According to pro-abortion activists, women need abortion. Abortion is empowering. It allows women to live their lives, accomplish their dreams… and of course, women never, ever regret their abortions. The reality, of course, is quite different.

Victoria Robinson wrote about her abortion experience. She was young, divorced, and struggling to raise two girls, doing everything she could to get by. Six months after her ex-husband abandoned her, she met another man, who she thought she was in love with. They dated, and within nine months, Robinson found out she was pregnant.

“Although I was terrified at the thought of raising now three children without a husband, I was equally excited at the prospect of having a child with this man I loved so much,” she said. But he was not excited about having a child with her. “To say I was shocked by his reaction to my pregnancy news would be an understatement,” she said. “He quickly reaffirmed his love for me and my daughters—but insisted the best course of action at this time was abortion.”

READ: Woman shares heartbreaking story of coerced abortion on Facebook Live

He convinced her that she needed to have an abortion. The abortion facility staffer agreed. So Robinson went through with the procedure — 30 years ago, long before knowledge of fetal development and the humanity of the preborn was considered common. Still, she was unsettled. “When it was over, I knew my life, and I, would never be the same,” she recalled. After five years, Robinson remarried, and while she and her new husband wanted to have children, she had two miscarriages. When she got pregnant for the third time, she began bleeding again, and feared she was going to lose yet another baby… and she was convinced that the miscarriages were punishments for her abortion. When she went to the doctor to check on her baby, the experience brought her to tears.

“There she was. My baby. Alive and well. I could see her. The sound of her heartbeat was music to my ears,” she said. “At this very moment, it hit me. This was the same gestational period I was when I chose abortion, yet this didn’t look like a ‘blob of tissue’ or ‘clump of cells.’ What I saw was a real, live human being.” She began sobbing on the examination table, and confessed her abortion to her doctor, who assured her that her miscarriages weren’t punishments. She went on to have a healthy baby girl. But still, everything had changed. “I knew then, at that very moment, I hadn’t allowed the abortion doctor to extract a ‘blob of tissue’ or ‘clump of cells,’ but a baby. A real, live baby. My baby,” Robinson said. “On this day, I saw and heard tangible evidence on a screen that my baby, at eight weeks, was real. My baby resembled nothing like that of a blob of tissue or clump of cells, but a child with arms and legs. And a heartbeat. My baby had a heartbeat. A heartbeat changes everything.”

1st Trimester Surgical Abortion: Suction (Aspiration) D & C

Could anything have prevented Robinson from having an abortion? She thinks so. “I’m confident had I had access to a Storks Bus during my own crisis pregnancy, my story would be very different. There’s no denying a heartbeat,” she insisted. “My involvement with Save the Storks and the cause as a whole is not just about saving babies for me, but saving the women as well. Because they matter as much as the child they carry.” Save the Storks is an organization which provides ultrasounds to abortion-vulnerable women.

It’s not uncommon for women to be lied to by abortionists and their staffers. And it’s also not uncommon for women to be crushed when they eventually, inevitably, realize the truth, like Victoria Robinson did.

Even sadder is that Robinson’s story shows how abortion does not empower women — if anything, it empowers men to use women and then leave them when the time comes. Robinson was preyed on by a man who enjoyed having sex with her, but pressured her into an abortion and left her to suffer the consequences when she became pregnant.

Baby Development Week by Week

Thankfully, there are alternatives. Pregnancy resource centers have come under increasing attack by the abortion industry, and for good reason: they give women options beyond abortion. They give women help if they are being pressured or coerced into having an abortion. Organizations like Save the Storks, Stand Up Girl, Option Line, and Pregnancy Line can put women in touch with trained counselors who can connect them with local resources, including medical care. Many pregnancy resource centers are equipped to give women ultrasounds, prenatal vitamins, baby supplies, and emotional support. As Robinson pointed out, most women who choose abortion believe it’s their only choice — and pregnancy centers can give them a lifeline.

No wonder the abortion industry hates them so much. Pregnancy resource centers can give women hope. They can give women life. The truth can not only set us free, but can spare us a lifetime of regret.

According to pro-abortion activists, women need abortion. Abortion is empowering. It allows women to live their lives, accomplish their dreams… and of course, women never, ever regret their abortions. The reality, of course, is quite different.

Victoria Robinson wrote about her abortion experience. She was young, divorced, and struggling to raise two girls, doing everything she could to get by. Six months after her ex-husband abandoned her, she met another man, who she thought she was in love with. They dated, and within nine months, Robinson found out she was pregnant.

“Although I was terrified at the thought of raising now three children without a husband, I was equally excited at the prospect of having a child with this man I loved so much,” she said. But he was not excited about having a child with her. “To say I was shocked by his reaction to my pregnancy news would be an understatement,” she said. “He quickly reaffirmed his love for me and my daughters—but insisted the best course of action at this time was abortion.”

READ: Woman shares heartbreaking story of coerced abortion on Facebook Live

He convinced her that she needed to have an abortion. The abortion facility staffer agreed. So Robinson went through with the procedure — 30 years ago, long before knowledge of fetal development and the humanity of the preborn was considered common. Still, she was unsettled. “When it was over, I knew my life, and I, would never be the same,” she recalled. After five years, Robinson remarried, and while she and her new husband wanted to have children, she had two miscarriages. When she got pregnant for the third time, she began bleeding again, and feared she was going to lose yet another baby… and she was convinced that the miscarriages were punishments for her abortion. When she went to the doctor to check on her baby, the experience brought her to tears.

“There she was. My baby. Alive and well. I could see her. The sound of her heartbeat was music to my ears,” she said. “At this very moment, it hit me. This was the same gestational period I was when I chose abortion, yet this didn’t look like a ‘blob of tissue’ or ‘clump of cells.’ What I saw was a real, live human being.” She began sobbing on the examination table, and confessed her abortion to her doctor, who assured her that her miscarriages weren’t punishments. She went on to have a healthy baby girl. But still, everything had changed. “I knew then, at that very moment, I hadn’t allowed the abortion doctor to extract a ‘blob of tissue’ or ‘clump of cells,’ but a baby. A real, live baby. My baby,” Robinson said. “On this day, I saw and heard tangible evidence on a screen that my baby, at eight weeks, was real. My baby resembled nothing like that of a blob of tissue or clump of cells, but a child with arms and legs. And a heartbeat. My baby had a heartbeat. A heartbeat changes everything.”

1st Trimester Surgical Abortion: Suction (Aspiration) D & C

Could anything have prevented Robinson from having an abortion? She thinks so. “I’m confident had I had access to a Storks Bus during my own crisis pregnancy, my story would be very different. There’s no denying a heartbeat,” she insisted. “My involvement with Save the Storks and the cause as a whole is not just about saving babies for me, but saving the women as well. Because they matter as much as the child they carry.” Save the Storks is an organization which provides ultrasounds to abortion-vulnerable women.

It’s not uncommon for women to be lied to by abortionists and their staffers. And it’s also not uncommon for women to be crushed when they eventually, inevitably, realize the truth, like Victoria Robinson did.

Even sadder is that Robinson’s story shows how abortion does not empower women — if anything, it empowers men to use women and then leave them when the time comes. Robinson was preyed on by a man who enjoyed having sex with her, but pressured her into an abortion and left her to suffer the consequences when she became pregnant.

Baby Development Week by Week

Thankfully, there are alternatives. Pregnancy resource centers have come under increasing attack by the abortion industry, and for good reason: they give women options beyond abortion. They give women help if they are being pressured or coerced into having an abortion. Organizations like Save the Storks, Stand Up Girl, Option Line, and Pregnancy Line can put women in touch with trained counselors who can connect them with local resources, including medical care. Many pregnancy resource centers are equipped to give women ultrasounds, prenatal vitamins, baby supplies, and emotional support. As Robinson pointed out, most women who choose abortion believe it’s their only choice — and pregnancy centers can give them a lifeline.

No wonder the abortion industry hates them so much. Pregnancy resource centers can give women hope. They can give women life. The truth can not only set us free, but can spare us a lifetime of regret.