“I want women like myself to feel safe and honest in their communities. I want them to have space and acceptance to unpack and process their tough choices.”
– JC Beichner, Author, Speaker, Pro-Every Life Advocate
At just 19 years old, JC Beichner made the tough choice to abort her child and faced this challenge alone. Fearful, she terminated her pregnancy with the support of a friend. Scared of becoming a social outcast, little did she know how much this incident would change her life.
Recovering from a Difficult Choice
“No one can deny the unfortunate truth that I am an expert and an advocate with real-life experience,” JC says, delving into the tough choice she once made. “I never imagined how this single event would change my life. The tremendous emotional scar it would leave behind,” she continues. While she kept progressing in her career, the abortion left a tremendous emotional scar and cast a shadow on her self-worth for years. “I believed undoing my choice would make everything okay,” JC says. Courageously, she decided to confront her confusion and doubts.
Standing Up for Her Story
JC has become a strong supporter of finding a better way that ensures the health and wellness of women and their children. She is a great advocate of opening up the discussion on women’s experiences. And this means taking a risk and stepping outside of the conventional stance on women’s rights. “I fight for women’s rights daily but not in the traditional or popular sense,” JC emphasizes. She believes the discussion has to improve the discourse on abortion. This means sharing her own story on how her life changed by deciding to have an abortion.
JC asks some tough questions. “What’s stopping up from solving the problems that cause women to choose abortion? Why are we still allowing fear of workplace reprisals, lack of health or childcare, poverty and absentee father dictate how women deal with children? Why isn’t adoption more culturally acceptable and comprehensively accessible?”
Leading a New Conversation
JC published the award-winning Grace in Progress: Prayers for the Beautifully Broken. The book shares how she dealt with the abortion’s loss and sought out forgiveness from God. She also strives to create a platform for women to talk about their abortion. “I want women like myself to feel safe, to be vulnerable, and honest in their communities,” she describes. While this advocacy comes with sacrifices—friends lost and discomfort including—she knows love prevails and helps heal a broken heart.
JC’s inspiring journey shows how overcoming tough choices of our past and being at peace with oneself can change who we become. The challenges she overcame strengthened her immensely. As a result, the impact she is making in her community is powerful.
