‘You’re not alone’: Lisa Bacchus’ post-abortive story

When Lisa Bacchus was in college, she had her whole life planned out. She was engaged and ready to pursue the life that appeared to be laid out ahead of her. Her life, however, changed as soon as she learned she was pregnant.

“I figured well, we were going to get married anyway. This is just going to speed things up,” Bacchus recalled.

Her fiance at the time was not happy and told her to get an abortion. She says she gave in to the pressure.

“I had a sister, also my drug dealer at the time, took me to Dr. John Moody,” Bacchus said. “He was one of the number one abortionists back in the late 80s and early 90s. And he did his job. I was young and dumb and under a lot of pressure. My own decision, nobody else’s fault. And so I had the abortion.”

The day of the abortion changed Bacchus’ life forever. She became infertile, never able to give birth to her own kids. Infertility was only the physical side effect of her abortion.

“I fell further into drugs,” she said. “There was so much depression and so much self-loathing, which is totally normal for post-abortive women.”

She struggled through the post-abortive fog of depression, self-loathing and drugs until she came upon a pro-life group. She ended up joining the group, going outside of Dr. Moody’s clinic, where she had her abortion, to talk to women. From that day forward, she became a pro-life advocate.

Bacchus’ pro-life advocacy didn’t stop at the doorstop of abortion clinics. She and her husband Ron became parents of two adopted boys, Matthew and Israel.

“My boys are my boys. I forget they are adopted,” Bacchus said. “I have two adopted children from two adoptions. One mother who actually lived with us and one that was in a private adoption.”

Her second son’s mother actually lived with them. And they have continued to have women live with them during their pregnancy, helping them find adoptive parents for the children.

“We were very fortunate over the past years to be able to house women in our own home and just help them see ‘hey there’s help out there, you’re not alone,'” Bacchus said.

Making sure women know they are not alone has become Bacchus’ mission in life. She wants more women to know pro-choice is not the only choice and abortion is not the only option. To fulfill her mission, Bacchus is becoming the director of Westside Pregnancy Center, which is opening soon.

“It’s going to be thrilling to be able to tell women: ‘You’re not alone. Don’t take such a drastic step,” she said.

Westside Pregnancy Center will offer help to pregnant women in need. The center will offer services to help women care for their child while it is still in the womb through medical services as well as providing things needed to care for the child when it is born. It will be located off Sunset Road in west El Paso.

In the meantime, women and families can get help at Guiding Star El Paso, a pro-life women’s health clinic in central El Paso. They offer whole health services such as ultrasounds, pap smears, pre-natal and post-natal care as well as counseling for women. They also offer services for the whole family such as counseling and parenting classes. They are located at 1411 Montana Blvd and are open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.