Pastor Wes Bredenof attended our recent conference and wrote this report for his blog. Wes has graciously allowed HLPS to reproduce his conference report here on our website.
This past Saturday I attended a pro-life conference in Hobart. It was organized by the Human Life Protection Society of Tasmania. About 100 people gathered to hear a variety of speakers from across Australia drawing attention to the important issue of abortion. Let me just summarize some of the take-aways.
Several speakers drew attention to the scale of the problem here in Australia and globally. Here in Australia, at least 89,000 unborn children are murdered every year. Some of those are born alive and then left to die. Around the world, the numbers are staggering. Every year, millions of unborn children have their lives extinguished before they see the light of day. It is the greatest human rights atrocity in history.
Two women (Anne Sherston and Anouska Firth) shared their personal experiences with abortion. Anne’s story involved coercion. She did not have a choice. Anouska’s story involved fear and addiction. She had grown up in a pro-life family, knew abortion was wrong, but had two anyway. These stories tell us that we can’t assume everyone who has had an abortion has done so for the same reason or under the same circumstances.
A third takeaway has to do with the spiritual nature of the issue. When I was involved in a campus pro-life organization in my university days, the constitution of our organization prevented us from speaking about this in our activism. We had to argue for the pro-life cause on the basis of humanist arguments. At this conference, there was a consistent recognition from every speaker that, at base, we’re dealing something related to rebellion against God. Now, having said that, most of the speakers were Roman Catholic. If we dig deeper, I suspect my agreement with their analysis is only going to go so far. When it comes to the answers, we might use some of the same language, but we’ll fill that language with quite different meanings. Nonetheless, I was encouraged to hear so many pro-life advocates recognize that the heart of the issue is the human heart — and the need to bathe all our activism in prayer.
We were also reminded of the strong connection between sexual license and murder/death. Anouska Firth spoke of how the Old Testament Israelites practiced idol worship. This idol worship often involved sexual acts. Then the same idol worship (particularly with Molech) demanded child-sacrifice. The names today have changed, but the picture is much the same. Children must die so people can have unfettered sex lives.
Finally, one of the speakers was from Armadale, Western Australia. Mandy Bowen made special mention of the Worthy Hands Café, which is operated by the Free Reformed Eucalypt Association. Worthy Hands employs people with special needs from the Free Reformed church community. Mandy mentioned how she thought it was beautiful that the parents of those who work there saw their kids as a gift to be embraced, rather than a problem to be erased. So true!
This conference was a good reminder that abortion continues to be a massive evil blight on Australia and other nations. It encouraged me, in the words of Bruce Cockburn, to keep on “kicking at the darkness until it bleeds daylight.” God’s justice demands we speak up for the weakest and most vulnerable members of our society. As Anouska Firth said, “Silence is complicity.” We must speak and do what we can to effect change.
by Wes Bredenof.
Wes Bredenof is a Canadian-born pastor who currently serves the Free Reformed Church of Launceston, Tasmania. He writes at Bredenof.ca
Our 2025 Conference was a great success and we were blessed with some highly experienced and articulate speakers. On this page, you can find links to the videos of those conference talks, which were recorded on the day.
Click on the links below to access the conference talks:
Many people can’t put into words what they are feeling after an abortion, and sometimes, that might never even happen. I can explain, however, that there is a way to do this, and that is through spiritual healing…. If I hadn’t experienced my own healing, I would not have been able to do that either…. so now I am in a position to share my story with you.
Anne as a young girl
I had an abortion in 1975, when I was only 16 years of age. This was not my choice…. and there is no need in telling you who that person was who made that choice for me, because it doesn’t change anything, and I have forgiven that person a long time ago…. Also, it doesn’t change what I went through for years later, in fact for more than 29 years later…. During that time, I went through many emotions, anger, hatred, loneliness, and even being suicidal…
Close to suicide
The scariest time of all was when I was 18 years old and only been married a few months. I was coming home from work on a train in Sydney. Keep in mind that trains didn’t have automatic doors back then. If any of you remember those trains, they were called the red rattlers…
I was standing at the open doors of the carriage with my toes just over the edge, contemplating to step out…. I remember that day as if it was yesterday…. Hindsight is a marvellous thing….
I remember a presence behind me. I didn’t look around, however, that presence was telling me to step back and that he was ready to catch me, he was there for me. Now so many years later I know that was God…. God was with me at that moment and made sure I didn’t go any further. That was back in 1977 (48 years ago and 2 years after the abortion).
A ‘red rattler’
It took me another 25 years after that to reach out for help. I started seeing a psychologist, who helped me so much, however, still didn’t quite hit the spot. I was still searching for something. There was still something missing. That is, till I reached out to two very long-time friends who were part of the Rachel’s Vineyard retreat team in Sydney. I realized then that I hadn’t cried about this for those 29 years till I spoke to those friends, one being a priest.
Some people might think it would be easy to pick up the phone and ask for help, however, it takes a lot of courage to take that first step, to make that phone call. I’m not just talking about myself, but for all women and men that have had an abortion experience in their lives. Really, that applies to anyone who has had a traumatic event in their lives.
After those two phone calls, I agreed to attend that retreat in Sydney on the first weekend of October 2004. That weekend was totally life changing. I met Christ exactly in the place where I was, which was a place of brokenness. Attending one of these retreats, becomes life changing. Again, I don’t only speak for myself here, but for others that have shared their experiences of attending those retreats with me.
Spiritual healing is paramount
Until I went to that retreat, my life felt as if I was in quicksand. For nearly 3 decades, I was sinking in this quicksand and trying everything to get out. Then I attended the Rachel’s Vineyard retreat. The retreat took us deeper and deeper into a state of meditation and prayer. I was able to tap into my 16 year-old self and knowing I was doing this for her.
By doing the work that weekend, I started the journey of coming out of that quicksand. Each step I took, Jesus was there with me, He was there for me every step of the way. This experience was what I was missing and what I longed for. Come the Sunday morning of the retreat, my heart was ready to accept God’s mercy. Having been in that place, I knew that Jesus and my baby had forgiven me. I was able to breathe again……
Something I have learnt since that retreat, is that we need to take care of ourselves and our inner child. This is so important, because otherwise that inner child will never find that healing, he or she deserves. I am no expert; however, I do keep trying…. And that is something we all need to keep working at.
After a few months being back home, I got highly motivated and started the retreat in Tasmania and eventually took it to NZ, Singapore, Penang Malaysia, Perth and Brisbane. I ran this retreat for nearly 14 years before it was time for me to give it up. In that time, my team and I came across many women and men with so many experiences and reasons for them going ahead with the abortion…. Something for all of us to keep in mind, is that not all decisions to have an abortion, come from a place of freedom…
Coercion, lack of choice
For sure, some women choose quite easily to have an abortion, and even use it as a form of contraception; however, it’s not always the case. Some people are put in a situation as I was, and are forced into that procedure. Even some men don’t even get a say, maybe because the woman didn’t tell him she was pregnant until after the abortion had taken place, or she might say, “My Body, My Choice”.
There there was one couple that came to one of our retreats after having three healthy children, they were pregnant with their fourth healthy child, until their doctor convincingly told them, that since the husband had diabetes, he would never live long enough to watch his baby baby grow up.
Can you even begin to imagine what that would have been like for those parents!! How sad and traumatic is that…. As far as I know that man is still alive…. We so often feel that we can’t question our doctor, but we can! Don’t let anyone tell you differently.
A different example of a doctor’s approach, is when our youngest daughter, and her husband were planning to start a family of their own. The time came when she did the home pregnancy test and it showed up ‘positive’. Her next step was to confirm this with a GP. Once the pregnancy was confirmed, the doctor, just came right out and asked her “What do you want to do about it?”
Thankfully there was no question for my daughter or our son in-law. This is something they wanted; they planned for. There was no reason for this GP to question it. Of course, she never went to him again. We now have a gorgeous 11yr old grandson.
People that are sometimes put in a place where they have to choose, would be at their lowest. They would be scared on so many levels and most of them would feel that they have no choice and sadly they go through with the abortion…. Thankfully, we now know there is another choice and that is to go through with the pregnancy…. There is so much help out there now, compared to when I was 16 years old. {See our website for pregnancy support around Australia.}
Unless you walk a mile
So, while we continue with our day, please remember, not everyone chooses abortion from a place of freedom. We can’t stand in judgement; however, we can continue to hope and pray that they will change their minds. Also, that our governments, State and Federal will actually realise what they have approved and what they are paying for with our tax payers’ money.
We also need to keep advocating for these unborn babies and for the women and men that find themselves in a situation where they have to choose. We also need to keep praying and raising awareness for those who choose abortion freely.
There is a saying I use, and that is: “Unless you have walked a mile in my shoes, you truly don’t know what I have gone through….” Let us be generous with our thoughts while we continue our mission in saving the unborn and saving lives at all stages of life.
{NOTE: although Anne’s abortion took place many years ago, there is plenty of evidence to show that abortion coercion remains common. See recent articles here, here and here.}
by Anne Sherston. Anne is the President of the Human life Protection Society, based in Tasmania. Anne ran Rachel’s Vineyard retreats for 14 years, and joined the HLPS in 2023. Please see the links at the top of this page for other conference talks.
For information about post-abortion healing, please see the Rachel’s Vineyard website
