My name is Matt and I am here today to share my testimony about how abortion was on the verge of ruining my life and my marriage.

At the age of 20 I moved to Orlando, FL where I met a girl named Kelly who I became sexually involved with shortly after we met.  Kelly became pregnant very quickly without my knowledge and she decided not to tell me before hand and aborted our child and then told me afterwards.  Not many months later, we found ourselves in the same position, scared and afraid what our parents would think of us sleeping together and getting pregnant before we were married.  So we thought we had no choice but to abort what would be our second child together as quickly as possible.  So she then let me know she could just go back to the place she had the first abortion and they would give her a “discount” for being a repeat customer.  So we made the appointment.  

On the day we went to the clinic, I went with her and sat in the holding room. At that clinic I was not allowed to go into the rooms where the abortions were taking place.  As I sat there watching the other girls come out of what was supposed to just be a simple procedure all drugged and medicated, I saw the shame and guilt all over their faces and I began to think about what we were doing.  As I watched girl after girl come out with tears and regret all over them, I saw Kelly come out and at that moment, I realized we had just killed our second child.  Although I fought with myself about it, I decided that no matter what, I would never tell anyone what we did that day for fear of shame and guilt creeping back in.

Kelly and I decided to go ahead and get married two years after that.  Throughout the next six years of our marriage, that hidden shame and guilt caused me to go into a downward spiral of lying, cheating, pornography and addiction to alcohol.  It was the rock bottom I never thought I would hit when I told myself I would just hide what we had done.  Thankfully this rock bottom was not where my story ends.  Kelly had gone to a class called SURRENDERING THE SECRET and found healing and forgiveness. She then decided to go to a bible study called FORGIVEN AND SET FREE and I decided that I wanted to find healing as she did, so I went with her.  In this bible study I learned that ALL sin we commit that is uncovered and repented for will be forgiven by God.  So that day in the bible study, I gave my life to Christ and decided with the help of my wife and my family I would have nothing hidden in my life from that point on.  I found healing through God and this bible study that day. 

After looking at that time in my life now, I see that my heart was lost and I was not man enough to stand up for my first two children God wanted to give me.  And because of that, those two children are rooting me on today as I stand up for them now.  If they were here, they would want to say to all you who hear my voice today.  Abortion doesn’t just kill a baby it destroys the lives of both the man and the woman involved as well.  So today I pray that those who face the decision of a pregnancy that we did that day, they will stand up and not allow yourself to go through with the abortion and end up where we did.  And until Abortion is not an option to any one any longer and the heart of America is changed, I WILL BE SILENT NO MORE!