Local Woman found Peace Being ‘Silent No More’ About Past Abortion by Denis Grasska, Southern Cross, August, 2009
SAN DIEGO – In the late 1970s, Leslie Brunolli had an unplanned pregnancy.
As a 22-year-old college student, she simply “wanted out of the situation,” and she sought a means of escape at Planned Parenthood.
In terms of dollars and cents, her abortion cost only $95. But the procedure exacted a terrible emotional cost, which remains unpaid three decades later.
Still, while she continues to grieve for her lost child, Brunolli is no longer wracked with guilt. She found healing by sharing her story, and she urges others to do the same, breaking their silence about a painful experience “so shrouded in secrecy, shame and guilt.”
“Planned Parenthood knows that when a woman goes in to have an abortion, most likely … she will never talk about what happened,” Brunolli said. “We want to get women and men to share what happens to them, so we can really tell the story of what abortion is."
"It didn’t help us," she added. "It hurt us.”
Brunolli, a member of St. Mary Parish in Escondido , serves as San Diego regional coordinator of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign.
A project of Anglicans for Life and Priests for Life, the campaign seeks to expose the long-lasting and harmful effects of abortion – physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual. It accomplishes this task by inviting those who regret their abortions to share their stories publicly at churches and other public venues. The campaign also educates the general public about the harm caused by abortion and connects post-abortive women and men with resources that will help them overcome their guilt.
At the time of her abortion, Brunolli had no religious affiliation and subscribed to the pro-choice philosophy. However, after her abortion had been performed, she began to cry and the abortionist’s words – “You’ll be okay, tiger” – provided no consolation.
When she left the clinic, she resolved to block that day forever from her memory. But the aftereffects of that abortion rippled through her life.
She dropped out of college and, attempting to purge herself of a painful memory, turned to alcohol.
In 1983, she got married and realized she was pregnant once again. But she could not bear to look at the sonogram and, upon learning that an emergency Caesarean section was necessary, became convinced that an angry God would claim the life of her new child as punishment for her abortion.
Brunolli joined the Catholic Church in the mid-1980s. But she still wrestled with guilt until 2005, when she attended a post-abortion healing retreat sponsored by Rachel’s Hope, a San Diego-based Catholic outreach to those troubled by an experience with abortion.
She would still require therapy to heal the wounds caused by decades of repressed guilt. But she left the retreat certain that she had been forgiven, not only by God but by her aborted child, whom she has named Rebecca.
Today, Brunolli wears a ring with Rebecca’s birthstone and often asks for the child’s intercession in support of her pro-life ministry. She also believes that she and Rebecca one day will meet face-to-face.
Her own abortion experience has made Brunolli passionate about the pro-life cause. She works to spare other women of the pain with which she and so many others have been burdened.
“I just want the truth to be told: that abortion does hurt women,” she said. “They tell you that it doesn’t, [that] it’s a simple procedure and that you can get on with your life. Well, you do momentarily, but you spend your whole life trying to forget it.”
For more information, visit www.silentnomoreawareness.org or contact Leslie Brunolli at (760) 743-3160 or sandiego@silentnomoreawareness.org.