, and your family members who are hurting that someone cares.  Tell them healing is the best “choice”. 

What if, instead of shaming those who have chosen abortion in their past, we show them the Gospel of extravagant grace?  Now is the time to invite those with buried burdens to safely bring their brokenness and pain to those who want to help. Repentance is not about condemnation, but about experiencing restoration and freedom to live an abundant joy-filled life.

Perhaps you didn’t watch the videos, but just heard about them. Either way, you still must choose how you will respond to them. Please… don’t look away!  

Hearts Restored: Healing After Abortion support and counseling offers a compassionate and fully confidential way to address this pain and this now undeniable reality. Tell a friend to privately contact Sue Ketchum at 812-567-3150 and WomensHeartsRestored@gmail.com or Don Stuart at 812-720-0802 and MensHeartsRestored@gmail.com

'The Secret Shame of Abortion in the Church'

Shame has a crippling effect on living an abundant life as God intended. One out of every three women up to age 45 has experienced abortion. Consider the many women and men that suffer silently in our churches! They understand forgiveness and salvation, but healing is necessary to restore their broken hearts. Recovery studies offered by our Hearts Restored: Healing After Abortion program can confidentially help men who regret lost fatherhood and women who still suffer from their "choice".  This is a wonderful article about that devastating shame and the church's challenge to encourage healing: The Secret Shame of Abortion in the Church.

Someone cares. Contact Sue or Don. 

Hearts Restored: Healing After Abortion

According to research by Obstetrics & Gynecology LWW Journal published in 2011, 30% of American women will have an abortion by age 45.  Many women tend to think they are the only one hurting from abortion – as if no one else could understand how she feels. Silently these women suffer, but they don’t have to. If these words resonate with you, you are not alone.

“The sound of a vacuum, florescent lights, the smell of a doctor’s office, or the cry of a baby - those are some of the triggers that remind me of that traumatic day.” These are the words of women in my support group who years earlier experienced an abortion. The clinic told us it would be a “quick fix” and our lives would return to normal.

For most post-abortive women and men, life changes.  Guilt, shame, and regret crowd out joy and peace.  Coping with the secret of taking a life affects relationships, as we keep people at a distance to avoid judgment.  Memories, nightmares or hallucinations cause anxiety or give us reason to seek comfort in addictions.

Post-traumatic stress is real. A life was taken and our human nature is in conflict with the reality of our involvement. A mother’s nurturing instincts and a father’s protective internal nature are violated. 

To cope with pain many build a wall around his/her heart. Anger sometimes takes grip and often turns into rage and bitterness. Many women develop problems with future children: over-protecting or failing to bond. Many men develop a sense of powerlessness, depression or fear of failing financially, socially or relationally.

There are choices to be made: staying stuck in stress or the choice to heal. There is hope and freedom for the broken-hearted! There are women and men who have walked in your shoes yet chosen a path to heal. Because of their changed lives, they reach out to help others. Abortion healing is available, free and completely confidential. 

Hearts Restored: Healing After Abortion provides a support study that leads you through the pain, grief, shame, loss and anger to experience the freedom of feeling forgiven and set free. Finally surrendering your secret with safe people will lighten the burden of carrying this painful loss.

Moving on from the entanglement of past decisions is possible. Past choices do not need to be the end of your story. There is hope for a new beginning! I know. I have participated in a support group study and I’m free from uncontrollable anger. This helped to heal my marriage; I am a better wife, mother and a happier person. God has forgiven me and I have a new purpose to speak love and healing into the lives of other hurting women.

Hearts Restored serves Bartholomew, Brown, Decatur, Jackson, Jennings and Shelby counties.  From teens to 90-year-olds, someone you know needs healing. To talk one-on-one with someone who understands and cares, or inquire about a small group study, call Sue at 812-567-3150 or Don at 812-720-0802.

Indiana's Abortion Rate Continues to Drop

The Indiana Right to Life recently reported in their July Lifeline Report that the abortion rate in Indiana is dropping. “Abortion data just released by the Indiana State Department of Health in May reveals Indiana’s abortion rate dropped to a 33-year low in 2012 as a result of a 5% drop in abortions from 2009 to 2010. There were 10,031 unborn children aborted in 2010 which is 526 less than the previous year. The statistics are the most current available from the ISDH. Indiana’s abortion rate has now dropped over 8% since 2008 and has fallen nearly 40% from Indiana’s highest annual abortion rate of 16,505 in 1980.”

Indiana Right to Life President and CEO Mike Fichter says he “believes the decline is Indiana’s abortion rate is due to a variety of factors including pro-life policies passed by the Indiana legislature, expanded efforts by Indiana crisis pregnancy centers to provide alternatives to abortion, and a growing awareness of the humanity of the unborn child through technology such as ultrasound. In addition, high school and college students are coming to the pro-life movement in unprecedented numbers and are helping abortion-vulnerable peers to choose life when experiencing a crisis pregnancy.” Fichter goes on to say, “We are on the right track in Indiana. This most recent decline will energize and motivate Indiana’s pro-life community to work even harder to bring about the day when abortion is a sad and tragic memory of the past.” ARE YOU ENERGIZED? ARE YOU MOTIVATED?

No Cost Just Sacrifice

“No Cost Just Sacrifice”
That was the title for this past weekend.

I was extremely honored to attend The Call Detroit 11-11-11 where
thousands came together in Ford Field to fast and pray for the city of Detroit and for our nation.

“It's a fast, not a festival” describes TheCall which has been gathering for over 10 years in stadiums across our country for Joel 2 solemn assemblies. I describe it as an honor because the very least I can do to petition for the lives of the unborn is to give up sleep and food for 36 hours. Being of one purpose with thousands of brothers and sisters is Christ who have the same passion is an amazing experience and one that touches the heart of God as we worshipped and cried out to Him in prayer.

11 of us from my church, Cornerstone Community in Seymour, drove up Friday, arriving for the beginning session at 6pm. The worship, the prayer, the praise, the breaking of barriers and restoration between ethnic groups, the repentance of the shedding of innocent blood in our land, are just a few of the things that took place during the 24 hour call which continued non-stop until 6pm Saturday.

I was touched as the truth about abortion was proclaimed through several personal testimonies from representatives of Carenet. The reality of the black genocide through aborting Africian American babies was startling to hear as the National Pro Life Black Community leaders shared of their movement to put an end to this unjust bloodshed.

I am more grateful than ever to be a part of putting an end to this ugly thing called abortion.
One day at a time, we each are making a difference in saving the life of a child.
I am honored to be involved in the work of the Pregnancy Care Center.

Serving with you,
Marge Miller
Manager, Jackson County Center

Wonderfully Made

Taken from Melissa Ohden’s blog at www.melissaohden.com.


"I was aborted by a saline infusion abortion in 1977.

However, that attempt failed at ending my life, and instead of being born dead, I was born alive on the 5th day of the abortion procedure (yes, this is an absolutely true story…feel free to visit my website to see pieces of my medical records).

Although I was initially left for dead, the nurses and doctors quickly realized that I was alive, and they provided me with the medical care needed to sustain my life. Although I struggled with respiratory distress, seizures, jaundice, and required multiple blood transfusions and feeding through an intravenous line in my head, I was wanted.

My adoptive parents opened their hearts and their home to me, knowing full well that they were taking a chance on adopting a little girl who would probably not live for very long, and if I did survive, would more than likely be disabled. Knowing this did not deter them. They loved me, unconditionally, and it was their love, and the love of the doctors annd nurses who cared for me that helped me to not only survive after that failed abortion attempt, but thrive.

I may have been an “accident” (given name) to my biological parents, who were young college students at the time, but by the grace of God, my life took on new meaning.

It wasn’t until I was 14 years old that I found out the truth about my life, that I wasn’t simply given the beautiful gift of an adoption plan by my biological parents, but I had been aborted first. Certainly, it was God’s plan for my life that I am who I am, but I struggled with it for many years.

All of the given names of “aborted child,” “unwanted,” “unloved,” “accident,” “just a blob of tissue,” “choice,” “replaceable,” all took a toll on me from age 14 on. As much as I loved God, and knew He loved me and saved me for great purposes, I was burdened by the given names and fell silent to the world around me. I tried hard to excel in every other part of my life, in order to avoid facing the one true thing that the Lord saved me to do–share the Gospel of truth about abortion and about Him with the world.

It wasn’t until I wrestled with God over those years and finally accepted who I am and who He truly is to me that I was able to fully received my Secret Name, embrace it, and live it out fully in the world through Him.

I am now an international pro-life and Christian speaker, a Christian counselor, and most importantly, a mother. I am so grateful to the Lord for not only saving my life, but allowing me to wrestle with Him long enough to learn my name and be prepared for the fights that I fight in the world today.

I am no longer an “accident,” I am WONDERFULLY MADE!"


Want to hear more about Melissa's story? Go to www.focusonthefamily.com to hear a podcast where Melissa talks more about her incredible life.

A Baby's Perspective

Recently when talking with one of the Pregnancy Care Center Ambassadors, she brought to my attention a poem she had written 24 years ago about abortion from the baby's perspective. She came across it as she was going through papers from her childhood and says, "I got tears in my eyes when I recalled that I was so young but so strong in my beliefs even then." I thought it was touching and wanted to share it.

My eyes are blue like mommy’s

My hair is blond like dads

But things like this they’ll never know

I’m the only chance they had



God gave me to my parents

A gift money can’t buy

They weren’t very thankful

Because they made me die



I never had a chance to live,

A chance to hear or see

They said I was still tissue

That wasn’t meant to be



I was just a tiny person

I only need time

If they had let me grow and live

I would have been just fine



They said I’m not a person

Unless I’ve actually been born

But if they really knew the truth

My sad, sad death they’d morn



The doctor came with the instruments

The pain was so intense

They pulled me from my mommy’s womb

And I had no defense




By Alison Simo
Printed with permission

United States Abortion Facts

Abortion in the U.S.
• About half of American women have experienced an unintended pregnancy.[1]
o 69% of pregnancies among black women were unintended
o 54% of pregnancies among hispanic women were unintended
o 40% of pregnancies among white women were unintended
• Of these unintended pregnancies, 40% are aborted. [1]
• About 1/3 of American women will have an abortion by age 45. [1]
• 90% of all abortions occur during the first trimester. [3]
• In 2005, Medical, non-surgical abortions (using drugs such as Mifepristone, also known as RU-486 or the abortion pill) accounted for 13% of all abortions, and 22% of abortions before nine weeks’ gestation. [1]
• 1.21 million abortions occurred in 2005. From 1973 when abortion was legalized through 2005, more than 45 million abortions have occurred in the U.S.[1]

Who is having abortions?
Age of women in the U.S. who are having abortions: [1]
• 0.4% are under the age of 15
• 6% are 15-17 years old
• 11% are 18-19 years old
• 33% are 20–24 years old
• 24% are 25-29 years old

Nationality of women in the U.S. who are having abortions: [1]
• 30% are black women
• 36% are white women
• 25% are hispanic women
• 9% are of other nationalities

Religion of women in the U.S. who are having abortions: [1]
• 37% identify themselves as Protestant
• 28% identity themselves as Catholic

For women who have abortions, about 61% have one or more children [3] (including 34% who have had two or more children [2]), 67% had never married [3], 57% are economically disadvantaged[3] and 88% live in metropolitan areas[3].

Why U.S. women have abortions[1]
• 75% say they cannot afford to have a child.
• 75% say having a baby would interfere with work, school or other responsibilities.
• 50% say they do not want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband or partner.

Adolescents and Sexual/Reproductive Trends[4]
• 15-24 year olds in America acquire nearly ½ of all new Sexually Transmitted Diseases/Infections, even though they only represent 25% of the sexually active population.
• 9.1 million of new Sexually Transmitted Disease/Infection cases each year are acquired by 15-24 year olds.
• In 2006, 27% of pregnancies among 15-19 year olds ended in an abortion.

_______________________________________________________________
[1] “Facts on Induced Abortion in America,” Guttmacher Institute http://www.alanguttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html, May 2010.

[2] “Characteristics of U.S. Abortion Patients, 2008,” Guttmacher Institute
http://www.alanguttmacher.org/pubs/US-Abortion-Patients.pdf, May 2010.

[3] “An Overview of Abortion in the United States,” Guttmacher Institute http://www.alanguttmacher.org/media/presskits/2005/06/28/abortionoverview.html, January 2008.

[4] “Facts on American Teens’ Sexual and Reproductive Health, “Guttmacher Institute
http://www.alanguttmacher.org/pubs/FB-ATSRH.html, January 2010.