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40 Days begins, woman tells of her abortion

By KARA KOCZUR, Globe staff reporter
(Email Kara)

It will be painful, difficult and will soon be cold, Bishop R. Walker Nickless told the crowd in the parking lot across the street from the Sioux City Planned Parenthood just minutes after it became Sept. 23.

But the 40 Days for Life campaign is an opportunity for people to come together to pray and support one another in ending the horrible things that happen at the abortion clinic, he said.

“As Jesus spent 40 days in the desert, we spend 40 days praying for an end to abortion, praying that somehow, someway, God can do what we can’t do and that is to soften the hearts of those hardened, who can’t understand the importance and dignity of every human life from natural conception to natural death,” he said at the kick-off rally.

Bishop Nickless spoke about the importance of prayer and fasting, quoting the head of Human Life International by calling them the “most effective instrument against the culture of death.”

“So as we gather today with Catholics and non-Catholics and people of goodwill throughout the country, we support one another in prayer and fasting, prayer and fasting,” he concluded. “Thank you for your efforts and for what you do. Thank you for being here tonight and for all that you do for the next 40 days.”

Bishop Nickless was joined by other speakers during the rally, including Roxie Richard and her husband, Bruce, who gave their testimony.

Over 25 years ago, Roxie found out she was pregnant and the doctor advised her to abort her growing child.

She rode a bus three hours to Iowa City where she waited next to a woman who told her it would be quick and simple. She knew, for it was her sixth one.

“The nurse positioned me and stuck something up me, and instantly there was this horrible sucking noise,” Roxie recalled. “I began to fight, screaming, ‘Stop! Stop!’ One of the nurses said, ‘Oh it’s nothing, you’ll be done shortly.’ The next thing I knew I was 10 miles down the road on the interstate vomiting from the soul of my being, moaning about how wrong it all was.”

For years she tried to drown her guilt with drug and alcohol abuse, she said. There was something missing in her life that she couldn’t put her finger on. Roxie couldn’t look at herself in the mirror and convinced herself that she was selfish, unlovable and condemned to hell, she said.

She eventually married her husband, Bruce. Their marriage was rocky with unrest and turmoil, Bruce said, adding that they were even legally divorced once. After three miscarriages, Roxie finally gave birth to a son.

God never abandoned her, leading her to Silent No More Awareness and Rachel’s Vineyard retreats, where Roxie said she received healing in places she never knew were broken. Both she and Bruce have come to realize that many of their difficulties were due to Roxie’s abortion and today she wears an “I regret my abortion” button.

“God holds my babies in the palms of his hands and each one has a name,” said Roxie, who is the Silent No More Awareness regional coordinator in Iowa. “The good Lord heard the cries from my heart, with his love and forgiveness my spirits have changed. I will never be the same.”

Even before he met Roxie, Bruce was familiar with abortion. Many years ago he and his mother took his pregnant 16-year-old daughter to the Planned Parenthood in Omaha, intending for her to abort her baby. They hung their heads as they entered the building, not wanting those praying there to recognize them. When his daughter told the counselor she didn’t want an abortion, they scheduled another appointment for the next day.

“We went back the next morning and we pretty much pressured her that yes, she was going to have this done and that’s the way it is,” he said. “You listen to your dad, you listen to your grandma and you’re going to do what we tell you.”

An hour later the nurse came out and said his daughter still refused.

“I want to let you know how you people, walking around over here [in front of Planned Parenthood], someone just like you saved my grandson’s life,” Bruce said. “Thank you.”

The prayers are already working. An organizer of the campaign said two babies were saved Sept. 29 in Sioux City.

40 Days for Life runs through Nov. 1. Sign up can be done online at www. 40daysforlife.com/siouxcity or by calling Stormy Poss at (712) 943-5550.

A midway rally is scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m., Oct. 11, across the street from Planned Parenthood. There will be music, refreshments, balloons and coloring books for children. People are asked to bring new or like-new baby clothing to donate to the Alpha Center and Birthright. They should also bring beanie baby-sized stuffed animals, 4 oz. canning jars with lids and other 4 oz. containers to put candles and beads in. These items will be donated to Cherish House, a crisis pregnancy center mothers can go to when they don’t have a home, to be used to make soy candles and fragrant stuffed animals.