Mark Bradley Morrow\u2019s faith sustained him when his 45-year-old father\u00a0died of a cerebral aneurysm in 1980. Ten weeks earlier, the 19-year-old\u00a0college student had accepted Jesus as his Savior.<\/p>\n
The weekly Bible studies, prayer meetings, and fellowship at Edinboro\u00a0University of Pennsylvania likewise buoyed Morrow when his two\u00a0favorite uncles, both in their mid-40s, committed suicide in 1981 and\u00a01982.<\/p>\n
But after college, away from his Christian friends, Morrow began to\u00a0drift from his spiritual moorings. While his wildest activities during\u00a0college had been bowling and pinball, by his late 20s Morrow\u00a0embarked on a string of brief relationships with women.<\/p>\n
In 1987, Morrow impregnated his girlfriend. Upon learning the\u00a0shattering news, Morrow expressed no interest in marriage; he\u00a0suggested his girlfriend give the baby up for adoption. Instead, she\u00a0scheduled an appointment with an abortionist. Morrow sat anxiously in\u00a0the waiting room and after the procedure drove his sobbing girlfriend\u00a0home.<\/p>\n
The experience didn\u2019t reset Morrow\u2019s moral compass. His next short-term\u00a0girlfriend told him she had aborted their baby \u2014 two months\u00a0after they had broken up.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, Morrow lived a duplicitous life. He led the youth\u00a0group and worship ministry at his church, and even filled the pulpit on\u00a0occasion. The young women he dated were involved in church as well.<\/p>\n
A few months later, yet a third girlfriend wrote a letter to Morrow. No\u00a0longer together, the girlfriend explained that she had an abortion.<\/p>\n
Despite prodding from the Holy Spirit, Morrow didn\u2019t alter his\u00a0irresponsible behavior. He hooked up again with his first girlfriend,\u00a0with the same result: an unwanted pregnancy. Although he agreed to\u00a0support the baby financially, Morrow rejected the notion of marriage\u00a0once more. This time the girlfriend visited an abortionist without\u00a0consulting Morrow.<\/p>\n
In a 20-month span during 1987-89, Morrow played a role in four\u00a0abortions.<\/p>\n
In retrospect, Morrow believes the unexpected rapid-fire deaths of the\u00a0three most influential mentors in his life left him with unresolved\u00a0emotional and spiritual wounds that made him more vulnerable to
\ntemptation. But he bears full culpability for his selfish sexual conduct.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I had been the man God created me to be, I wouldn\u2019t have chosen\u00a0to have premarital sex,\u201d Morrow says. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have put these\u00a0women in a position where they even thought about having an\u00a0abortion.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1992, Morrow rededicated his life to Christ. Without mentioning the\u00a0abortions, Morrow admitted his sullied sexual past to his then-girlfriend\u00a0and said they needed to stop having intercourse. The
\nconfessional made such an impact that the girlfriend, whom Morrow\u00a0met in graduate school, accepted Jesus as her Savior.<\/p>\n
Three months later, Morrow proposed to the girlfriend, on the\u00a0condition they never would have children. Jeannie agreed, and the\u00a0couple wed \u2014 after Morrow had undergone a vasectomy.<\/p>\n
But the marriage came with a child already. Jeannie had a 4-year-old\u00a0daughter, Ricque, from a previous relationship. Mark adopted Ricque\u00a0after marrying Jeannie. In time, Morrow grew to understand the
\nblessedness of fatherhood.<\/p>\n
Moreover, Morrow thought raising more children might not be such an\u00a0awful idea after all. After Mark\u2019s successful vasectomy reversal\u00a0operation, Jeannie gave birth to a daughter, Faith Maddison, in 2002,
\nand a son, Ross Bradley, in 2004. The children attend Erie First\u00a0Christian Academy, a school operated by Erie (Pa.) First Assembly of\u00a0God.<\/p>\n
Even before they had children together, Mark and Jeannie established\u00a0themselves as licensed professional Christian counselors. Ironically, as\u00a0Morrow listened to others pour out their troubles, he continued to\u00a0harbor the guilt and disgrace from secrets he had stifled for 18 years.<\/p>\n
In 2006, he could no longer keep the pent-up burden to himself.\u00a0Morrow specialized in treating teenagers. As he examined client intake\u00a0sheets, he kept noticing birth years corresponding to the time his own\u00a0babies had been aborted. One day he cried out to God to take his\u00a0shame and pain away.<\/p>\n
In mournful wailing, Morrow divulged specifics of his sinful past to a\u00a0close male friend. In loving compassion, the friend assured Morrow\u00a0God had forgiven his acknowledged sins.<\/p>\n
\u201cPride is a big reason we keep secrets,\u201d Morrow says. \u201cSatan is the\u00a0father of lies, and he had convinced me if I told anyone, nobody would\u00a0come to me for counseling, everyone would hate me, they would think
\nI was the scum of the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next night Morrow revealed the whole truth to his wife. It didn\u2019t go\u00a0well.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was rightfully upset,\u201d Morrow recalls. \u201cI had lied to her through\u00a0omission and kept extremely important details of my life hidden.\u201d\u00a0With the help of their pastor and Christian friends, the Morrows worked\u00a0through their difficulties over a 11\/2-year span. Mark found healing\u00a0through a 12-week abortion recovery Bible study for men written by\u00a0Sheila Harper, founder of the Assemblies of God ministry SaveOne.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbortion is not just a female issue, because that child belongs as\u00a0much to the man as it does to the woman,\u201d says Harper, whose\u00a0husband, Jack, is pastor of CrossRoads of Antioch, an AG church in
\nTennessee. \u201cRegardless of whether a man begs a woman not to have\u00a0the abortion, or if he drives her to the clinic and pays for it, when he\u00a0realizes what he has done, the consequences are devastating. We
\ndon\u2019t have it in us to deal with the aftermath of making the choices of\u00a0life and death for a human being.\u201d<\/p>\n
Subsequently, Harper says, men suffer as much trauma as women\u00a0from abortion, dealing with issues such as outbursts of anger and\u00a0mistrust of the opposite sex. Harper says too few men take the step of
\nhonestly reflecting about their responsibility for an abortion, confessing\u00a0their sin, and receiving God\u2019s forgiveness.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy telling his story, Mark is not only continuing to heal, he allows God\u00a0to take his most regrettable mistakes and turn them into something\u00a0good,\u201d says Harper, whose organization has 150 chapters in 30 states\u00a0and 14 nations. \u201cBecause he has allowed God\u2019s grace to cover his sins,\u00a0Mark is no longer suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n
The opposite of what Morrow initially dreaded \u2014 that people would\u00a0revile him for revealing his secret \u2014 turned out to be the common\u00a0reaction. Telling others about his past is therapeutic to him, and
\ninfluential with others who are keeping secrets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether you\u2019ve had an abortion, you are looking at pornography, or\u00a0you\u2019ve had an affair, you need to make the bold move and get it out,\u201d\u00a0says Morrow, 53.<\/p>\n
These days Morrow isn\u2019t reluctant to talk about his past because he\u00a0knows the Lord has forgiven him. He speaks frequently at pregnancy\u00a0care center events, describing how abortion impacts men.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you are living in secret, you really are bound and shackled in chains,\u201d Morrow says. \u201cOnce you can release that secret to God, Satan\u00a0doesn\u2019t have a hold on you anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n