Beyond the Bars: Post-Abortion Ministries Reach Out to Women in Prison

Manda is serving time at a women’s prison in Coldwater, Michigan. This is her second imprisonment. Her life has been scarred by many traumatic events: placement in foster care at the age of six, marriage to an abusive husband at 15, an abortion, imprisonment.

Yet behind prison walls, Manda has found hope. This hope appeared one night in May 1996 when a group of volunteers from Prison Fellowship and the Pregnancy Resource Center in Grand Rapids visited the prison to promote post-abortion healing. Although Manda is still in prison physically, she has been freed from the emotional and spiritual bondage that has troubled her most of her life.

“I have lived all my life believing I was unworthy of love,” Manda wrote. “I had many years of troubles and bad choices . . . I did not realize I was carrying around so much pain from my abortion. . . [But now] God has shown me I am worthy, loved, forgiven, and healed. For the first time in my life, I feel Him in my heart and it is so peaceful.”

Many Miracles

Manda’s healing was just one miracle in a string of events through which God has used post-abortion ministry leaders to reach out to women in prison. One of these events happened in 1992, when Sydna Massé, then the manager of Focus on the Family’s Crisis Pregnancy Ministries, was working on a Bible Study about forgiveness. At the time, Massé was struggling with the loss of a good friend who had been murdered. The woman who had killed her, Jennie, was serving a life sentence in prison for the murder.

“I asked God whom I needed to forgive, expecting it would be someone connected with my abortion experience,” Massé said. “I did not want the answer I got: Jennie. I pleaded, ‘Lord, she killed a mother of three and my friend!’ Immediately I thought to myself, ‘And I killed my first child. How am I any different?'”

Reluctantly, Massé wrote Jennie a letter asking forgiveness for her anger. Soon after, Jennie wrote back to apologize for killing Massé’s friend. Then, during a personal visit a few years later, Massé learned that Jennie was struggling with deep emotional pain over two abortions she had experienced. And Jennie also mentioned that “easily 60 to 80 percent” of the women she had encountered in prison were also post-abortive.

In 1996, Massé shared this experience at a talk she gave at a volunteer appreciation brunch for the Pregnancy Resource Center (PRC). She reminded her audience of a famous quote by Mother Teresa: “Abortion is the greatest destroyer of peace.” What if, Massé asked her listeners, we could prove this to be true in women’s prisons?

Massé’s words struck a chord with two women in the audience: Laurie Velker, a PRC staff counselor, and Valerie Cook, a PRC board member whose father is the executive director of Michigan Prison Fellowship. The staffs of these two ministries got together and began looking into ways to bring a healing message to post-abortive prisoners in Michigan.

“Prison Fellowship was very enthusiastic when we talked to them,” Velker said. “They agreed that abortion recovery could have a positive impact on the lives of the inmates and really improve their rehabilitation. We really felt the Lord’s leading on this.”

Planting Seeds of Hope

After much prayer, discussion, and planning, volunteers from PRC and Prison Fellowship put on an outreach program for women prisoners at two correctional facilities in southwest Michigan. “A Journey to Hope and Healing” was held back to back on the same evening at the two prisons.

Nearly 200 women attended the two events. Velker said the number might have been even higher, but internal events within the prisons prevented more women from coming.

The evening opened with a musical performance by Kathy Troccoli, a popular Christian recording artist who has done extensive prison ministry. After Troccoli warmed up the crowd with her performance and message of Christ’s love, several post-abortive women shared their testimonies. Then Velker encouraged the women to come forward for prayer and one-on-one counseling with the volunteers.

“The women really responded,” Velker said. “When Kathy performed, they danced and sang and cheered her on. But when she sang ‘A Baby’s Prayer’ (a song written for post-abortive women) it got really quiet. Women cried when the presenters told their stories. They came forward to be prayed with. And they heard that there was help, there was hope, and there was healing available for them.”

After the program, the women were invited to sign up for ten-week abortion recovery/Bible study program to be held at the two prisons. Sixty-four women signed up, including Manda.

“Before I came to the concert I didn’t realize I was carrying around so much pain from my abortion,” she said. “I found myself crying through the concert and the testimonies. It was at that point that I realized I was grieving deeply for my child.”

Velker said the groups were designed to offer the women a chance to share, pray, and work through their experiences. The various group facilitators told of their own experiences with abortion and healing, leading the women into sharing their own stories.

“Many women in these groups experienced tremendous healing and reconciliation,” said Velker. “Some were led to forgive family members and others in their recovery process. They were able to connect their abortion experiences with other events and attitudes in their lives. But most important is that for the first time, they were letting go. They were learning to trust in their Heavenly Father for the future.”

At times, Manda said, the pain of reliving the past made it difficult to remain in the group. But she, like most of the other women, stuck with it for the full ten weeks. One woman even postponed a transfer to a minimum security facility in order to stay with her group for the entire program.

Manda said, “During my time in the recovery group, I have experienced deep pain and shame. But I knew God wanted me to continue so He could heal me and work through me. I’m so glad I persevered! I feel worthy, loved, forgiven, and healed. I feel peace within. I never, ever knew or believed the love of my Father. Now I do, and I want to share it with others. I know He has set me free.”

Velker said she was surprised to discover that not all of the women who had signed up were post-abortive. “We had some women who had had miscarriages and were grieving the loss of their child, especially if they felt that their lifestyle at the time had contributed to the miscarriage. And we had other women who had lost custody of their children because of their incarceration or for other reasons, and just wanted to talk about that.”

There were also some women in the groups who had killed or abused their children. “I’m sure there was some connection between their abortions and their later experiences, but it’s hard to say for sure. There are so many other factors involved. Some of these women were abused as children themselves. But most of them weren’t at a stage to really understand the possible connection. We talked about it, but there was only one woman in my group who seemed to really understand it.”

A Growing Ministry

Velker says PRC is planning to make the prison outreach program an ongoing ministry for their center. They are preparing to return to the two prisons to hold another series of post-abortion Bible studies. They are also hoping to expand their ministry to include another women’s prison in the Detroit area.

“We’ve been doing follow-up with the chaplain to see how the women are doing, and are planning to get some other groups going later this spring,” she said. “I also have one woman who has been transferred to the county jail near here awaiting release, so I’m able to see her every week to talk and pray with her. She’s really been doing very well.”

Another possibility, Velker said, would be to expand the ministry to include a program for male inmates. She said many of the women in their groups have asked that they take their healing message into the men’s prisons as well.

PRC’s prison ministry is just one of a growing number of outreach ministries to prisoners that are springing up across the country. One group in Illinois is currently holding their third round of post-abortion Bible studies in a women’s state prison, and plans for similar ministries are also underway in Arizona and Ohio.

“There has been a lot of interest from various groups who have a heart for this work and want to reach women and men behind bars,” said Sydna Massé, who now runs a post-abortion healing ministry called Ramah International. “It’s really been incredible to see what doors God has been opening in this area.”For more information, visit Ramah’s web site at www.ramahinternational.org. ____________________________________________________________________________________

Originally published in The PostAbortion Review 7(2) April-June 1999. Copyright 1997 Elliot Institute

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