NEWS FEATURE: Abortion confession movement sparks criticism, church support

c. 1999 Religion News Service PORTLAND, Ore. _ Standing at the altar in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary with child, next to a purple-robed priest solemnly looking on, Liane Wolters confessed to what no woman had publicly admitted in a Portland Roman Catholic church before: She had an abortion. Her highly personal […]

c. 1999 Religion News Service

PORTLAND, Ore. _ Standing at the altar in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary with child, next to a purple-robed priest solemnly looking on, Liane Wolters confessed to what no woman had publicly admitted in a Portland Roman Catholic church before: She had an abortion.

Her highly personal story, told during Masses Saturday and Sunday, signaled an areawide push for a Catholic ministry called Project Rachel that has spread to 130 dioceses across the country.


The project is uniquely Catholic, emphasizing healing and forgiveness for women suffering post-abortion regret and trauma. But it’s also similar to widespread Protestant efforts with similar goals.

The programs have their critics, including abortion-rights advocates who say they’re guilt-producing and hypocritical, as well as psychologists who point to studies concluding abortion simply doesn’t cause trauma as anti-abortion activists claim.

It was in this broader context that Wolters walked to the pulpit at St. Rose of Lima church during Sunday Mass. The fact that a lay person would address the congregation at all during this sacred time was unusual. That role usually is reserved for priests. But that Wolters would tell of her abortion, considered a sin so severe it’s technically grounds for excommunication, was extraordinary.

Doug Alles, director of social services for Catholic Charities in the Portland archdiocese, said he thinks the public admission was a first in the archdiocese.

Wolters, who has told her story more than 20 times in the Seattle archdiocese, where she lives, said she is certain her Portland testimony was unprecedented because of the layers of permission necessary, all the way up to the archbishop.

She told a rapt audience that she was raised”in a strong, pro-life Catholic family, went to Catholic schools and worked in a Catholic convent.” Yet 24 years ago, at age 19, she had a relationship with an older businessman and became pregnant. “Everything was smooth for a few weeks until he gradually stopped talking about marriage and started talking about abortion,”Wolters said. She said she had the abortion and”was never the same again.” Three years later she had a second abortion, again under pressure from a man she was having a relationship with. “I withdrew from him and more into myself, refusing to deal with either abortion,”Wolters said.”I was totally numb. I never smiled nor could I have fun. I simply did not know how.” Wolters eventually married and had three children but said she was unable to hug her children or tell them she loved them. “For years I had a strong urge to cut myself while cooking, and when I did,I passed them off as accidents,”she said.”I had to fight with myself to control my car because I wanted to crash into the side of the freeway wall.” These were, she said,”the classic symptoms of self-abuse stemming from an abortion experience.”She said she repeatedly confessed her sin to a priest through the sacrament of penance but”left feeling as empty as before I went in.” She joined a Protestant support group called”Heart to Heart,”and learned that”I was not crazy, that others had experienced the same feelings and behaviors as I did.” Still, she longed to connect with fellow Catholics who had similar experiences. Eventually, through Project Rachel she found the self-forgiveness she was looking for.

Project Rachel was founded in 1984 by Vicki Thorn, a Milwaukee woman who likes to quote studies saying Catholic women are just as likely to have abortions as non-Catholics.


American bishops, acutely aware of the problem, embraced Project Rachel, named after an Old Testament woman who wept inconsolably about the loss of her children. Pope John Paul II gave it his blessing.

At the Mass, Wolters told of a 12-week confidential program offered through her archdiocese in Seattle and”healing retreats”that led to her psychological and spiritual restoration, as well as new bonding with her three children.

In the Portland archdiocese, Project Rachel has been quietly in existence since 1994 but is being promoted for the first time this year, with an Oregon hot line (800-249-8074), a small army of counselors and an April 16-18 retreat.

Wolters’ story during the weekend Masses was part of the advertising. She told the congregation to”never judge a woman who has had an abortion because”this decision was probably not made on her own,”but came with pressure from a boyfriend, husband, parents, doctors or nurses.

Still, she said”abortion is never the right choice,”and she probably wouldn’t have had one if she had heard a Catholic woman tell her story of abortion long ago.

When told of the Catholic ministry, Sandi Hansen, the Oregon affiliate of the national Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, called it hypocritical. “Evidently they feel their women should go through _ what is it called, _ flagellation? _ when you whip yourself because you’ve done something bad,”Hansen said.”This person is not bad. She shouldn’t feel the need for confession. She’s not a sinful person. For the Catholic church to say, No. 1, we don’t think you should have access to contraception and, No. 2, that if you do have an unintended pregnancy you should feel awful about it, is wrong.” That women feel awful about abortion at all is disputed.


A published 1997 study of 4,336 women over a seven-year period examined their well-being and self-esteem over time. The study concluded that abortion plays little if any independent role in how women, even Catholic women, feel about themselves. The study said that,”despite a concerted effort to convince the public of the existence of widespread and severe post-abortion trauma, there is no scientific evidence for the existence of such trauma.” The American Psychological Association highlighted the study in a news release, emphasizing”the availability of legal abortion is not associated with long-term psychological distress.” After Wolters’ Sunday testimony, a handful of churchgoers told her of their own pain after abortions. Wolters said her experience, and the experience of hundreds she has counseled, tells her that studies denying the severity of post-abortion trauma are politically motivated”baloney.” The Rev. Richard Huneger, pastor at St. Rose of Lima, agreed and said he sees no inconsistency when the same Catholic church that condemns abortion offers a helping hand of restoration to those who have chosen it. “If someone kills a child in the womb, they should feel guilty about it,”said Huneger, adding that few have been publicly excommunicated and that none who seek restoration will be.”They’ve done something contrary to God’s will. That’s the proper reaction to objective evil, just as someone who is acting in a racist way should feel guilty. “But we also recommend that where evil has been perpetuated there can be regret, sorrow, forgiveness and a future. This is the whole message of the gospel, that the future can be different.”

DEA END O’KEEFE

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