One thing that, until recently, the left has done very well is use storytelling as a way to connect with people and persuade them to their side. They’re still scarily effective using that technique, but as their stories have become more and more wacky, their stories are not resonating with regular Americans. Regular Americans are looking somewhere, anywhere, for even a smidgen of sanity and goodness — something they can identify and get on board with. We have an incredible opportunity to share our personal stories with our friends and neighbors and even with total strangers when discussing the tough issues facing our society and our country, and bring more people into the conservative fold in the process.

A few weeks ago I was honored to moderate a panel titled “How to be Pro-Life, Pro-Faith, and Pro-America” at Turning Point USA’s Young Women’s Leadership Summit in Dallas, Texas. During that panel, both Megan Basham (of Daily Wire) and I shared personal stories from our families about unintended pregnancies and how the choices made at that time affected both the pregnant woman and her family for generations.

We were joined on the panel by the indomitable Lila Rose, founder of Live Action Network, and attorney and Salem Podcast Network host Jenna Ellis.

I’d briefly told my story a few weeks earlier on Twitter, shortly after the draft opinion in the Dobbs case was leaked.

We cried together, mourning what was lost.

She told me she regretted the abortion almost immediately afterward. It took her nearly 2 decades to forgive herself, but the regret doesn't end.

— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) May 4, 2022

I'm in tears… thank you. I hope so. So many times over the years I've wished my sibling was here… I use "she" b/c I always wanted a sister. As it turns out she would have only been 3 yrs older than my oldest – they would have grown up together.

— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) May 4, 2022

Interestingly, even though in my two-tweet thread I never mentioned anything about wanting to criminalize abortion, many in the pro-abort crowd pounced, accusing me of wanting to have women die in back alleys with coat hangers between their legs. In my opinion, the reason that crowd reacts so viscerally to heartfelt pro-life stories is because it’s not natural for a woman to be okay with killing their own child, a little independent and unique person who’s literally part of them. In order to maintain that veneer of acceptance, they must destroy that humanity inside of them.

What was both heartbreaking and eye-opening were the number of comments from women and men with whom I’ve been “Twitter friends” years, sharing that they’ve faced the same pain, depression, shame, and not being able to forgive themselves. Some of them had particularly brutal stories of being manipulated or coerced into having an abortion against their wishes by a partner or medical providers. While painful, they said that hearing my family’s story helped them not feel so alone, and being heard with compassion helped them find a bit of healing and peace. They also agreed that the abortion industry severely downplays or outright denies the negative mental health effects resulting from abortion, so they’d found it difficult to find the right counseling to help them move forward.

After we all introduced ourselves, Megan and I shared our families’ stories with the ladies and how they can use stories like ours — and their own personal stories — to share a message of hope and redemption with women who have had abortions, and just as importantly, to give women dealing with an unplanned pregnancy a different perspective and the resources to help them choose life.