Abortion Recovery and Reproductive Loss: how Concepts of Truth, International, wants to help heal the wounds.
Jennifer Beck recently talked with Sherry Neuenschwander, Ohio Director at Concepts of Truth, International, reflecting on the 45th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. Learn more about Concepts of Truth, International by visiting internationalhelpline.org.
Jennifer: January 2018, marked 45 years since the Roe vs. Wade decision, a decision that has remained controversial ever since. Sherry, 45 years, a lot of loss, and a lot of healing that has yet to be done.
Sherry: A lot of people don’t realize that we’ve had over 60 million babies lost to abortion. To give you a visual, that is twice the population of Texas. Back in 1980, President Ronald Reagan, started Sanctity of Life Sunday, and that started a great opportunity for discussion.
Concepts of Truth, International is here to proclaim a life affirming message and bring hope to those who have experienced reproductive loss. That includes women and men.
Jennifer: As we think about the number of lives that have been lost, double the population of Texas- but those are not the only lives we are talking about. Now we have families, mothers, fathers, grandparents, who have lost as well, and they live a life of feeling that loss.
Sherry: Abortion doesn’t just affect women and men, it affects our nation and our world. There are a lot of hurting people. We have an opportunity to share the message of hope and healing and give women and men the opportunity to go through that grieving process. That is a key to becoming a strong voice for life. If you want to help stop abortion, help those who are hurting, because women and men are hurting, grandparents are hurting. It’s important to talk about it. Concepts of Truth, International, through our counselling resources, through our recovery weekends, we are able to offer that outlet for women and men to process the grief.
Concepts of Truth, International offers abortion recovery weekends that are safe confidential settings, a place people can come to work through Concepts of Recovery, the Journey, which is a curriculum model. They can work through the different stages of healing.
I encourage anyone who is hurting to call our confidential help life, which is available 24/7. 1-866-482-LIFE and they can find out more information about the upcoming healing weekends. (Information can also be found at internationalhelpline.org.)
Jennifer: The topic of reproductive loss and the recovery from that is not something we hear about as much as we hear about help for the single pregnant woman. Many people are aware or pregnancy ministries, like Heartbeat of Lima. Your organization is not a ministry in competition with these other ministries, but wants to work alongside them.
Sherry: Our heart is to work with pregnancy centers and promote what they do. They can partner with us by becoming a provider on our international helpline. A provider form is available at our website (internationalhelpline.org) and then that organization becomes a provider in our database. Even if a person would call us, who is in a pregnancy situation and considering abortion, we would refer them to a local resource to get that life affirming counseling.
Jennifer: You’re not a government funded organization. How do you get your funding?
Sherry: We are a non profit organization. All of our funding are through donations. We can’t do it alone! We are called to go, but we need people to help send.
Concepts of Truth, International exists to provide hope and healing for those who have experienced reproductive loss. Call the confidential helpline number, 866.482.LIFE, at any time or visit their website.