Mission Statement
          Ginny's Story

Ginny’s Story

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect. – 1 Corinthians 15:10

     In the fall of 1954, I was born in Lynchburg, Virginia. Before I was a month old, I was placed with a couple who became my parents by adopting me. My father was an attorney in a small town in tobacco and cattle country in rural Virginia. My mother was a housewife. We lived in a home where a good deal of the time three generations resided. I had an older sister who was also adopted and a younger sister born to my parents after they adopted me.

     In early 1973, I learned I was pregnant. My father had just died. I was eighteen and single. It was a horrifying time for me. I had a tremendous fear that a baby would negatively impact my life, my future and my relationships. Not only was I afraid, but I had seen the way others had dealt with the exact same situation and fears. I “assumed” what I needed was an abortion. I am not sure anything else ever occurred to me at that time. I only wanted out. Nothing else mattered, and I had an abortion.

      What I experienced that day, I would experience twice again for the same reasons with one twist. I did want both of the last two babies. Sadly, my fears were greater than my “wants,” and I still had the abortions. Although my personal adoption experience was very nurturing and positive, I did not find adoption to be a legitimate alternative to abortion. The idea of going through all the negative things I thought I would go through and not keep the baby was, well, out of the question. The baby was the prize for my struggles and nobody but me was entitled to the prize. If I did not want the prize, then no one else could have it. It was all about me, and the welfare of the babies was not even on my radar.

     I did not understand that my reaction to the abortions could cultivate self-destructive behaviors, attitudes and thought patterns. Nor did I recognize that the life, future and relationships I was trying to preserve could be – and definitely were – affected and not in a positive manner. I was unaware that often women and men who have abortions enter into a cycle of repeat pregnancies and abortions – even of wanted babies. I had post-abortion stress and did not know it.

     In 1991, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord. Since becoming a Christian, Jesus has healed me from the pain of abortion. He has also healed me from a lifestyle of detached indifference and the war I had waged against myself as well as others.

      Due to personal health problems, I decided in early 2001 to entertain the idea of obtaining medical history information on my natural birth parents. Though I never completed the process, I did obtain information on my birth mother. I learned my birth mother was either 19 or 20 years old when she gave birth to me and put me up for adoption. As I read the documents I was provided, I discovered that she, too, expressed concerns about a baby changing her life, her future and her relationships.

      It was an astonishing moment in my life to realize that I stood in the same shoes my natural mother had stood in – single and pregnant at about the same age. We shared the same place of decision on the same subject. The fact that my birth mother and I embraced different paths in dealing with our pregnancies is perhaps not the greatest difference between us. The most profound distinction is found in our children. Her daughter is here today to talk to you about it. My children are not.

Virginia (“Ginny”) Curd is the founder of Post Abortion Ministries, LLC and lives with her husband in Mechanicsville, Virginia.

Copyright © 2004, Virginia H. Curd, Mechanicsville, Virginia. All rights reserved.