In the beginning of the pro-life movement, we first messaged our position in terms of saving the lives of the unborn, and rightly so. But the movement realized people needed to know that mothers were also cared for, so pregnancy centers and slogans like “Love Them Both” and “One Dead: One Wounded” started to become popular. Then Abby Johnson gave us fuel to focus on the workers at Planned Parenthood clinics, and the “And Then There Were None” movement was born.
But the doctors themselves, those who actually perform the abortions, can be forgotten. It can be tempting in the face of this atrocity to rule out the doctors. There is no massive movement directed precisely at them. There are many who pray for them, but very privately and often without much hope they will actually change. Doctors seem numb, brutal, and pure evil.
But doctors are human, too. They are broken, desperate, needy humans who want love, who often want to do good, and have been deeply deceived.
I work for one such doctor.
He isn’t an abortionist any longer. He’s a pro-life OBGYN. Transformations like this happen. They are real. And when they do, they are powerful.
In this particular case, Dr. Bruchalski was performing abortions as part of his basic OBGYN medical duties. Unfortunately, abortion has become mainstream in the OBGYN world. But God had not given up on Dr. Bruchalski.
God spoke to Dr. Bruchalski directly, clearly, and audibly.
“WHY ARE YOU HURTING ME?”
Needless to say, anyone who hears the words “Why are you hurting Me?” and thinks it might be from God above will be a little shaken. So Dr. Bruchalski went on a spiritual pilgrimage journey to take time to think. He encountered God as the Father of Life and Christ as the source of forgiveness. He realized abortion was not really helping the poor as he had once mistakenly believed. Instead, Dr. Bruchalski felt called to open a new kind of medical center — Tepeyac Family Center — with three distinct instructions from on High: see the poor daily, practice good medicine, and follow Church teachings in the way you practice.
When God tells you to do something, you do it. The office opened in Dr. Bruchalski’s basement, with his wife keeping the books. Twenty years later, it is now a large and expanding non-profit medical practice in which 30% of its patients are in need of financial assistance. The cost of that assistance is raised through Tepeyac’s parent organization, Divine Mercy Care. Now Dr. Bruchalski is a passionate pro-life advocate day in and day out. Just this week, he was asked about the undercover Planned Parenthood video which has surfaced. “They have to be callous. That’s the only way they can handle what they are doing. I remember that callousness.”
But now with a warm voice, a welcoming practice, and a wonderful vision, no trace of such callousness remains.
Abortion doctors are not beyond hope. As more and more videos come out, and as the brutality continues, pro-lifers must pursue them in prayer and speech, loving them all — babies, mothers, clinic workers, and abortionists.
Find more information about Dr. Bruchalski at www.tepeyacfamilycenter.org or e-mail info@divinemercycare.org.