A mother who had an abortion while at school has defied a blackmailer and shared her story of God’s forgiveness after an abortion.
Stephanie Chatfield is now married to a Republican politician in the US state of Michigan and spoke out in a Facebook post.
Explaining that someone had “heard a rumor” and “would keep digging”, she wrote that the person’s “desire to see this story go public emboldened me to do something that I should have done years ago”.
Hidden
Chatfield went on to outline her experience of getting pregnant and then hiding it from her friends and parents.
Instead of looking for support from her loved ones, she had an abortion, describing that decision as “the worst of my life”.
“I should not have done it. It was my easy way out, but little did I know that I would be stricken with an unbearable guilt for the months and even years to follow”, she said.
Eternal life
But Chatfield explained that she had found forgiveness through Jesus: “Christ took my place on the cross and bore the weight of my sin so that I could have eternal life.
And though my sins are forgiven, I never want to minimize the mistake that I made that day
Stephanie Chatfield
“And though my sins are forgiven, I never want to minimize the mistake that I made that day”.
Chatfield addressed girls who are unexpectedly pregnant, urging them to be courageous and look for support.
Forgiveness
Offering a word of encouragement, she said: “To those who’ve had abortions and might be battling with guilt, there’s forgiveness in Christ. There’s a life to be lived!”
She concluded by saying that everyone reading her post should remember that “God is greater than our sin” and that while she made the wrong decision, she plans to use her story to help others and live as a “testimony of God’s grace and forgiveness”.