Does God Forgive Abortion? - 197

Forgiveness and redemption are at the heart of this Connecting the Gap Podcast episode. This week, special guest Brittany Poppe, joins us and shares her personal experience with abortion at the age of 15 and adds invaluable insight to our discussion on how major legal turning points like Roe v. Wade and Dobbs v. Jackson have influenced abortion laws across the United States.

As we discuss her emotional aftermath of abortion, we uncover stories of healing through faith-based support and the transformative power of God’s grace. Our conversation expands to include the broader family dynamics affected by abortion, noting the ripple effect of grief and the emergence of compassion over time. We also tackle complex issues surrounding infertility and miscarriage, offering varied perspectives while underscoring the importance of sincere care and understanding within families facing these challenges.

Brittany opens up about her transformative journey from guilt and shame to healing and empowerment through faith. Her work and personal podcast are dedicated to helping others navigate similar paths, offering hope and support. We also confront the ongoing debates about abortion pills and legislative battles in Missouri. Through these discussions, we emphasize informed voting and the critical role of compassion and grace. Join us for an episode that promises to leave you inspired and informed on these difficult topics.

Visit our website at www.connectingthegap.net to learn more about our ministry. We have lots of resources there for you to utilize in your walk with God.

To visit Brittany Poppe's ministry, please visit www.brittanypoppe.com. If you need any kind of resource for abortions you personally have been through or know others that her ministry would benefit, check out her website for more information. We pray you have a blessed week!

Chapters

• 0:03 Redemption and Abortion Recovery Story
• 16:37 Family Impact of Abortion Trauma
• 23:54 Compassion and Healing After Abortion
• 35:06 Abortion Pill Dangers and Legal Battles
• 45:08 Deceptive Tactics in Abortion Debate
• 52:29 Healing From Abortion Trauma
• 57:10 Biblical Message Distribution Platform

Transcript

Brittany Poppe: 0:03

God's timing was perfect. They were going to be leading a Forgiven and Set Free Bible study that very next week. She invited me to join and I did. That's where I learned that I didn't have to try to win God's love back back, because it never left. He'd always loved me. He grieved for what I had done. What I had done saddened him terribly, but that didn't mean he didn't love me, and I learned what the gospel truly means and that my sin, though great, was definitely not as great as his love and forgiveness for me when I came to repentance.

Daniel Moore: 0:45

This week on the podcast, I'm sitting down with a special guest and she's going to be sharing her story about having an abortion when she was 15 years old. I do want to give a trigger warning for this week. If you are going through something similar to this and it's fresh you may want to be careful as you listen to this. I just want you to take that lightly Then. Also, if you have young ears around, some of the material that's covered this week may not be appropriate for younger children to hear at this time Maybe something you'd like to discuss with them later in your own time. So I just wanted to put that out there before we got started. That way, you kind of know what was coming your way. But it's an excellent episode and I hope you'll stick with us this week as we talk about abortion here on Connecting the Gap Podcast. I'm Daniel Moore, your host. Thank you guys again for joining us this week. If you're not familiar with our show, you can check out our website, wwwconnectingthegapnet. For our platforms. We're on YouTube and Rumble. We're also on the podcasting app, edify. You can also visit us on social at facebookcom, forward slash ctgaponline. If you're a fan of our show, please subscribe and feel free to leave a comment on our platforms, give us a thumbs up or a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. It helps our podcast to grow and we'd greatly appreciate that. Thank you, guys, once again for checking in this week and listening to another brand new episode of our podcast. Well, we have some elections coming up here in November. Missouri is pretty much a pro-life state. There's some things that I still don't totally agree with. That's on our books as far as the abortion laws go, but as the states are concerned, missouri is very pro-life, something that, as a Christian, I'm very proud of as I inhabit this state. Here of Missouri, however, we have a lot of outside influences that have sunk millions of dollars into an amendment and they're trying to do away with all of our pro-life laws and make us one of the most anti-pro-life states out of all 50 states. They're also trying to rewrite the transgenderism for the transgender support. This law, if it passes, is going to pretty much take any parental authority away from them to regulate what their kids can and can't do when they're underage. And so this week on the podcast, I have a special guest that I'm going to be talking to and we're going to be talking a little bit about abortion this week.

Daniel Moore: 3:50

So how much history have we forgotten since 1973? The question is important for every American because of a single issue that now dominates the political landscape. On January 22nd of 73, the US Supreme Court issued the Roe v Wade decision on the decision of abortion. That decision, and several that followed, changed the mindset and practices of Americans for five decades. For 50 years, the question of legalized abortion was under the total control of the federal court. States could attempt to pass laws touching on the subject, but the abortion industry was quick to challenge any attempt to curtail abortion for any reason. Then, on June 24th of 2022, the US Supreme Court issued the Dobbs v Jackson decision, acknowledging that the Roe decision had been wrongly decided, and the Supreme Court returned the question of abortion to the people and their elected representatives. The question before America is now how shall the people decide a just abortion policy?

Daniel Moore: 4:59

Well, since the 1960s, the abortion debate in America has been split between science, technology, philosophy, politics and federal courts. Science and technology have produced revolutionary advances in neonatology, embryology, fertility and prenatal care, and revolutionized the process of an abortion procedure. Today, the majority of all abortions are conducted through a chemical process triggered by two different pills that can be secured online, by mail or by other means, some of which are regulated and others that are not. It would seem that a good first step in developing abortion policy at the state and congressional level would be to start with a thorough review of the facts about abortion in real time and in real lives.

Daniel Moore: 5:46

There is another element in the abortion debate that has attended this issue across the centuries. It's the question of meaning regarding the right to life. If this is a transcendent right given to humans by the Creator, is that right solely singular? In practice, for example, an expectant mother certainly has the right to life, but does the developing child within her have any right to protection at all? For thousands of years, human societies have recognized the need to provide legal protection to an unborn child in the womb. American law today protects an unborn child from intentional abuse and penalizes the taking of such a life by murder, vehicular homicide and other circumstances. This raises the question does an unborn child in the womb have rights some of the time, but not all of the time? Do those rights expand during the stages of fetal development? Does a fully viable child in the womb have any portion of the right to life.

Daniel Moore: 6:48

This week I have a special guest who had an abortion when she was a teenager. She did it in a deceiving way so that her mom would not know what she was doing. The justice system helped her to accomplish the abortion and she had to live with the trauma and with the guilt and shame of that for many years until God redeemed her and pulled her out of that pit that she had put herself in, thinking that she deserved the wrath of God because she took one of her children's lives. So this week we're going to be talking to Brittany Poppy. She is a speaker and she also does mentoring for abortion recovery. We're going to be talking to her this week here on Connecting the Gap.

Daniel Moore: 7:47

This week on Connecting the Gap podcast, I have a special guest with me and we're going to be talking about a very deep subject and I just hope that you'll sit back and just relax here for about the next 45 minutes or so, however long it takes to get through all of this and share in a story. I have Brittany Poppy on the phone with me today. Welcome, brittany, to Connecting the Gap podcast.

Brittany Poppe: 8:12

Thank you, Daniel, for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

Daniel Moore: 8:16

Well, thank you for accepting the invite and I'm looking forward to hearing your testimony today. And as I've been looking through your website and I read your bio that you have on there, you've been through a lot in your lifetime and as it goes, you know, sometimes we try to make the best choices that we can for ourselves, but sometimes we kind of get off track and we make some choices that we shouldn't make and then later in life we do regret those occasionally and God kind of brings it around full circle. But I'm just so thankful that there's a redemption there for some of those choices that we make that we shouldn't be, that God's always there by our side. And as we get started today, I'm just going to let you share your story and just tell us a little bit about you, and even a little bit about your ministry that you have as well, and we'll go ahead and just get started here with your story of what you've been through here in your lifetime.

Brittany Poppe: 9:15

Yeah for sure. So when I was growing up, I grew up in a loving Christian home with both of my parents, and they really instilled in me this belief in our Savior and that God is good and that everything that he has created is good and that all life is valuable, no matter how life has been conceived. And so I had that foundation growing up where I valued God's principles and family and life and freedom. But I kind of strayed away from that when I turned 15. My dad actually had a terminal illness and he passed away when I was 15 years old.

Brittany Poppe: 10:05

And you know, sometimes when things like that happen to us, we can really just get so much closer to our faith and God.

Brittany Poppe: 10:15

And other times, you know, sometimes we can go away from that. And unfortunately in my case I chose to kind of run from my faith and everything I knew. But I didn't want my mom to know that I was doing that, and so I had started seeing a boy that she had not really approved of, and you know she knew that that was not God's match for me and instead of honoring her and being the person that I had been raised to be, I went in the opposite direction and I began to lie and see this boy behind her back, and so I was one person at home and I was a completely different person outside of the home, and after doing this for about a year and a half, I ended up finding myself in an unplanned pregnancy. For about a year and a half, I ended up finding myself in an unplanned pregnancy, and in that moment I knew that this double life that I had successfully been living for so long could no longer continue, Because you can't hide a pregnancy for very long, and you certainly can't hide a baby.

Daniel Moore: 11:21

Right.

Brittany Poppe: 11:21

And so, you know, I was 17 years old not legally an adult and, quite honestly, mentally not an adult either but I started to devise this wicked scheme of how can I continue to live the life that I want to without any consequences, and I started researching can I have an abortion under the age of 18? And I live in North Dakota. I've grown up here, and so North Dakota is a pretty pro-life state, but we did have one freestanding abortion clinic at the time, and it was in the city in which I live in. And so I came across their website, and what I found was that there is a law in pretty much every single state that has parental notification laws for minors for abortions. There's a law called judicial bypass, and essentially what this law allows is for minors to obtain abortion without parental consent or notification, as long as you meet before a judge and obtain a judge's signature.

Brittany Poppe: 12:33

And so when I came across that information, that was my ticket to believing the lie that I could live my life without any consequences. Believing the lie that I could live my life without any consequences, and so I called that facility and I asked them about it, and they assured me that it was extremely easy for me to do and they helped me make my appointment and they told me that they would drive me to the County courthouse and help me get that signature on the day of my appointment and then I could go and live my life as I normally had been. And unfortunately, I'm talking to you today because I did follow through with that decision. I had so many things that God had placed on my path to really get me to turn around and not continue, get me to turn around and not continue and unfortunately I did not listen to any of those warnings or take any of those opportunities to make a different decision. And so I did. I went and obtained that judge's signature, I went through with the abortion and I continued to live my life, but it was not normal. It, quite honestly, was full of distress and I had just completely become a different person. A couple months after the abortion, my mom did find out about my relationship and I ended up confessing my abortion to her, which just utterly devastated her, because she not only lost a grandchild, but she also had lost her right to be my parent and to keep me from making a decision that was going to ruin my life, to ruin my life. And so, like I said, I lived for many years in this bondage, lots of anger issues, lots of making really poor choices and just continuing to move further and further away from my faith.

Brittany Poppe: 14:41

But somehow, in my mid-20s I ended up, you know, desiring a relationship with God again. But I always felt like there was this caveat, because I had done in my mind the one thing that was unforgivable. And so I thought, because I didn't understand the gospel and I didn't understand God's character, I thought that I had to continue trying to be this really good person and doing all of these good things, trying to win back this love that I had lost from God. And so I threw myself into church. I ended up getting married, and we found out shortly after we got married that we were going to be having our first child together, and there was excitement, but there was also a lot of fear, because I didn't feel like I deserved to have children, since I had ended the life of the first child that the Lord had given me.

Brittany Poppe: 15:41

And so, three hours after my daughter was born, I started to experience a postpartum hemorrhage. My nurse had come in to check how everything was going and, before I knew it, the entire room was flooded with medical personnel shouting orders, my doctor, you know, kind of taking the reins, and they were all trying to get my bleeding to stop. And I remember in that moment, thinking that I was about to experience the punishment that I had been waiting so many years to experience, and I really firmly believe that I was going to die that day and I wasn't going to get to go home with my husband and our baby. And you know, by the grace of God, my medical team stopped my bleeding. They were able to help me recover without really too many major medical interventions, but I was far from okay.

Brittany Poppe: 16:37

I went home and just it went through this deep, dark valley of depression and anxiety. I would have these intrusive thoughts that something was going to happen to my child and I was going to be the reason why, and she didn't deserve to have me as a mom, she deserved someone so much better. And I honestly wished death upon myself every single day. And it was really hard on my husband because he wanted to help me, but he didn't understand why it was so bad, because that undealt with shame and guilt that I had was really making this even worse.

Brittany Poppe: 17:26

Um, eventually I kind of came out of that dark period of my life, but I still was far from healed and um had decided that I would just not have any more children. Uh, frankly, I didn't believe I deserved to have more children. So many women struggle with infertility and I wasn't struggling with that and I felt like I didn't deserve those gifts that God was giving me. Uh, but he did bless me with another child, and I had another postpartum hemorrhage after he was born too, and I just knew that I couldn't. I had to be a better mom. I couldn't have my young children being raised by me when I was so mentally unstable and unhealthy.

Brittany Poppe: 18:07

And so I reached out to a friend of mine, who I am so blessed to have as a mentor now. She actually counseled me when I was 17, post-abortion, and I just wasn't ready for that at that time. But we'd stayed connected and so I reached out to her and I posed it as offering to help her with her ministry. But she knew that I needed to be healed first, and so she also had had an abortion. So I knew I could trust her and God's timing was perfect.

Brittany Poppe: 18:44

So I knew I could trust her and God's timing was perfect. They were going to be leading a forgiven and set free Bible study that very next week and she invited me to join and I did. And that's where I learned that I didn't have to try to just, you know, win God's love back, because it never left. I'd always. He'd always loved me I. He grieved for what I had done. What I had done saddened him terribly, but that didn't mean he didn't love me, and I learned what the gospel truly means and that my sin, though great, was definitely not as great as his love and forgiveness for me when I came to repentance. And that's where I am today.

Daniel Moore: 19:29

And you said a couple of things that I want to bring up here. You mentioned that when you had the abortion, that your mother was upset because she lost a grandchild, and I think a lot of times, in our own selfish way, we always think of ourselves, so we're like. You know, this is my thing, and if I'm going to have some retribution it's going to be on me. You know it's. You don't never think about anybody else around you, but in all reality, you're not just hurting yourself. When you're in a family unit, whether you have a mom or a dad or brothers, sisters, grandparents, whatever it may be, when you make a decision and a choice such as what you've made there, at that point in time, that actually affects the whole family unit.

Brittany Poppe: 20:14

Exactly. I did not think about the fact that it wasn't just me, it was. You know, that child had a father. That child had grandparents, two sets of grandparents uncles, aunts. All of those people will grieve now a loss of a child that they never got to meet because of a choice I made.

Daniel Moore: 20:38

Did you experience any I don't want to say hatred, but from your other family members? Do you think that that created maybe a chasm between you and some of them for a short period of time, or was they sympathetic towards your situation? You know, after they found out about all of it, did you feel like there was some division there? How did you think that came out when you told them?

Brittany Poppe: 21:01

I love that question. At the time my mom was actually the only one who I told in my immediate family and we kept it a secret for a very long time, so she was the only person that knew and she never met me with any anger. I think it was just she was just so incredibly devastated for so many reasons, um, and saw that the pain that I was going through. I think she knew when she would see me in years just make these terrible decisions and, just you know, struggling mentally. I think she knew why and, uh, you know, she never met me with any anger.

Brittany Poppe: 21:44

Now that I do speak publicly about my experience, I do have a majority of my family does know. I do have one grandparent who still does not know. Just, you know her health isn't the greatest and so I want to kind of protect her from that. But I have had some family members who I um, I I believe they want to reach out and love, but I do think it has hurt them. Uh, I have um a family member particularly who has struggled with miscarriage, um, two devastating miscarriages, and I think that there's a lot of um, uh, disdain there for how could I do something like that, which I understand that feeling. I don't know the pain of miscarriage. I can only imagine how painful and devastating that is. So I do understand that. But other than that, most in my life that know that are close to me are very compassionate. In my life that know that are close to me are very compassionate and it's actually helped.

Daniel Moore: 22:50

I think some people in my life understand the true cost of abortion? Yeah, and I do know people personally that have mentioned before that. Well, let me put it this way I know people personally right now that can't have kids okay, and so whenever they see someone that purposefully does take a child's life, I've heard the comments that's been made and so I totally understand. That's one reason I asked you that question, because I have actually been in that situation before where I've actually— they weren't even related to these people, but just the mindset that they had because they've been trying to have kids for so long and, for whatever reason, they just it's not happened. But yet other people have kids and they'll abort one and they'll just keep you know having several more, and it's like you know they don't understand that. And to me it's always amazing how the Planned Parenthoods and the places that help with abortions and that kind of thing, how they're always just so helpful just to make sure that you get what you need. We'll give you a ride, we'll do whatever we have to to get you to this place.

Daniel Moore: 23:54

And one of the statistics that I have here I've got a study that I'd mentioned to you here before we started. It's with the American Policy Roundtable. One of the things that they put into this study was who is choosing abortion in America, and they put it in here by age group and it really kind of surprised me. The age group of 15 to 19,. About 8.2% of abortions are within that age range. Now I know that you've been around people, obviously that, since you're mentoring and you are a public speaker and that kind of thing with the abortion how many of those? Because if they are 15 or 16, 17 years old, do you see people being deceiving, like you were as well, or do you see the parents in some cases help, going ahead and helping with that and being OK with it? What do you think with what that age group is really going on in that aspect?

Brittany Poppe: 24:48

Yeah, I definitely think there's a mix of that. I've seen it where there are young girls who go to maybe their school nurse or their school counselor and they help them go through what I went through, which is the judicial bypass, so no parent involvement, and we even have some states in our nation where, I mean, there's no laws around that at all, so you don't even have to jump through the judge hoop there. But I have met many women who it is heartbreaking where they maybe didn't want the abortion when they were a teenager, but their parents actually helped them and told them that that's what they were going to do, which is, you know, every situation. It's heartbreaking, but my heart breaks for them when they would have otherwise wanted to keep their child and the person who's supposed to protect you helps you go through that.

Daniel Moore: 25:51

Right, and of course it's no surprise. The biggest percentage of abortions happen with 20 to 29 year olds.

Daniel Moore: 25:57

That's about a 57 percent range is what they came up with in this study. It's about a 57% range is what they came up with in this study. So it's, you know that's right. In those years where they might still be single and just not ready to, you know it's going to be a disruption in their life or whatever the excuses may be that they put out there. So, as Christians and as people that are coming in from the outside, they come into a situation like this that you've been through.

Daniel Moore: 26:23

It's real easy to be judgmental, it's real easy to not understand. You know, I'm a guy, so I obviously do not understand it from the female side, because there's a total different situation there. And it's real easy for me, you know, when I see all these people you know out, just you know, pushing for abortions, wanting to make it accessible to anybody and everybody, because everybody needs it and whatever. The thing that's going through my mind is well, we know how these kids are created, so why don't we go to the base, to the root of this problem? You know, if the other things hadn't happened first, then there wouldn't be a pregnancy involved.

Daniel Moore: 27:02

Things hadn't happened first, then there wouldn't be a pregnancy involved. And so it's real easy to get judgmental to an extent and maybe say things that we shouldn't when someone might be hurting and looking for some help. So, with your second point, how do pro-life Christians you know, how can we break that stigma and extend compassion to women who have had those abortions? How should we approach that, as people that are, you know, might be judgmental in nature, that we don't want to be? What's the best way to approach that with someone that's in this situation?

Brittany Poppe: 27:31

Yeah, I think it's important and it's hard to do, but I think it's so important to lead with grace because we know that God has so much grace for us. Every single one of us is a sinner saved by grace through faith, and so just really understanding that, we do need to be sharing what abortion is, and we absolutely need to be sharing the truth, because we're not going to make a difference if we don't explicitly talk about what abortion is. What it does it is the ending of a life, of an unborn child, but God forgives those who have done this. And just you know, in any talking point, if you're ever in a conversation where abortion comes up and you're kind of seeing it go towards more, these women are murderers, or you know some of those derogatory statements where it's not necessarily that they're untrue. We, more so, though, need to understand that God changes labels and he rewrites stories and he can for the women who do make that decision.

Brittany Poppe: 28:38

And so I would say, anytime you're in a conversation with other pro-life Christians and it starts to kind of go in that direction, I would just, you know, you never know in any group of people that you're in who might be silently grieving from their abortion, one in four women will have had at least one abortion by the age of 45.

Brittany Poppe: 29:00

And abortion knows no stigma. If you listened to me at the beginning of our conversation, I grew up in a Christian home where life was respected and valued and I knew that God was the creator of life. And yet I still, when I was in a spirit, I led with a spirit of fear and chose something that I knew was gravely wrong. And so when we look at women who have abortions, they don't fit a stigma, they don't fit a certain profile, and so just knowing that in any situation you're in, there is most likely somebody who has been involved in an abortion, and so just making sure to share that gospel piece where that sin is forgivable and can be washed clean by Jesus, so that's what I would say in that situation.

Daniel Moore: 29:54

And that's some good advice. It's a difficult situation when you come up. You know, when you're put into a situation like this, it's a very personal issue. It's not just like a superficial type of thing that we would just come across each and every day. You know, have an argument with somebody or whatever. It may be that we're trying to fix little things here and there. You know that's not really all that big.

Daniel Moore: 30:17

When it comes to an abortion, or even, you know, thinking about having one, that's a very personal thing and it is. It's a matter of life and death. And with us we actually have a granddaughter that was born with hydrocephalus. There was just all this stuff that every time he went to a doctor appointment it just got piled on deeper and deeper and they just painted a huge picture of something horrible, you know, and that's a lot to take in, that's a lot to digest. When you're sitting there thinking about all, even us as grandparents in law, they would, you know, ask some questions and you could tell they were trying to make this choice and it's like the only thing I could say was is choose life. We've got to give this baby a chance. That was the thing that we encouraged them and they did. They went ahead and allowed her to go ahead and be born and she's almost five years old now. She's just a walking miracle and she had no brain when she was born. They showed us the scan, but God has given her almost three-fourths of her brain at this point. They did another scan within the first year of her being born and he had actually created a brain in there.

Daniel Moore: 31:34

And, yes, I know every situation doesn't end up that way. I totally understand that, and there can be a degree of someone, you know, getting a little bit of jealousy even there, because, if you know, another couple had a baby in that situation and it did die. You know that just creates a whole lot of questions, you know, and so it's really tough when you're, you know, put into situations like that, trying to help people and speak life into them and try to keep them focused on God through that whole time instead of everything that's happening to them. Personally, I know you talked a little bit about how you've had to walk this path of feeling like you couldn't be forgiven, and you have walked this path of just, you know, beating yourself up and everything that you went through all of those years thinking, and I think you made a key point.

Daniel Moore: 32:26

There's a lot of things that we go through sometimes, whether if it's divorce or if it's this abortion, any huge life change situation. Somebody usually comes out of that feeling like that they deserve anything. They get after that. If something bad happens to them, well, I deserve that because you know I caused this or I caused that, and that's something that I know people deal with, even with divorces and other kinds of things like that, and so I can understand when you say that you were sitting there waiting for God to come back and, just you know, give you what you deserved and let you have it. How did you—I know you used a little bit of some counseling from someone else If someone is walking through that right now and they're, just you know, waiting, looking around the corner, waiting for God to strike, what would you say to that person, to the point to where you were back then and where you're at today? What would you tell them that they need to do to get past that feeling and understand that God does love them?

Brittany Poppe: 33:31

I love that question, you know. I think the short answer would be to open up God's Word and directly hear from Him, because when we hear, when we listen to certain things that we think that God believes or that God feels towards us, we can come up with all sorts of things, but they likely aren't in his word. When I went through that Bible study, a big focus was on the story of King David and more specifically him and Bathsheba, and we really dove into the implications of David's sin, because there were multiple sins there adultery and murder and we looked at, you know, yes, david's son with Bathsheba did pass away, um, but look at how God never left David.

Brittany Poppe: 34:28

He never left him at all during that entire time and he blessed David. I mean, we look to David, the story of David, so many aspects for so many things, um, when we're studying his word and we can I mean, david wrote a majority of the book of Psalms and we can just see, you know they, he's called a man after God's own heart for a reason, and just seeing how God met him, where he was at, and still loved him, even though and you know, there's so many different places in God's word that we can see that too. Another one that really has brought me comfort and a lot of women I work with comfort is, you know, paul. I mean, look at who Paul was before God met him and began to use him. And all of these people that God used all have pasts, and that doesn't mean, even though you have a past, that God can't use you to.

Daniel Moore: 35:30

Right, what would you say to someone that they're being told right now that if they get an abortion that it's completely safe, nothing can happen? It's just a simple procedure. You know, we're right there with you the whole time. We're going to hold your hand, whatever they may be trying to pump into them, because this is usually what happens whenever someone shows an interest in that and they get into these clinics and that kind of thing. It's all a pretty story that they paint. What do you?

Brittany Poppe: 36:10

tell to someone right now that might be in that decision point of making this decision one way or the other, and they're being told all of these lies. So this morning, actually in my reading, I was reading in the beginning of Genesis when Eve and then Adam are deceived by Satan, and I read of how she tells him I can't eat from that tree. God, you know God had said not to do that. And he goes well, you will not surely die, and paints this, you know, picture of this promise of what them doing from eating from that tree will give them and how amazing it will be. And then we find, or they find, it was not so amazing and they should have listened to God in the first place.

Brittany Poppe: 36:54

And I see so much of that in the abortion industry because they are selling women this promise of empowerment and you know they say it's because of bodily autonomy and all of these things, when in reality I wouldn't be talking to you today if there weren't women struggling with making this decision about how horrible their life is afterwards.

Brittany Poppe: 37:24

You know, my story is not a lie. My life quite literally spiraled out of control because of this decision and I can't help but wonder if I would have chosen life, what would my life would have looked? What would it have looked like? It would have looked so much better because it would have been while my baby was not conceived in God's design. My baby was created by God and if I would have chosen life for him, my life would not have spiraled out of control like it did, going against what he created. And so I would just say that I would not believe all of these false promises because, you know, while some women may listen to this and say, well, I don't regret my decision, you know I'm not here to condemn anybody, but there are an overwhelming amount of people who are struggling with this silently and never share, because they did believe a lie and never share because they did believe a lie.

Daniel Moore: 38:29

Yeah, and some of the top five reasons that women give for seeking abortions. I have them here. One of them is the baby would dramatically change my life. Second, can't afford a baby. Third, don't want to be a single mom or have a relationship problems. Fourth, have completed childbearing, don't want anymore after they've already had some. Or the fifth is not ready for another child. That's the five that they came up with here in the study. A lot of that to me kind of points back to self.

Daniel Moore: 38:57

I think you know every one of those is just, they're kind of. It really shows how selfish people are, which that is our nature, just like you were talking about Adam and Eve. You know, with the sins that happened there in the garden, those sins that Satan tempted them with there in the garden in a roundabout way, all of that came back to self. And you know, whenever I see things like this and of course this is pretty common in today's society, it is a very selfish society that we live in. But you know, they have the pill now and they have the surgical type of abortion, and do you see that one of those or the other is becoming more popular? One of those or the other is becoming more popular. I know the pill is starting to be pushed a lot more in a lot of states that are kind of against the actual abortion procedure. What do you have as far as those two types of abortion go?

Brittany Poppe: 40:00

Yeah, so the abortion pill is.

Brittany Poppe: 40:03

I believe over half of abortions happening right now are happening through the abortion pill.

Brittany Poppe: 40:11

That pill is extremely dangerous and it is easily accessible in all 50 states, even in states where you know people are saying, well, abortion is illegal, there is no abortion.

Brittany Poppe: 40:24

There absolutely is still abortion because this pill is being mailed in our mailing system.

Brittany Poppe: 40:29

It's women are getting it online through our mailing system, no matter where they are. They are not having to meet with a doctor, they are not having to tell their age, they are not having their pregnancy confirmed, they are not having to report how far along they are or even go in and see a doctor to make sure that they aren't far along. Now, I'm not saying that as saying abortion is okay, even if it's early, but these pills are more and more dangerous the further and further along you are, and they're not even approved for I believe it's after 10 to 13 weeks is where they will not allow you to have an abortion by pill if you're physically going into a clinic, but these women are getting them in the mail and then women are losing their lives or having to go to the emergency room because it is so bad and so these pills are absolutely devastating, but it is the abortion industry's way of staying in business, because they are able to, like I said, mail these pills in all 50 states.

Daniel Moore: 41:39

And it surprises me that I know when I have something wrong with me medically, I want to see a doctor. I can't imagine doing something like taking that pill and letting that pill cause an abortion, where I pass the baby and everything in the privacy of my home, thinking that everything's going to be okay. To me, that's just a recipe for disaster, in my opinion. To me, that's just a recipe for disaster in my opinion. But it's crazy that you say that over 50 percent. That really shows just how desperate this situation is and shows, kind of, where our society is at at this point. This is election season and we have a lot of states that have a lot of things on the ballot and I've talked to you a little bit about this prior to getting on today. Missouri, where I live at, we are extremely pro-life.

Daniel Moore: 42:30

A lot of our laws that are put into place and everything. I think actually now to get an abortion you have to go out of state, to even get to an abortion clinic. But we have some outside organizations that are pumping millions of dollars into our state and they're trying to get a big amendment passed here in November. And so right now there's 10 states right now that have abortion amendments on the ballot. Two of those are swing states, it's Arizona and Nevada. Then there's some blue-leaning, democratic-type states such as Colorado, maryland and New York, and then of the red-leaning states, the Republican states, we have Florida, missouri, montana, nebraska and South Dakota. Arkansas is the only state that fell short of getting all their signatures that they needed to put it on the ballot.

Daniel Moore: 43:18

Now the only bad thing with I mean one of the bad things with this amendment is it's not just for abortion. They're lumping a whole bunch of evil things into one amendment and they're trying to do abortion, they're trying to do transgender, they're trying to take parental consent away for anything that has to do with the children. And there's 10 points here that this amendment is going to change here in Missouri. Number one parental consent laws are going to be eliminated. Going to change here in Missouri. Number one parental consent laws are going to be eliminated. If a right to abortion is enshrined in the Missouri Constitution, it's going to allow abortions to be performed on pregnant minors without notice or consent from the minor's parents, which I'm assuming.

Brittany Poppe: 43:55

That's going to probably take away that judicial yeah they won't even need to meet with a judge, it'll just be freely available.

Daniel Moore: 44:04

Yeah, just ask for it and you get it. They're going to allow abortion in all nine months, which is absolutely insane. There's no alternatives allowed. The amendment callously disregards the unborn child and the alternatives to sacrificing his or her life in the future while helping the mom. Health and safety standards are going to be eliminated, which that's kind of where we're at with that pill already, because there's a lot of safety issues and health issues that go with that. Missouri's pro-life law is going to be eliminated. Women are going to lose ability to sue for malpractice, which is something that's very important in any situation. Prcs are forced to refer to abortion. That's the pregnancy resource centers. They're going to be forced to refer for abortion. Ultrasounds will be eliminated. There's going to be a significant money loss to Missouri and, of course, us, the good old taxpayers, are going to have to fund all of this, even us people that don't believe in abortion. They're going to take our money and that's where they're going to put it.

Daniel Moore: 45:08

I got a flyer in the mail the other day from the other side of this. It's the people that are pushing for this amendment to be passed, and they made a comment here that just kind of blew my mind. It's basically they put in here that back in 2022, missouri's abortion ban went to effect. There's no exceptions for rape or incest under the law, according to the law, and then offering emergency contraception may place medical personnel or hospitals at legal risk. Well then, if you flip this flyer over, it's in 2024. It's showing how it's going. Since they've enacted all that stuff two years ago. This is how it's going now Missouri abortions ban two years later, women are afraid to be pregnant in Missouri. I'm just like that's really your argument. I'm like, come on, this is.

Daniel Moore: 46:03

It's so crazy, the stuff that they come up with to try to get you know, play on people's emotions and do mind games and all that kind of thing. I sent you a copy of all of these and had you look over them because I wanted you to, you know, just comment a little bit on what your thoughts about. Are you know on this? Because we do have this coming up here in about a month. We're going to make these choices.

Brittany Poppe: 46:42

And I, for one, do not want Missouri to change. I think we're where we need to be and could be even better probably, but I for sure don't want it going backwards. What would you say to the voter out there right now that's reading all of this and trying to make this decision? You know, first and foremost, I feel like it's actually unconstitutional because we all have a freedom of religion and many of us in or I would say, most of us who are Christian would greatly oppose this. And for them to take taxpayers' money uh, oppose this. And for them to take taxpayers money, um, for people who do not believe in this for many reasons, one of them quite possibly being their religion to have to pay for this, um, is, in my mind, unconstitutional. So I don't even know how they can try to get away with this, but of course you know they do. Um, I live, like I said, in North Dakota, so I live right on the border of North Dakota and Minnesota and looking at this, it just makes me think, wow, you guys are going to become Minnesota if this passes, which is like pretty much the abortion capital of our country at the moment, and I just you know it saddens me to see, especially about minors, not only with abortion but also, I'm assuming what they're calling gender-affirming care, would be a part of this, and I think we need to look at it for what it is. First of all, that's not health care and second of all, they are preying on our children because they make money off of it. I just heard a stat yesterday. I don't know if you know who Seth Gruber is, but he's a pretty prominent pro-life activist who knows a lot about this stuff. He has stats memorized. Planned Parenthood's fastest growing revenue stream currently is gender affirming care for minors and it's just so sad to me that they are just so consumed with making all of this money that they are sharing like fear mongering.

Brittany Poppe: 48:43

You know, in sharing what you've said about, women in Missouri are afraid to be pregnant. You know that I feel like that's fear mongering and that's almost brainwashing people into thinking, oh, should I be afraid if I get pregnant? And we see to a lot of people sharing misinformation about you know pro-life laws. Do pro-life laws prevent women from receiving life-saving care in the event of miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy or life of the mother? And we know that all 50 states have laws that protect life of the mother.

Brittany Poppe: 49:19

There is no need to have an abortion to save the life of the mother. That would be birth, and they would do everything they possibly could to save the mother and the child if necessary. But yeah, just looking at this, I would just urge people to really think about what voting for this would entail, and it would not be good. One other thing I would say is pregnancy resource centers are such an amazing thing and I've seen them now in Minnesota be defunded and for a side that says that you know, we, if we're pro-life, we don't care about helping the mom. What happens after birth?

Brittany Poppe: 50:05

These pregnancy resource centers provide so many free resources to these moms who need it Free child care classes, free clothing, free diapers, free formula, and I don't know. You know, I see on here it says that they would be forced to refer for abortion, which again is unconstitutional. Many of these places do operate on a basis of faith, but they help every, every mom that needs it, and I would hate to see for them to then also be defunded because of this.

Daniel Moore: 50:38

Right, yeah, we did have a judge when they first put this out a judge, he knocked it down. He said exactly what you were saying. He said for one thing, it doesn't tell all of the hundreds of laws and amendments that are there that this is going to erase. And he felt it was very deceiving because the people, when they come in to do the voting, all they're seeing is what's written on that piece of paper, that's it. And if they don't do their research, they they come in to do the voting, all they're seeing is what's written on that piece of paper, that's it. And if they don't do their research, they're not going to understand what that one amendment that they're passing, how many hundreds of others from the past that they are unraveling and you know, doing away with? And so they sent it back to look at it a little bit deeper with the Supreme Court here in Missouri, and they ended up putting it right back.

Daniel Moore: 51:25

We were shocked. We couldn't believe that, because we felt the same way the judge did. We're like there's no way that this isn't deceptive. I mean, they're just trying to deceive their way into getting all this passed. So we're just praying that. You know, god knows, he knows exactly what's going to come out of this, and we're just depending on Him to keep this where it's at, and we're just praying for some good results out of this. So well, we're getting close here to our time frame. I do want to thank you for talking with us this week, brittany, about everything that you've got going on, if you would. About everything that you've got going on If you would. I know you have a website and there's a lot of resources on there.

Daniel Moore: 52:08

You do speaking engagements and you do mentoring. Just give us a little roundup here of everything that you offer and how we can contact you if somebody wants to contact. If you do the speaking engagements, how far do you go away to do that kind of thing? Just give us a little bit of that information here as we close up today.

Brittany Poppe: 52:27

Yeah, absolutely so. I do speak in a couple of different arenas. I speak with a panel of women. We mostly have been speaking in the North Dakota, minnesota and I think even South Dakota areas. But you know, obviously we allow God to kind of lead us where he wants us, and so we all share our stories of how God delivered us from our guilt, from abortion. And then I do some speaking on my own as well. I've only been doing this for a couple of years and more recently kind of branching out. So again, I just kind of go where God tells me to go with that.

Brittany Poppe: 53:08

But if you are listening to this and you'd like to get in touch with me, you can go to my website, which is Brittany poppycom, or send me an email which would be at hello at Brittany poppycom. And I do also offer help for women who are struggling with that shame and guilt. And I do that also in a few ways. I do some one-on-one mentoring with these women which is like peer counseling and just, you know, helping them feel less alone and really giving them that tangible and tactical help really to to heal from that grief that they're feeling. And then I also help facilitate some healing retreats with Forgiven and Set Free ND. And then, of course, there's my podcast, which is a really great option for you know it's geared towards women who are struggling with shame and guilt from past abortion, but I do think it is useful for anybody who wants to learn more about the abortion issue and how to come alongside those that are grieving with guilt and shame from that past decision.

Daniel Moore: 54:21

Yes, and I'll put all this stuff in the show notes as well, so that way, you know, sometimes we're trying to write all that stuff down. It's a little difficult while you're talking, so I'll put that in the show notes. That way anybody can come back at any time and access any of that and make sure they spell your name right and all that good stuff. So it does have a little bit different spelling, so we'll put all that there and that way anybody that wants to contact you and take part in the ministries that you offer there, they'll be able to do that.

Daniel Moore: 54:50

So well, brittany, I pray that God will just continue to bless your ministry and everything that you're doing. I think that you're doing an awesome thing for the kingdom and as I look at all the things that you do, it looks like you're a pretty busy person. So I just pray that God gives you the endurance and the strength to keep doing that. And, once again, I do appreciate you being on our podcast today and I pray for God's blessings to be over you and your family.

Brittany Poppe: 55:18

Thank you so, so much for having me, Daniel. It was. I really, really enjoyed this conversation and I just pray it will help somebody.

Daniel Moore: 55:26

Yes, thank you so much. Well, I hope that you enjoyed this week's episode, hope it was very informative to you. If you know of anyone that struggles with this abortion issue, whether if they are in the process of trying to decide if they want to have one, or if they have had one and are fighting these feelings inside of them that of their worthiness and the shame and all of the things that they're dealing with now after they have actually done this I hope that this week's episode, that something that Brittany has shared, will maybe shed some light on some ways that that can be taken care of. Of course, we know that all of the roots of all of these things to do with abortion and that whole issue is very satanic. So the only way really to approach this is through the lens of God's Word and to bring God right to the middle of this and, as we've discussed today, he can redeem you. Even when you've done something like having an abortion. There is forgiveness for that sin. So I just want to thank Brittany for coming on today and sharing her testimony, everything that she's been through. She's been through a lot and I hope today that this discussion that we've had will help you to grow in your walk with Christ, if you've been through the same thing that she's going through or if you're actually just starting into this journey.

Daniel Moore: 56:46

She does have some information on her website at britneypoppycom, and, again, all of those links are going to be in our show notes. Well, that's going to be it for this week's episode. I'm Daniel Moore. Thank you guys for listening. This show really wouldn't be possible without you. If you're a fan of the show, please leave a review on Apple Podcast and please subscribe to us on your favorite platform. The links for all of our platforms are in the show notes. Well, that's all for this week, and we believe that God's Word never fails us. God's Word has stood the test of time and, through Jesus' death on the cross, he has connected the gap.

Aria: 57:38

You've been listening to Connecting the Gap and encourage each other to connect the gap. We upload a new audio podcast every Thursday and a video version of it on YouTube and Rumble. We are also on the Christian podcasting app, edify. You can subscribe to our podcast on many of the available podcasting platforms, including Apple Podcast, spotify, amazon Music, iheart Radio, tunein Radio and more. We are also available on your Alexa-enabled devices. If you would like to contact our ministry for any reason, visit our contact page and send us a message. We hope you are blessed by this ministry. This is a production of Connecting the Gap Ministries.