Each week AFL posts an Anglicans in Action video, which gives practical suggestions, resources, and ideas for life-ministry. This week’s focus is on ministering to grandparents who have lost grandchildren by abortion. You can see all the Anglicans in Action videos on our YouTube Channel.
This week we are focusing on ministry to grandparents who have lost grandchildren by abortion. As you may know, Anglicans for Life co-sponsors the Silent No More Awareness Campaign along with Priests for Life. And the goal of the campaign is to make the public aware of the devastation abortion causes women and men and help heal hearts that have been broken from the pain and loss of abortion.
Over the years we have come to recognize another by-product of abortion – the Shockwaves of the loss of the child through abortion felt by other family members including grandparents, siblings, friends, abortion clinic workers and even the abortionists themselves. Every month, Healing the Shockwaves an initiative of Silent No More acknowledges a group of people who have been directly impacted by abortion loss, with helpful information, resources, and referrals to abortion-recovery programs.
The month of March focuses on ministering to grandparents who’ve been affected by abortion. Grandparents are often directly impacted by an abortion loss, but rarely given consideration when we look at the complicated grief after abortion. Most grandparents fall into one of two categories:
1) They may have convinced their son or daughter that abortion was the best course of action for an unexpected pregnancy, or they may have threatened rejection and abandonment if their daughter continued with the pregnancy.
2) They may have tried but were unable to prevent the abortion, and the death of their grandchild or only learned about it years later.
Grandparents need to hear a confirmation that they suffered the loss of a grandchild and, depending on their role in the event, recognition of unresolved feelings of grief, guilt, and anger, that are common and normal. A goal of the Shockwaves initiative is to make sure that grandparents know that abortion grief is real, that they are not alone, and that healing is available. While the abortion may have happened many years ago, it can still be impacting their family relationships, their health, and most importantly, their relationship with the Lord.
If you know a grandparent who has lost a grandchild to abortion, this week’s action idea is to encourage them to seek healing and help. Please direct them to visit www.AbortionShockwaves.com and click on “March” and they will find Healing Resources, testimonies, prayers, sermons, research and much more. Those who have been healed are invited to join the Silent No More Awareness Campaign and share their testimony or simply register their regret for the role they played in the abortion.
The secret of abortion hurting women is no longer a secret thanks to the efforts of those who have invested their time and testimonies into the Silent No More Awareness Campaign. Together, we have been able to and will continue to break the silence that surrounds abortion.
