Post Abortion

 

“Memorial for Unborn Children” comforts post-abortive women and men

By Dave Andrusko
Elsewhere today we post about an interview Gloria Steinem gave to Yahoo Global Anchor Katie Couric in which she insists to the former CBS News anchor that abortion is “a profoundly moral decision.” Indeed, we learn that Steinem dedicated her most recent book–My Life On The Road— “to John Sharpe, the doctor who helped her get an abortion in 1957.”
I thought of that interview when I read a post whose understanding of abortion is as far from Steinem’s as the east is from the west.
The headline to the story is “With a child’s touch, sculpture seeks to comfort those who mourn abortion.” And where Steinem celebrates the “liberating” power of abortion, polish sculptor Martin Hudacek understands the need that so many post-women (and men) have for forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation.
Several years ago we wrote about Hudacek’s “Memorial for Unborn Children” and what an amazing impact the sculpture has had on so many women. In a story published this week by the Catholic News Agency, we are updated about the piece that Hudacek hopes “will help to heal men and women suffering after an abortion.”
Hudacek, who lives in a small village in Poland, says the project was inspired by a friend.

“It all began when on my way back home from my friend’s place who prays and meditates a lot, (and) he told me I have to carve a statue” that depicts the effects of post-abortion syndrome, “a big problem and there is no such statue regarding this issue.”

Hudacek said that he was “touched in such way that I wanted to make a monument for the unborn children,” but he had no idea where to start. He asked people to pray.

“I was praying and many people came to me and said I need a picture of forgiveness,” he said. As time passed, the image became clearer and clearer in his mind: “it looked like a crying mother and a child who forgives her.”

And that is what we see. A suffering post-abortive mother, her face buried in her hands.

She is approached by her aborted baby, depicted in a young child’s transparent form. The child reaches up to touch the woman’s head in a tender gesture of forgiveness and healing.

Hudacek completed a third version of the “Memorial for Unborn Children” statue two weeks ago. It is located inside a cemetery in Wroclaw, Poland, According to CNA, it is seven feet tall.
We learn there is a significant (and necessary)addition: “it shows a father alongside the grieving mother and their aborted child.”
Hudacek wants everyone to understand that “Memorial for Unborn Children” is really not his work–he is merely the instrument–but God’s and that only Jesus can forgive. But he said he hopes the sculpture can provide “a small healing” for post-abortive women, who, after they look at the sculpture, might be more likely to think about forgiveness . The story ends with this beautiful conclusion:

“It is interesting to see my statue on the internet or in many places being presented in diverse ways,” Hudacek said, explaining that he can tell the sculpture is bearing fruit in reports from around the world.

“I see it is a world issue, thus I am personally impressed and I am glad I can participate in God’s work,” he said.

Source: NRLC News