It wouldn’t be a stretch to call Pat Layton a trailblazer in the abortion healing movement. Layton has successfully created facilities, organizations, and programs. She has opened doors for the entire industry, enabling the message for healing to be shared on a much larger scale. And Layton continues to lead others in the movement and mission of Support After Abortion to build and strengthen abortion healing worldwide.
New Life
After receiving healing from her abortion, Layton went into the world with a fiery passion for helping women, men, and families much like herself. Called to help others heal from the heartbreak of abortion, she used her funds to open a crisis pregnancy center in the Tampa metropolitan area. Because networks like Support After Abortion didn’t exist 32 years ago, the healing industry wasn’t yet a connected network. While resources may have been available, with no communication between centers and organizations, many were left with little to no support.
Layton created the curriculum Surrendering the Secret after the Biblical healing she had received and began implementing it at her center, A Woman’s Place.* The center grew to become one of the largest resource centers in America and a center that other pregnancy centers looked to for modeling their standard of excellence. As Layton’s center grew, so did the demand for her new curriculum. Twenty years into her facilitation of the Surrendering the Secret, Lifeway, the largest publisher of Christian content in the world, sought her out for publishing. With this new development, the Surrendering the Secret organization was born, and doors began to blast open for abortion healing.
New opportunities
According to Layton, “Lifeway’s involvement and publication of the curriculum gave instant credibility within the church. It opened doors for it being okay to talk about abortion.” Lifeway took an in-house curriculum to a global platform. It multiplied the potential impact of one center and sold some 70,000 copies worldwide. Now over 70,000 women, men, and families have experienced healing.
And now, with the establishment of Support After Abortion, an organization that aims to link independent ministries and organizations focused on abortion healing, the impact of resources like Layton’s know no bounds. Ministries and organizations are connected to a larger network. Those working within the industry can connect through Support After Abortion’s Virtual Conferences. They can learn of the resources available and choose what works best for their clients on an individual, options-based basis.Guidance
An entire chapter of Surrendering the Secret centers on sharing your story because Layton believes our stories are impactful. She references Revelation 12:11, “And they triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony;” Layton emphasizes the need to be free and healed so that we can set others free. When we can share our story across the generations, we make way for generational healing. We change the trajectory of the future.
Layton has developed training on how to share your story. She shares the experience of attending a pro-life movement and witnessing the testimony of a woman who spewed hate. To leave a positive impact, Layton helps others to share their story from a place of healing. She guides how to share stories in written or spoken format with a compassionate lens that prompts others to want the same kind of healing for themselves. To date, Layton and her organization have trained over 4,000 leaders worldwide. While she does do some training in person, much of her work is done on a virtual platform.
The future of abortion healing
Just as the vision of Support After Abortion is to build and strengthen abortion healing worldwide, Layton has a similar vision for her organization for the year 2021. While her organization’s “Share Your Light” campaign impacts them directly, it also impacts the abortion healing industry at large. With a goal to equip 1000 churches with the leadership materials for Surrendering the Secret, imagine the healing possible. Imagine the sheer number of people that can be reached and healed through support after abortion. To learn more about the campaign, click here.
If you are struggling after abortion, we are here to help. Contact us.
*The center has since been renamed New Life Solutions and houses both a medical unit and an adoption agency.