Abortion and Guilty Consciences

In my college days, I led a group that prayed at abortion clinics. We were frequently yelled at by clinic-goers and passers-by who were enraged by our very presence. One of the more frequent complaints we heard was that we were there to make the women feel bad about themselves.

This, of course, was untrue – we were there primarily to pray and assist the women, if they would allow us to. We were there to save lives and to heal souls. How well we succeeded – let God be our judge.

But in a sense, the passers-by were right. Our presence certainly did make some women entering the clinic "feel bad" about what they were about to do. And that is a very good thing. 
For our presence was a reminder to women entering the clinic that they were preparing to kill their children. Our presence reminded them that they were doing something very wrong, and that there were alternatives to ending the lives of their children. Perhaps this guilt even stopped one of them from entering the clinic, and a child was born that would not have lived otherwise.

It is a false kindness which demands that one cease making a person “feel bad about themselves" when that person is doing something wrong. “Feeling bad” in the case of abortion, is a symptom of guilt induced by wrongdoing. And guilt over wrongdoing is salutary; guilt keeps people from committing theft, murder, lying, and other sundry evils, and reminds people that they can repent of those evils.  

If we served as a guilty conscience for those who opposed us, good! Would that we could have done more to stop women from killing their children.