Women who have journeyed through Project Hope, Care Net’s abortion recovery program, and the leader of the program—herself post-abortive—share how they found hope, forgiveness, healing and the way forward.

Rhonda Brown, director of Care Net’s McKinley Family Center in Florence and leader of Project Hope:

My own personal experience through abortion healing has led me to a place of peace, forgiveness, acceptance and love. Now I can do the same for others. I have journeyed through many of life’s struggles and challenges only to find that through all the pain and hurt there is joy. There is hope and the ability to feel normal again.

The Lord has restored everything the Enemy tried to rob from me. God placed me at Care Net so I can give love to women and men who are experiencing an unplanned pregnancy and think abortion is their only answer. I get to share the truth about abortion every day, and I’m free to walk alongside those who experience the same pain and want healing.

I’ve been blessed to lead a virtual recovery class for women who shared the same types of pain, regret, anxiety, depression (the list goes on), and even through each of us had her own experiences, the outcome, the impact, the trauma are still the same.

Just shows we’re not alone! There are more women out there going through the same pain and suffering in their own silence. It’s time to break that silence.

Rhonda was a Care Net client before she became a volunteer and then a dynamic member of our staff. Read her story.

Women who completed Project Hope:

I thought I was alone in my guilt and shame and then I got help and realized I wasn’t alone. There are other women who feel the same way and it made it easier for me to open up and allow healing in.

I wasn’t the only one who I needed to forgive… forgiveness goes deeper than just letting go of the guilt that I felt towards myself, I had to forgive everyone involved in that decision. Even forgiveness towards the abortionist. And that was hard to do!

They don’t tell you when you go to have an abortion that it’s going to wreck your life and make you feel like you’re the worst person ever! They don’t tell you that you won’t wanna live anymore! They don’t tell you anything about the negative impact it will have on your life. Thank God there’s healing and hope out there! I’m no longer living in darkness and I can help someone else.

I finally found freedom from the bondage of lies that I have felt all these years. I learned from this program how to process my emotions and how to heal from each situation. I learned how to forgive myself and love myself. I can see myself differently and I know now it wasn’t my fault! I know God loves me and He forgives me. And I can’t wait to meet my babies in heaven.

I can laugh now. I can cry now. I can feel the pain and sadness leave because I’m not alone. My abortion wasn’t the same as the other ladies but we all have been impacted the same way and feel shame for what happened. I’m so thankful for abortion recovery. I can breathe again.