The Story
Students for Life Hosts Anti-Abortion Speaker
Lisa Dudley, National Director for Operation Outcry, came to speak to students on the negative effects of abortion and the lives that it touches. Organized by the Student for Life group on campus, the lecture focused on the various anti-abortion goals of the program.
A project of the Justice Foundation, Operation Outcry is a ministry that strives to end the pain of abortion by exposing the truth behind the procedure. Its members employ methods of prayer and the collection of testimonies from men and women affected by abortion in accomplishing this goal.
“Operation Outcry has a national network of leaders to help mobilize and equip women and men who want to speak out," said Dudley. "It is the heart of every Operation Outcry man and woman to see an end to the pain of abortion. We share with them some of the facts and truth about life.”
Dudley, as a former paralegal for The Justice Foundation, is most closely involved in the legal proceedings of Operation Outcry. Her goal is to reverse the Roe v. Wade decision made by the Supreme Court in 1973, which established that a woman may abort her pregnancy for any reason before the fetus becomes viable.
“There were two lies that were created by Roe [the appellant in Roe v. Wade] and Doe [the appellant in companion case Doe v. Bolton]. One, that it is not a baby," said Dudley. "The other lie that was created by Roe was that women needed abortion. She carries the guilt of the 50 million plus babies who have been lost to abortion. It just grieves her heart to know that this has been done in her name."
The drive to accomplish this goal is what motivates the organization’s efforts to collect testimonials. Several of these testimonies have been recorded and made into a promotional short video for the project.
The video features several women who were asked what the side-effect label on the side of an abortion medicine bottle would say. A consistently voiced sentiment was one of remorse and the thought that, had they been informed of the psychological risks ahead of time, the women would never have had the abortion.
These stories hit close to home for Dudley. As a young woman in her 20’s, Dudley became pregnant with her boyfriend of the time. Though her friends encouraged her to get an abortion, saying it would solve her problems, Dudley was terrified to tell her parents that she was considering the option. Regardless, she went to the clinic, where she was ushered into a counseling session with several other scared girls. Here she was told that the abortion would be a quick, twenty-minute procedure that she’d never have to worry about again.
Afterward, Dudley was required to have an ultrasound to confirm the pregnancy. Though the nurse protested, saying it would not be a good idea, Dudley requested that she point out her child.
“As I lay there with the tears streaming down my face, I knew I was making the biggest mistake of my life and there was nothing I could do to change it,” said Dudley.
The procedure, as described by Dudley, was extremely painful and traumatizing. The psychological and physical effects, she notes, were evidenced by the women curled up in the recovery room after having received abortions, sobbing in pain. Suffering from shame and guilt, Dudley never went in for her two-week follow up appointment at the clinic and neglected to fill her prescription for antibiotics. When she went home that day, she hid her feelings well and her family never knew.
“Something had changed," said Dudley. "I was no longer just having a couple of drinks and having a good time. I was drinking a lot. I felt numb and that’s what I needed. It’s but for the grace of God that I’m alive today, because I should be dead.'
The media director of Operation Outcry, Tracy Reynolds, shared a similar story.
“I’ll tell you, the stories that Lisa tells and you hear in the videos are true," said Reynolds. "Everyone has the same experience. The feeling of something being ripped from your body. It’s just the worst possible experience that anyone can have. As soon as it was over, I had to repress my feelings."
Years after her abortion, Reynolds was encouraged by a friend to attend an abortion recovery weekend retreat.
“When you go through abortion recovery, you learn to really understand what happened. When I went through that, I got to deal with all those feelings that I’d never dealt with,” said Reynolds.
As a result of her experience in this program, Reynolds made the decision to help other women avoid abortion or recover from it.
“For those considering making that tragic choice, we refer people to pregnancy care centers where they can get all the facts, all the information, and make the right decision," said Reynolds. "I counsel them to follow their heart and give them all of their options, but I encourage them to follow their heart."
“We need to find a million women and take them to the Supreme Court," said Dudley. "We’re asking for everyone who values life and wants to help us protect women to help us raise a million voices. I encourage you to get involved and support Students for Life and Operation Outcry."