Church shows there is healing after abortion

Submitted on October 29, 2010

Jennifer Brinker | jbrinker@stlouisreview.com

Maria Thompson, a member of St. Ferdinand Parish in Florissant, held her granddaughter, Eva Christine Westbrook, outside of the Planned Parenthood abortion facility in the Central West End. Thompson, who had an abortion in 1973, now helps coordinate the 40 Days for Life campaign in St. Louis, which calls on people to pray and fast for an end to abortion.

Lisa. A. Johnston

Maria Thompson was a teenager when she became pregnant. The 18-year-old was living in Mexico City. The father, 11 years older than her, didn’t want anything to do with the baby. Her parents, as she recalled, “would not tolerate any deviation.” So when they found out she was pregnant, “I had no place to go.” The year was 1973. Abortion was illegal in Mexico, and the father of her child sent her to have an abortion. At that time, abortions were performed in the home of the doctor, Thompson recalled.