Introduction to the Jericho Plan

No one enjoys preaching about abortion. Most of us would rather avoid it, because we know the abortion issue touches a deeply personal and painful memory for so many people in our congregations. But avoiding the abortion issue does not help anyone. People on both sides of the issue need to look more deeply at the abortion issue in a way they have never done before.

Pro-life members need to learn greater compassion and understanding about why women have abortions, and what they go through afterward. Heaping shame and scorn on those who have had abortions is counterproductive. It creates resentment and drives away those who most desperately need assurance of God’s healing love.

At the same time, those who have been involved in abortion need to feel understood. They need help to see how they can break through the walls abortion has created in their lives. They need to hear God’s word directly addressed to their own experience with abortion so that they can turn with confidence to the hope of being fully reconciled with Christ.

Finally, abortion defenders (who have not personally experienced the reality of abortion) need to learn that abortion is not a panacea for problem pregnancies. It is not a simple “Do it and forget it” procedure. It has a profound and lasting effect on who we are and what we think of ourselves. For many women it has a disastrous impact on every aspect of their physical, emotional, and spiritual lives. At the very least, instead of blindly defending abortion as a good thing, we need to admit that the experience of abortion is a tragedy for everyone involved.

In short, we will never heal the division which abortion is causing in our churches by ignoring it. On the other hand, unless it is addressed in just the right way, it is guaranteed to increase resentments, arouse passions, and ultimately push people away from your community.

This booklet, then, is not about confrontation. Instead, it is about addressing the abortion issue in a healing and reconciling way. We must become diligent in tearing down the walls which make those who have had abortions feel excluded from full participation in our religious communities. We want them to hear a welcoming message of understanding and forgiveness, not the driving-away message of judgment and condemnation.

Defusing Tensions

Is it possible to speak about abortion in a way which does not antagonize members of your church? Yes.

Is it possible to preach hope and healing after abortion without risk of encouraging it, or angering pro-lifers? Of course it is.

Is it possible to lead a congregation to greater compassion for both the women who have had abortions and the unborn children who die from abortion? Absolutely.

Drawing on 14 years of experience in working with women and men who have had abortions, and extensive experience in speaking to mixed crowds of pro-life and pro-choice supporters, I want to share with you what I have learned about opening hearts and defusing the emotional anger surrounding the abortion issue. It is possible to do all of the above, and more. And it’s really not that hard to do.

All it takes is an understanding of what drives women to choose abortion and what they experience afterward. By being “inside” their minds, you can speak to what they already know and have experienced. You can show that you understand them, and through this rapport give them the confidence they need to become fully reconciled with themselves, their community, and God.

At the same time, by sharing this understanding with your congregation, you will help the whole community to better understand: (1) the immense pressures women face when they choose abortion; (2) the self-doubt, fears and guilt they face after abortion; and (3) their desire to be understood and forgiven. This understanding will create a more healing environment–and a less judgmental one.

Our Long-Range Goal

Our goal is simple. We want to create a society which is more conducive to post-abortion healing. We want to make our society both more pro-life and more pro-woman. And the place to begin this revolution is within the church. Who better than our pastors can, and should, promote healing and reconciliation? Who better than our pastors can help people to better understand themselves and others?

Surveys at abortion clinics have shown that 70 percent of women choosing abortion believe abortion is morally wrong. They are choosing against their consciences because of some pressure, from others or circumstances, which makes them feel they have no other choice. Because these women have violated their own moral ideals, it is not surprising that the majority of women and men who have chosen abortion feel guilt and regret about their decision.

These same women and men, however, also fear condemnation and judgment. So it is very common for them to live quietly with their pain, trying to hide from the world their “deep, dark secret.” Others are constantly on edge, ready to lash out in resentment against all those who “don’t understand” what they have been through.

We need to reach out to these people with a message of hope and understanding. They desperately need to be freed from the shame which holds them back from fully participating in the joy of Christ’s forgiveness. But they need us to make the first move, and it must be a move which encourages hope without increasing their fears of condemnation.

Adjusting This Material to Your Perspective

No matter what your views are on abortion, or what your religious tradition, this booklet will be useful to you and we encourage you to adapt it to your needs.

This booklet is prepared from what is clearly a Christian and biblical perspective. But the basic messages of reconciliation, hope, and community support are common to all faiths and can easily be adapted for use in any religious tradition.

This booklet is also prepared from a pro-life perspective; indeed it is a major part of our pro-woman/pro-life initiative. Our ultimate goal is to create a pro-life society where abortion will be unthinkable, yet forgivable. We want our young women and men to know that abortion is a terrible, self-destructive choice. But we also want them to know that those who have had an abortion, for any reason, will always be welcomed back to their religious communities with understanding and compassion. We never want shame to prevent anyone from seeking, finding, and experiencing God’s forgiveness.

But while our perspective is informed by a strong pro-life view, we believe these materials will be extremely useful even to ministers who have a strong pro-choice perspective and believe that abortion is morally justified in some, if not many, cases.

We ask pro-choice ministers to be aware of the need of many people in their congregations for post-abortion reconciliation. Whether or not you feel their abortions were morally justified, many of them do not–at least not fully. They do not need more nuanced explanations defending their choice; they need the assurance that God is offering them forgiveness. They need the assurance that their community will not reject them. They need the assurance that it is O.K. to cry and grieve for the children who are now lost to them.

In addition, if you are a pro-choice minister and you want to spare women the judgmentalism of some pro-life advocates, you need to educate your congregation about the immense pressures which drive women to have abortions. You need to create the empathy and humility which leads one to say, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” Even from a pro-choice perspective, it is not necessary to convince pro-lifers that abortion is moral. It is sufficient to convince them that women who abort are not evil haters of life. They are fallible human beings just like the rest of us who make difficult, confused, and often regrettable decisions every day of our lives.

In brief, this booklet is intended to help teach a greater understanding of the abortion experience in order to build bridges between those who are pro-life and those who are pro-choice, and especially between those who have had abortions and those who have not. The result, we believe, will be a society which is more forgiving and more committed to preventing the “need” for abortion through a more active outreach to the men and women faced with problem pregnancies.

An Overview of Our Approach

The JERICHO PLAN is a multi-step process which includes the following steps:

(1) Increasing the congregation’s empathy with and compassion for post-aborted women;

(2) Reducing the defensiveness of those involved in abortion and stimulating their desire to be understood;

(3) Educating the congregation about the many symptoms of post-abortion trauma, including its destructive effects on the lives of women, men, and families;

(4) Explaining how and why denial and avoidance behaviors are obstacles to healing which prolong psychological and spiritual suffering;

(5) Building up confidence in the post-aborted so that they will be understood, accepted, and supported by their community;

(6) Stimulating the desire for emotional and spiritual healing; and,

(7) Encouraging reconciliation with God through acknowledgment of one’s personal responsibility for the abortion(s) and inviting participation in post-abortion recovery programs.

It is doubtful that all of these steps can be accomplished in a single sermon. Indeed, any attempt to do so would probably be rushing a process that really takes time. We suggest a series of at least three sermons.

The first sermon would address steps one and two. It would be directed principally at the congregation in general so that post-aborted members of the congregation would see that others are being called upon to understand them.

The second sermon would cover steps three and four, which present a closer look at the ongoing effects of abortion in the lives of women, men, and their families. This sermon reinforces empathy with the emotional hardships faced by post-aborted persons while at the same time encouraging post-aborted members of the congregation to begin to recognize some of the ways in which unresolved issues about their abortions continue to weigh upon their lives.

Lastly, the third sermon completes the cycle by calling on the community to create a non-judgmental and healing environment for their post-aborted brothers and sisters, by stimulating the hope for acceptance and full recovery in the hearts of the post-aborted, and by offering continued support through post-abortion recovery programs offered through the church or outside agencies.

In all of these sermons, it should be stressed, we are never seeking to justify abortion. Instead, we are simply trying to promote a greater understanding of why people choose abortion, even when it goes against their conscience, and to show how this experience of sin has ongoing negative effects on their lives.

This booklet contains much more material than you would need for three sermons. It includes a psychological profile of women who have had abortions, and the testimonies of numerous women, including those who felt forced into unwanted abortions, those who did what they thought was right and necessary at the time but have now discovered a need for God’s forgiveness, and those who found healing through Christ and through the compassion of their community. It includes facts, research findings, theological analysis, and biblical words of mercy. Drawing on these resources, you will easily be able to develop sermons which reflect your own style and address your particular community’s needs.

Copyright 1996 David C. Reardon. Excerpted with permission for from The Jericho Plan: Breaking Down the Walls Which Prevent Post-Abortion Healing, published by Acorn Books, PO Box 7348, Springfield, IL 62791-7348 for internet posting exclusively at www.afterabortion.org. All Rights Reserved.

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