The tide is turning: Post-abortive Kansas lawmaker reveals pain

Wichita Eagle | 02/24/2006 | Landwehr: No regrets of abortion disclosure

Rep. Brenda Landwehr said Thursday that she has no regrets about publicly revealing a day earlier that she had an abortion years ago.
The Wichita Republican, among the most vocal abortion opponents in the Legislature, talked about the matter during debate on a bill to regulate abortion clinics.
Her immediate family was aware of the abortion, she said, but she had never shared the experience with her colleagues. And she didn't intend to talk about it when she went to the microphone.
'I have to believe that it was supposed to happen,' she said. 'A higher power guides us. Obviously, it was not something that was planned. I've served here 12 years.'

Nobody can say she knows not of what she speaks. Read more in Abortion bill gets personal.

The blogosphere is abuzz:

Abortion Watch includes important links, among them a TV interview you can watch.

After Abortion blog praises Rep. Landwehr and includes several links.

Adam's Blog comments, "It takes a great deal of courage to do something like that. There are a lot of women out there in the pro-life movement who've had an abortion and the pro-life movement has always had a firm message that there's forgiveness and healing. I hope its a message that women in Kansas who are hiding their abortion and suffering in silence will hear and get help."

News You Need to Know has a discussion going.

Swords Into Plowshares cites the moment when Landwehr blurted out her secret: "How many of you have sat down and really talked to a young woman who’s gone through with an abortion, and what she’s living with today?" asked Landwehr as her voice choked with emotion. "You live with a lot. I’m one of those women. I live with that pain every single day. Because I killed a baby. . .It’s more than just a surgical procedure, having a knee repaired or a hip replaced."

Of course, abortion supporters are less than delighted:

Republicans for Satan calls for Rep. Landwehr to immediately be removed from her office, lest she impose the will of the Vatican on the American people.

the last goddess of the midwest gets even more melodramatic: "Listening to NPR news at work this morning, i heard this story about five times. In the sound bite, she cries. Cries. Choked up tears of pro-life bullshit. I am ashamed to share the same reproductive organs as this woman, not to mention ashamed i share a state that would vote her into office for 12 years." What a bubbling wellspring of compassion! Who says prochoicers don't care about women?