News reports and controversy this spring surrounding the U.S Supreme Court’s upcoming abortion decision are likely impacting women and men who feel regret because of abortion, according to Fe Mahler, president and board chair of Twin Cities Rachel’s Vineyard, a Spring Lake Park ministry offering faith-based healing retreats for those who have lost a child to abortion.

“What’s going on is a trigger, a reminder of their regret,” said Mahler, a parishioner of St. Paul in Ham Lake.

Whatever the court decides in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, the ministry hopes to reach more people who need healing after abortion, she said.

The Twin Cities ministry, which began in 1999, is an approved nonprofit site of the international Rachel’s Vineyard, which licenses its retreat model. It uses Scripture, meditations, rituals and group discussion during retreats, Mahler said.

Since 2018, Twin Cities Rachel’s Vineyard has received annual funding from the Catholic Services Appeal of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

“In general, abortion is an isolating experience,” she said. “It’s not something people feel they can talk about. People often do suffer in silence, and they suffer for a very, very long time.”

It’s hard to say whether a court decision shifting the question of abortion’s legality to the states would make abortion less acceptable and protect more women from its harms, because each person’s experience is different, Mahler said.

“The grief and shame that people experience is very deep, painful and long lasting, whether they experienced their abortion before or after Roe v. Wade passed in 1973,” she said.

If the case is overturned, some will be impacted and hopefully those who are suffering can find help through a post-abortion ministry such as Rachel’s Vineyard, which last year offered four retreats for women and men, she said.

“Jesus is calling us back,” Mahler said. “He’s calling all these individuals wounded by abortion. He’s calling for forgiveness and healing.”