Today we’d like to introduce you to Sheila Harper.
Hi Sheila, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
When I was 19 I had an abortion. It was one of the greatest life-altering and horrific moments of my life. I spent the next 7 years abusing drugs, alcohol, and I even attempted suicide. When I finally found help, it was through a local womens center who advertised “abortion recovery.” I had no idea what that meant, but I knew I needed help. I went through their faith-based study and it changed my life. I was able to work through the grief of the abortion, and I knew instantly I wanted to help others who may have faced the same challenges I had faced after abortion.
I started teaching their study, and got addicted to seeing peoples lives change when they realized they could work through the difficult and often debilitating emotions and reactions to reproductive loss. Not long after I started the non-profit SaveOne and dedicated my life to helping people recover after abortion.
We have since branched out to helping men, women, and families through abortion recovery, as well as sexual trauma recovery, and miscarriage recovery. It is our hope to bring life-giving resources to communities, churches, women’s centers, and other non-profits.
We just celebrated 25 years. On average we have 5-6 people per day 7 days a week engaging with our resources. It’s been incredible. God has blessed us.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Absolutely not.
A woman I trusted in the very beginning who I believed was my mentor was actually going behind my back to sabotage the vision of the organization. She turned half of the board at the time against me and I almost lost the entire non-profit. It was a horrible moment for me personally, but it helped me step up and lead and defend. In the end it forced me into leadership and knowing I need to take the reins fully and lead. She and half of the board resigned and it was hard, painful, but was actually one of the best things that could have happened to us.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We specialize in abortion recovery through offering a compassionate response not a political, judgmental response. We don’t believe we will ever come to any agreements by screaming and yelling at each other, but rather through love and acceptance of the choices we’ve made.
I’m most proud of the moment when we talk to a man or woman and they realize they can be forgiven, they can forgive themselves and they don’t have to live under the oppressive judgement of their own minds anymore. Then, when they realize their story can be used for good, is absolutely beautiful!
What sets us apart from others is that we focus on LIFE, not abortion. We focus on compassion, not politics.
What are your plans for the future?
We have some pretty audacious goals to start many chapters over the next 5 years. Even though we are the largest protestant abortion recovery organization in the world, we aren’t even scratching the surface of the numbers of people who need help.
We recently purchased the building we are in and paid it off so that was a huge change for us!
Pricing:
- $15 are the costs of our books
- $89 for our streaming training videos
Contact Info:
- Website: https://saveone.org
- Instagram: saveone_1
- Facebook: SaveOne
- Youtube: saveoneinfo
- Other: LOVE LIFE podcast
