Jeanne buried the emotions stemming from her abortions for 25 years before an encounter at a women’s conference set her on the road to healing.

The Minot-area woman found help through a program like one being offered through Dakota Hope Clinic in Minot. The clinic is beginning an eight-week group session this coming week to help women find peace after abortion.

Jeanne said she was recently married when she became pregnant and chose abortion at the urging of her husband, who didn’t feel they were ready to start a family. She had a second abortion when she later became pregnant again. They didn’t start their family until several years later, but Jeanne said they now look back and agree the troubles they had in their marriage and their eventual divorce had a lot to do with the abortions and the buried emotions that lingered.

She was living on the West Coast about 15 years ago when she attended a Women of Faith conference at which one of the speakers talked about her healing from an abortion experience.

“Until I heard her speak, I had never really thought about the abortion I had,” Jeanne said. “It was forced under the rug.”

Returning home, she attended a church service at which a representative of the local pregnancy help center spoke about a class that was starting for post-abortive women.

“I just started crying. I knew this was intended for me,” she said.

Jeanne attended the class, where she learned to forgive herself and receive the forgiveness of God.

“I felt fantastic afterwards,” she said. “I wasn’t afraid to hold it in anymore, and I knew there was something inside me that needed to be shared with other women who were having the same problem I was.”

She became a facilitator for future courses, and upon moving to the Minot area, helped start a similar course through Dakota Hope Clinic that took place a couple of years ago.

New group sessions

Anyone interested in the new group sessions starting Monday evening can call Dakota Hope at 852-4675 or text to 978-705-3421 for more information or to register. Pre-registration is required and the location will be disclosed upon pre-registration.

Sessions will be led by a team that includes a registered nurse and others who are specially trained or have personal knowledge of abortion trauma. The sessions will use a national curriculum called H.E.A.R.T., which includes prayer, self-examination and the use of Scripture in a compassionate and supportive environment.

While Jeanne admits memories can be painful, she added it is worth the discomfort to come out healed at the end of the course.

“It’s always healing when you are able to admit what’s deep down inside of you and bring it out into the light,” she said. “Sometimes memories will bring healing to us – more than we know. It will also bring closure.”

The final session ends with a closure ceremony that is a particularly special part of the course.

Closure

“Closure is what frightens women, especially some who have gone on with their lives and have other children. It’s the guilt and the shame when you look at your other children that you did allow to live,” she said. “But guilt and shame are taken away once you start to realize what happened and bring things into the light.”

Jeanne said women don’t have to be church-going or of the Christian faith to be helped by the group sessions. The sessions are for anyone who has had second thoughts about their abortion or has experienced symptoms of trauma, she said. According to Dakota Hope, common symptoms can include emotional deadening, increased tendency toward anger, feelings of loneliness or isolation, lower self confidence, insomnia or nightmares, difficulty in maintaining relationships, use of drugs or alcohol and eating disorders.

“I know there are a lot of hurting women out there,” Jeanne said. “Like me, they try to suppress it and not think about it anymore, but I don’t think you can never think about it. There’s always going to be memories throughout your life.”

It doesn’t matter how long ago an abortion occurred for someone to benefit from the course, Jeanne said. She’s facilitated a class with a 70-year-old.

However, a woman needs to be ready, and for some young women, the wounds can be too fresh for healing to take place yet, she said. Dakota Hope’s intent is to offer additional group sessions in the future and also to eventually begin a session for men whose lives have been impacted by abortion decisions.