A woman who had multiple abortions experienced depression, drug and alcohol abuse, and unhealthy relationships afterwards, repressing the pain until she decided to accept God’s forgiveness — and now, has founded an abortion recovery ministry.
An attempt to avoid shame
Marlo Keating was a single parent when she discovered she was pregnant for the second time. This time, she didn’t tell her boyfriend, because she didn’t want him to convince her to continue the pregnancy. She wanted to have an abortion in secret.
Keating told Live Action News, “I grew up in the church where my dad was a deacon. When I first got pregnant, he offered to step down, but he remained in his role. There was so much shame and secrecy around the first pregnancy, and I didn’t want people talking when they found out I was expecting another child with my boyfriend.”
She was about 12 weeks when she had the surgical abortion at a local Catholic hospital. An acquaintance who was pro-abortion drove her to the facility while her parents watched her daughter, not knowing what she was about to do.
“I repressed everything about the abortion,” Keating said. “Two years later, I sold my belongings and moved to British Columbia from Ontario. I just wanted to escape and leave broken hearts behind.”
She knew fleeing her life and her home wasn’t the right thing to do. Despite problems in her relationship with her boyfriend, he did love their daughter, and she felt guilty for taking her away from him.
Keating said, “After the move, I regularly consumed alcohol, smoked weed, and abused a variety of drugs I had never used before to escape the intense feelings around my abortion.”
Three more abortions
Soon, she met someone new, and they quickly moved in together. Their 13-year tumultuous relationship was marked by drug abuse, including stimulants and hallucinogens. Keating became pregnant, desiring to have a child with him. Yet he had no interest in having children.
She had hoped her boyfriend would change his mind about wanting the baby, so she kept postponing the abortion. But when it became clear he would not change his mind, she scheduled an abortion at a Vancouver abortion facility, and drove herself there.
Keating said the abortion was “quick,” and she went to work the next day. “I didn’t take time to care for myself.”
Keating continued to live with her boyfriend on and off through the years. She supported herself financially, and often felt torn between her loyalty to him and her love for her daughter.
“It seemed tense all the time,” Keating said. “But seven years later, I got pregnant again as a result of being careless about birth control.”
Keating scheduled her third abortion, this time using the abortion pill.
“This time it was a chemical abortion as would be my fourth abortion three years later. I experienced bleeding and cramping. Everything felt surreal. I didn’t look into the toilet; I didn’t want to see my baby,” she said.
She wanted other children, but realized she wasn’t with the right man, and wasn’t ready to move on in search of a healthier relationship until three years later, after her fourth abortion.
“My daughter was getting more withdrawn and my boyfriend refused to go to her baptism,” Keating said. “I had to finally make a choice. I had always put him first, but I felt the Holy Spirit convicting me. Walking away was a huge step in the right direction.”
The Grace of God
Five years after leaving the dysfunctional relationship, she accepted Christ as her Savior. Though she quit recreational drugs, she was consuming more alcohol than ever before. Then, one day, by the grace of God, she quit cold turkey.
“I had spent lonely days with the bottle until I asked the Lord what to do,” she said. “He told me to go to Bible study.”
As if in perfect timing, a study was starting at church in 15 minutes. There, she met a group of women who surrounded her with love and support. “I grew at that church, rooted in God’s Word,” Keating said. “God opened my eyes to see things differently. All I needed to do was to see things differently.”
She was prompted to make big moves in her personal life.
“God brought me to a pregnancy support center,” she said. “I would share details of my abortions with women there, but kept the secret from my family and friends.” At the time, her daughter struggled with mental health issues, prompting Keating to enroll in Freedom Session, a six-month faith-based program to help discover how a person’s roots can shape who they become.
“Repress[ed] memories of childhood sexual abuse surfaced,” Keating said. “I also had to face that I had gotten messages [during childhood that] I wasn’t worth protecting. This revelation helped me to understand my sexual choices.”
Yet the secret of her abortions, which had spurred her addiction, was weighing her down like excess baggage. She needed to come clean.
“Once I confessed about my abortions to my family and close friends, the more freedom I felt,” she said.
Fellow pro-life advocate Victoria Robinson encouraged Keating to form a ministry, and Keating launched Wild Heart Ministries, a post-abortion healing retreat, modeled after the “Forgiven and Set Free” Bible study.
Keating is also now married. “The ministry is a team effort with my husband,” Keating said. “He has been incredibly supportive throughout my journey. He works full-time to allow me to run this ministry. We are renting a beautiful lodge amid the scenic mountains of Montana for the retreats.”
Keating is looking ahead to the ministry’s first retreat in October, saying, “This will be a transformative experience for all who come seeking healing and peace.”
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