“You know, our world says it’s no big deal to have an abortion. I’m telling you—it is a big deal.”
Denise grew up in a big, joyful Italian Catholic family on the west side of Cincinnati. One of six siblings, she was raised in a loving home where connection and tradition ran deep. But even from a young age, she remembers being “not kind of—very strong-willed.”
By her senior year of high school, just 17 years old and the youngest in her class, she met a boy, fell in love, and got pregnant. The news hit hard. “I remember thinking, ‘I’ll never have an abortion.’” But after a visit to Planned Parenthood, where she was told she had “no choice,” Denise believed the lie. The counselor warned her:
“You won’t graduate. You won’t get a good job. Your family will be upset. You don’t have any other option.”
So at just 17, she secretly flew to New York City alone and had an abortion. The moment she stepped off the plane back home, she buried the experience so deeply she didn’t speak of it again for years.
“Got up the next day, put on my uniform, and went right back to school. Never thought twice about it… I believed everything they told me. That it was a blob. That I wouldn’t feel anything.”
She buried not just the memory—but the shame, guilt, and sorrow that grew with it.
A Seed of Faith
Years later, in her thirties and navigating life as a young mother, Denise was introduced to the idea of a personal relationship with Jesus—something she had never considered before.
“As I learned more about who Jesus is and why He came, it gripped my heart and soul.”
But even as her faith grew, a deep-rooted lie remained: “He’ll never forgive you. Not for killing your own baby.”
She went to church. She joined Bible studies. But every Sunday, she wept under the weight of that secret sin.
“I believed in forgiveness. I just didn’t believe it applied to me.”
A Vision of Grace
After Denise’s mother passed away, she grieved not just her loss—but the missed opportunity to confess. “It was the one thing I should have done. I should have asked my mom for forgiveness.”
Then one day, as she sat across the table from her daughter, giving her advice before college, something extraordinary happened. Denise saw a clear vision of her mother standing beside her daughter—radiant, healthy, and peaceful—holding a baby in her arms.
“She didn’t say a word. She just looked at me and looked down at the baby, like: ‘Look who I have.’”
In that moment, something shifted.
“It was as if God said, ‘Denise, what is it going to take for you to know you are forgiven and loved?’”
Redemption for the Rest of the Story
That vision broke through the last wall of shame. Denise began walking in the forgiveness she’d already been given at the cross.
“God forgave me back then—on the cross—for what He knew the abortion would cost me. And it cost Him everything.”
Now, Denise shares her story so others won’t walk the same road alone.
“We don’t need to be walking in guilt and shame. God loves us. He’s forgiven us. And there is nothing in this world that can separate us from the love of God.”
Scripture Reflections
- “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
—Romans 8:1 - “For I am convinced that neither death nor life… nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God.”
—Romans 8:38–39 - “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
—1 John 1:9
