Ahead of Father’s Day this Sunday, the pro-life organization “Save the Storks” is embarking on a powerful new video campaign, giving post-abortive men a chance to share their heartbreaking stories of how the procedure changed their lives permanently.
The six-part #ChooseFatherhood social video series features four courageous men who are breaking their silence about their deeply personal abortion stories. Over 55 million men have experienced the pain, grief, heartache and guilt of abortion. Now, they are speaking out.
“This story is best started by saying that I’m the father of five, but I only got to raise three of them,” explains one man.
Others recall the horrific experience of being there in the room when their child was brutally aborted.
“I remember the whir of the motor and seeing these tubes that were being filled with red and white and the sound of suction,” another interviewee says. “It all stopped. The room was silent and they said ‘we’re done.'”
“It was too easy. It was too quick,” he adds. “I wish that someone had been out in front of that Planned Parenthood will just to offer information and alternatives. I wish that there had been opportunities to know about other choices.”
“It was later in the evenings as I would go to bed that I began to cry,” another man recalls. “Even though it had been decades since the first two were lost, obviously still there is an emotional place that comes up.”
Another man describes how he suffered a deep depression following the abortion.
“It didn’t just mess me up, it messed her up as well. Mentally, emotionally. We both started drinking heavily and using drugs,” he says.
Another man shares that he was “adamant” that his girlfriend gets a termination, even offering to pay for it.
But in an incredible moment of transformation, he changed his mind completely.
“There was something profound that hit me. It was like the wind was blowing and I immediately had this epiphany,” he recalls. “So I called her on the phone and said ‘look, you need to keep this baby. I will be there with you every step of the way.'”
“Now my son is eight years old, and he completely changed my life,” the man shares. “I’m so glad I didn’t choose free will and make that mistake.”
“Over many years, I’ve shared my personal abortion story all over the country,” Victoria Robinson, Director of External Relations at Save the Storks, said in a statement. “Nearly every time I speak, men privately come up to me afterward and share their deep anguish, grief, and sense of loss. They tell me ‘don’t forget about us, don’t forget about the men’. Post-abortive fathers have for too long suffered in silence, and their stories need to be part of the national conversation. Today, as four men boldly step out and share their stories publicly for the first time, we want all post-abortive fathers to know they’re not alone, they’re not forgotten, and they don’t have to be silent anymore.”
“We’re asking men to do two things, watch these videos, and then publicly share their stories in social media this Father’s Day, so that others will not repeat their mistakes, and their painful losses will not be in vain,” Robinson added.
Save the Storks will be posting one video per day through Father’s Day (Sunday, June 17), with a total of six #ChooseFatherhood videos.
The organization has become well-known for its fleet of crisis pregnancy buses, offering women an alternative to abortion. To date, Save the Storks has helped fund 42 buses, with some 4,000 women choosing to keep their babies.
“I would encourage anyone who is thinking about terminating a life to see if they can seek out and talk to someone who has been there before,” one of the men interviewed for the series said.
So what should men do if they are still carrying the grief of abortion?
“I would encourage them to go and get with someone safe,” one of the men implores viewers. “Meet with another guy, meet with some others that are able to let them share their story while being compassionate and understanding. They should find someone who will not be shaming, but will instead allow them to let that burden out.”