Stephan Stewart’s parents were in the middle of an acrimonious divorce, so to cope with the turmoil at home, she became entangled in a promiscuous lifestyle. She was just 15 years old when she went with a friend to Planned Parenthood to get birth control — and discovered she was pregnant.
Stewart told Live Action News, “The services at Planned Parenthood were free except that I was required to pay for an ultrasound. I wondered how I was going to get the money to do this. I didn’t want to tell my parents I had gotten pregnant – I was so ashamed.”
Growing up in a staunchly pro-life home, her parents were active with Dayton Right to Life. Stewart remembers standing alongside them on the sidewalk outside an abortion facility when she was just eight years old. Abortion was not an option she was willing to consider – at least initially.
“It was when my friend, who was grounded at the time, told her parents why she had taken me to Planned Parenthood to avoid getting into further trouble that the direction of my life radically changed,” Stewart said.
Her friend’s parents were members of a Unitarian church where the director of Planned Parenthood attended. The woman offered to “help” Stewart with her dilemma.
Stewart said, “She knew of my reluctance to tell my parents about my pregnancy, so she offered to ‘make everything go away.’ That’s when abortion entered the picture. No other option was ever presented to me. At the time, I didn’t know about pregnancy support centers.”
To a frightened and distressed young teen, the Planned Parenthood director presented an attractive proposition: she would help secure a court-appointed attorney to act as a guardian for Stewart so she could be granted a juvenile bypass to obtain the abortion. The icing on the cake: her parents would never know.
“So, I stood before the judge and told him that I didn’t want to tell my parents about the pregnancy, nor did I want the baby I was carrying, that I wanted the abortion,” Stewart said.
Her request was granted, and Planned Parenthood promised to pay for Stewart’s surgical procedure.
On September 8, 1998, a date she’ll never forget, Stewart walked past the spot where she had stood as a little girl, where her parents had once advocated for life. This time, just seven years later, she was a determined young teen intent on ending the life of her child by abortion.
Stewart said, “I think about the irony of the situation. Not only was I that scared, pregnant woman who my parents tried to help years ago, but the Planned Parenthood that had refused to cover my ultrasound cunningly put a strategy into motion to circumvent parental consent for me to undergo a major medical procedure.”
Finding redemption in Christ and discovering a mission for helping post-abortive women
Stewart recovered from the abortion at her friend’s home but experienced repeated complications requiring trips back and forth to the facility. Another concerned friend confided in her mother about Stewart’s situation, prompting this mother to call Stewart’s mother at work.
“By this time, my parents were separated and had no idea what was going on in my life,” Stewart said. “But when my mother showed up suddenly at my school, I realized she knew about my abortion.”
Stewart’s mother took her to get the appropriate medical attention she needed to heal.
Stewart said, “It took two years of treatments from medical specialists to get healthy again. I lived with constant anxiety and depression. I would just shake at times. Abortion changed my life – I was a vastly different person the moment I walked out of that clinic.”
In the years following, Stewart abused alcohol and drugs. Some nights, she wondered if she would wake up the next morning.
“As far away as I was from God, I prayed to Him, even while using drugs,” Stewart said. “I knew I wasn’t going to be okay until I finally surrendered my life to Christ, which I did at the age of 19, about four years after my abortion.”
She repented her lifestyle and became a voracious studier of God’s Word. She got connected to a church community where she could continue her spiritual growth. In time, she felt God calling her to share her testimony to benefit other women in similar circumstances, but first felt she had to tell her father about her abortion.
Stewart said, “My father was still unaware of my past. I went to him and told him everything. He responded by apologizing that he hadn’t been there for me during those troubling times and reassured me that my baby was with the Lord. He told me that God had forgiven me.”
Confessing to her father opened Stewart’s eyes as to how she had denied her parents the chance to show the love and compassion they had upon learning of her dark secret.
“All the things I had feared about how they would react were baseless,” Stewart said. “I never allowed them to prove me wrong.”
She started telling her testimony all over the country – in churches where abortion was never mentioned and where shame flourished. Women would come up to her and whisper about their own abortions.
Stewart said, “When you’re backed into a corner, scared and desperate, and you see no way out, you do things you normally wouldn’t do.”
Still, she didn’t know it yet, but Stewart had more restorative work to do. She wanted to volunteer at the local pregnancy support center, but was first required to complete a post-abortion healing program. “To my surprise, I discovered some wounds that were still festering,” Stewart said. “I was grateful to be able to work through that lingering pain.”
Today, Stewart is the director of the pregnancy support center, where she facilitates recovery programs for post-abortive women.
Stewart said, “I’m doing what God has called me to do. I was a worship leader for many years but stepped away when I felt called to this ministry, first as a volunteer and now as director. It brings me so much joy to serve God by helping women find redemption in His grace.”
