Healing the Abortion-Wounded Heart: Jacque's StoryHealing the Abortion-Wounded Heart: Jacque's Story
Crossroads with Jenny Bushkell
Jenny Bushkell talks with Jackie (Jacque) Murphy about the deep shame and long-term impact of a past abortion and how a Deeper Still retreat transformed her life. Their conversation highlights faith-based healing, generational change, and the support available for men and women carrying abortion-related pain.
25:02•9 Jul 2026
Healing Shame After Abortion: Jackie’s Journey and the Hope of Deeper Still
Episode Overview
- Abortion can affect many areas of life over decades, including marriage, parenting, and emotional health, even when the event is rarely spoken about.
- Deeper Still offers free, Christ-centred weekend retreats for men and women of all ages to address abortion-related grief and shame.
- Jackie describes how shame after her abortion silenced her, making it difficult to express love to her husband and children until a retreat brought lasting change.
- The ministry has grown to 34 chapters across the United States and international locations through people who experienced change and wanted it in their own communities.
- Jenny connects Jackie's story with wider experiences of recovery, including life after an alcoholic marriage, showing that Jesus can meet people in many kinds of brokenness.
“Jesus walked in that room and shattered the chains of shame that silenced me so long ago, and the stranglehold the enemy had on my voice was forever broken.”
What makes a recovery story truly inspiring? For many, it's hearing someone speak honestly about shame, secrets, and the kind of freedom they never thought they could have. This conversation on *Crossroads with Jenny Bushkell* focuses on healing from a past abortion, but anyone carrying hidden regret or guilt is likely to feel seen. Jenny chats with her friend Jackie Murphy, executive director of the Knoxville chapter of Deeper Still, a Christian ministry offering free weekend retreats for abortion-wounded hearts.
Jackie shares how abortion can affect far more than people expect – parenting, marriage, emotional health, even the ability to say "I love you". She explains, "Our whole parenting is affected. Our marriages are affected… this is what's on God's heart, to heal this wounded heart." Jackie tells her own story of becoming pregnant at 16, choosing abortion, and then living for years under a harsh internal message of "thou shall not kill".
She describes how shame stole her voice, made it hard to show love to her husband and children, and left part of her heart "dead and numb".
The turning point came at a Deeper Still retreat in 2011, where, in her words, "Jesus walked in that room and shattered the chains of shame that silenced me so long ago." The episode also outlines how Deeper Still grew from one local retreat into 34 chapters across the United States and international outreach, with retreats for both women and men of all ages – from teenagers to people in their nineties.
Jenny briefly mentions her own journey through an alcoholic marriage and recovery, tying Jackie's experience to wider issues of addiction, trauma, and long-held secrets. If you've had an abortion, know someone who has, or you’re wrestling with any heavy past decision, this honest, faith-focused conversation offers hope, practical help through retreats, and a reminder that shame doesn't get the final word. What might change if you believed you really weren't alone?
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