Marnie Bello had always been a good Christian girl, and she came from a staunchly religious home where sex wasn’t discussed. At 16, she began dating a boy from church, and the couple married five years later. When the young woman became pregnant soon after marrying, she sought prenatal care, not suspecting her naïveté and innocence would be used by Planned Parenthood most egregiously.
Deception by Planned Parenthood leads to chemical abortion
Bello told Live Action News, “There was a lot of shame around sex and pregnancy when I was growing up. So, when I saw a sign that said, ‘Pregnant? Need help?’ I was relieved. I called the number, not knowing it was Planned Parenthood. At the clinic, the nurse immediately isolated me from my husband and took me back to the exam room where an ultrasound confirmed I was four weeks pregnant.”
Surprised, Bello blurted out that being so young and newly married, she wondered if she was prepared to handle a pregnancy. The nurse had a solution. She told Bello all she needed to do was to swallow a little pill and her worries would disappear.
“The nurse told me it was a normal thing to do and that ‘a lot’ of women do this,” Bello said. “I thought it strange she never used the word ‘baby.’ I had never been to a gynecologist ever, not even to get a pap smear. I was gullible and just trusted her.”
She was led to another room for counseling. There, she was told she’d be taking two pills, to expect ‘some’ bleeding and perhaps mild cramps. She would then be required to return to ensure all the ‘tissue’ had been expelled from her womb.
Bello said, “I paid $400 for the pills and signed some paperwork. My husband was there with me and at no time did he speak with the staff, nor do I think he even understood what I was doing.”
Later that night, Bello ingested the second pill. It wasn’t long before she was experiencing excruciating pain and started to bleed heavily.
“I thought I was going to die, I was so scared,” Bello said. “I was up all through the night, passing major clots of blood into the toilet.”
At some point, she felt as if life was leaving her body and she frantically reached into the toilet to grab the lifeless remains.
Bello said, “It was as if I instinctively understood life had been growing inside of me and I tried to get it back as I cried out in confusion and fear. There was never any conversation about going into labor; I was totally unprepared for this horrific ordeal.”
During her traumatic experience, Bello’s husband didn’t comprehend what was happening and never questioned her, though he tried to comfort his frightened wife as best as he could.
New beginning springs from the promise to uphold life
A year later, Bello conceived again – a year to the day after she had the chemical abortion. She enlisted the help of her mother to find a reputable obstetrician.
“I was not going to do what I had done in my first pregnancy,” Bello said. “When my son Lukas was born, I was so happy.”
Yet later, after giving birth to a daughter as well, Bello struggled to bond with her little girl. She noticed a flyer at church announcing an eight-week Bible study, “Surrendering the Secret” for post-abortive women, and promptly registered.
Bello said, “Although the facilitator wasn’t post-abortive, she was very compassionate. As I started to delve deeper into what had happened to me, the anger and guilt over what I had done surfaced, forcing me to deal with all those unresolved emotions which contributed to my inability to connect with my infant daughter.”
As she began peeling away the layers of grief, Bello uncovered rage directed toward her husband, who she felt had let her down during her bleakest hours.
READ: Mom grateful for daughter saved through abortion pill reversal: ‘She was meant to be here’
“Not only had I killed our child, but my husband had allowed this to happen, too,” Bello said. “I realized that I needed to get additional counseling to work through that resentment.”
As God cleansed her heart of the anger and shame, Bello believed He revealed to her that her aborted child had been a girl.
In 2020, an opportunity arose for Bello to tell her three children about her abortion when her young son pointedly asked if she had ever killed a baby.
Bello said, “We were discussing the upcoming election at the time and about the importance of electing pro-life legislators. When my son asked me that question, I knew I had to share the truth with my children so they, in turn, could share it with others.”
It was a bitter revelation for her children; she had taken the life of a sibling whom they would never know. But Bello’s desire to be transparent later opened the door to share her testimony in India to help other women find restoration.
“I was co-leading a Bible study when the leader asked me to accompany her to India and I felt called to do that,” Bello said. “I wanted to use my pain for God’s glory and in turn, he gave me peace and freedom.”
She recalls a vivid vision she once had of a little girl and a boy walking toward the Lord and believes they were her children, who are now in His presence. Bello said, “I had a miscarriage between the births of my daughter and second son. God, in His mercy, allowed me a glimpse of the babies I had lost.”
At times, Bello finds it difficult to share her story, but she will continue to be obedient as God asks. “I want to use my life as a testimony for finding freedom and forgiveness after abortion,” Bello said. “It’s so cool to see what God can do when His light overcomes darkness.”
