Hope after abortion: Project Rachel offers 9-week program for healing

Women who have experienced an abortion in their past often find a continuing slate of trauma that leads to broken relationships and deep spiritual depression lingering for decades.

One woman said she believed an abortion was the only solution when she found herself pregnant at 16 years old. But over the years the guilt turned darker. “Almost 20 years later, Project Rachel saved me mentally and spiritually,” the anonymous woman wrote in her testimonial. “I was finally able to forgive myself.”

She had the help of Project Rachel, a free and confidential nine-week ministry that offers a process toward healing.

“That is a huge hurdle for people who have an abortion history. Self-forgiveness is very difficult for many,” said Carol Szopa, one of the leaders of Project Rachel, a program under the Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau. Szopa is a retired nurse who became involved in the early crisis pregnancy center, Birthright. “This is a journey through the healing process of abortion for women and men. It helps them mourn their children. They don’t have any way to openly grieve and express their sorrow for what happened.”

Since the national program was offered at the former Archdiocese of Anchorage, under the direction of Pam Albrecht, Project Rachel has helped Alaskans find peace and reconciliation through Jesus’ healing. The program is conducted by trained facilitators, priests, and deacons.

It is a ministry based on scripture through which participants can experience the love, mercy, and forgiveness of Jesus Christ. The name comes from a passage in Jeremiah where Rachel mourns her miscarried children and refuses to be consoled. The Lord says, “… the sorrow you have shown shall have its reward. There is hope for your future.”

“Reconciliation is a big part of what we do. It’s about the healing of Jesus Christ. We don’t do it. Jesus does it. He performs miracles in people’s lives so that they can relate to their baby through sanctifying grace,” Szopa said.

Project Rachel follows a manual that’s improved over the years. “We help people who aren’t here in town, even people who can’t come to meet with us in person,” Szopa said. This allows them to respond to people throughout Alaska. “We do that virtually through FaceTime and Zoom — we maintain confidentiality. This is key.”

The program offers an individual or group process depending on preference. It follows a Catholic-based curriculum that attracts non-Catholics as well, Szopa said. It’s for men, siblings, grandparents — any person touched by an abortion who needs the program for healing.

“The impacts of an abortion are widespread. There’s so much shame, so much sadness in the shame and embarrassment, and even fear of coming forward to ask for help,” Szopa said. “Men’s reactions are rage and anger. Some often numb pain by alcohol or drugs, participate in risky behaviors. That can be a pattern that we see in how people cope with the horrible trauma.”

Each person who completes the program is a case for amazement. “All we are is vessels or facilitators and we are amazed at how Jesus heals so beautifully,” she said. Session 8 of the program features an individual healing Mass.

“This part is worked out with the participants. It’s a Mass of remembrance for their baby, where they can choose their own priest. We have great priests in the diocese and we rely on them. For non-Catholics it can be another kind of service,” Szopa said.

Some women who come to the program are afraid to be healed. “They feel that way because they don’t want to lose connection with their child,” Szopa said. “Healing found through this process doesn’t have them forget their baby. It gives them a new relationship with the baby and God. It helps them heal their souls.”

Szopa emphasizes this is a non-political group and program. Rather, it is a ministry.

“All of us Catholics can help the women and men who find themselves in difficult pregnancies. We can be welcoming to them and offer to help them accept their babies. Our support can help them realize that this pregnancy can change their plans but will hopefully give them a different future than they anticipated,” Szopa said.

Catholics can offer to go to the agencies with them or to doctors’ visits and even offer to mentor them with parenting.

“Those of us in the pews can help them financially, if we can. They could benefit from fellow parishioners who recognize that their children are children that God created and loves and help them welcome their child. We can give them hope,” Szopa said.

Project Rachel accepts donations. It operates on the generosity of those who believe in this ministry. They are all volunteers, but it costs to print brochures, business cards and manuals, purchase educational materials, and general operating expenses.