Opinion

Normal?

A pro-choice organization has launched a campaign that attempts to “normalize” abortion. When looking at their abortion testimonies, however, the website ignores much of the true normal.

My Abortion, My Life is a new, Cleveland-based ad campaign wanting people to speak out about their abortions.  In their own words:

“My Abortion, My Life is a public awareness campaign to end the silence and shame surrounding abortion. Our goal is to promote a new dialogue, one that shifts the conversation from the rhetorical to the experiential, from the language of politics to the language of real women and men. Only through sharing our truths about abortion can we truly support women’s full range of reproductive options.”

Though I fully disagree with the ideology fueling this campaign (the campaign is headed by a 2nd-trimester abortion clinic), we have one thing in common: a desire to share the stories of those affected by abortion.  When one looks at the stories on My Abortion, My Life’s website, however, they only show a small portion of the picture.

This week I was able to talk with a high school student who had an abortion at age 16.  She was struggling with regret during the day and haunted by abortion-related nightmares at night.  Though this girl is now seeking counseling to help cope with her past, her symptoms were nothing unique.  In fact, the Elliot Institute reports that women who abort have a 65% higher risk of clinical depression and are 6 to 7 times more likely to commit suicide than delivering women.

Despite these troubling statistics, story after story on My Abortion, My Life highlights lives with “No regrets!”, but no stories are shared by the women who regret their abortions.  If My Abortion, My Life really wishes to share the true stories of abortion, why are they ignoring the large percentage of women who live in pain at the loss of their child?

My Abortion, My Life isn’t the only group ignoring the deep pain that can be caused by abortion.  Though abortion-giant Planned Parenthood admits “some” women feel regret for a little while, their abortion information webpage states:

“Ultimately, most women feel relief after an abortion.”

Why are organizations that claim to support women brushing aside the devastating impacts of abortion? “Relief” doesn’t usually result in depression — or, for that matter, spending one’s day reading stories of lives liberated by abortion.

With that said, women who regret their abortions aren’t the only people overlooked by My Abortion, My Life. Even if every abortion resulted in these ideal, regret-free situations, a key group would not have been covered. If one truly wishes to move “ from the rhetorical to the experiential, from the language of politics to the language of real women and men,” the stories of those people most directly affected by abortion must also be told: the aborted.

Unfortunately, there can never be a My [Mom’s] Abortion [Ended] My Life complementary website, voicing the stories of the thousands whose lives are literally destroyed by abortion. The experience that makes a person most eligible to speak about the impact of abortion is the very experience that snuffs out that person’s ability to ever discuss it. Aborted children are never given a chance to speak about how their lives are affected by abortion.

The fact of the matter is, abortion is already far too normal. Still, My Abortion, My Life, by ignoring two major groups — women who regret their abortion, and the aborted — masquerades a rather abnormal result as though it were the norm.

If you’d like to hear the whole story about those affected by abortion, here are some helpful links:

Silent No More Awareness Campaign

Abort 73 Abortion Testimonies

Rachel’s Vineyard Abortion Impact Stories

Here’s The Blood Abortion Footage (Warning: Graphic Content)

Live Action on Facebook
  • Anonymous

    Important to read the full quote from Planned Parenthood, which is that “most” women feel relief. After having worked for a total of ten years as a pregnancy options counselor, and speaking to scores of women about their abortions experiences, I concur. The overhelming majority are very relieved about the abortion. Many have conflicted feelings, though they are still relieved. I think that once someone has an unwanted pregnancy there is no “good” option; one has to figure out the best option. I have spoken with several women who regretted their abortions. The ones who felt “guilt” were all from fundamentalist backgrounds, where they’d been taught that abortion was evil. There’s value in hearing everyone’s experience, negative and positive,  but ultimately it must be every woman’s own decision what to do.

    • Brandy

      @enchfo And you’ll say that every woman has the right to make a decision to end another’s life, as long as that life is not yours or that you love. That, my friend, is what we call true hypocrisy!

      • Anonymous

        Brandy. I wonder what you motivates you to use such vitriol? Is your goal to attract people to a “pro-life” point of view? Are you accomplishing that?

    • Anonymous

      You do know they are hiding the stories they don’t want people to see. I heard only the glofication of abortion mixed in with pro-choice propganda in thoses stories, I don’t see a full picture of abortion on that website.

    • Sweetpea92696

      I have heard many testimonies by people such as Carol Everett that after an abortion, mothers try not to feel guilt about their abortion, that they hide it, and the few that do really feel relief – well, i definitely say that is not the majority. Also, abortion not only kills the child – it hurts the mother. Women can have all sorts of problems with fertility after abortion, even sterility. It is not a safe procedure. I encourage you to go this website and watch the videos when you have the time to show you what abortionists truly think of the women as: http://prolifeaction.org/providers/  And yes, it is their decision. We can’t force them to make others. But if a woman’s health and well-being were to be put first and foremost on the table, then abortion would never be the right answer. If you care about women, would you risk that one mother you told to have an abortion being one of those mothers who forever regrets it and tries to commit suicide later? There are plenty of Crisis Pregnancy Centers that provide COMPLETELY FREE services for women in crisis pregnancies and shouldn’t adoption be an option? I encourage you to look up information, especially on a purely statistical site, and see the information about the bad things that happen to women after abortions. Most will forever have problems getting pregnant, even if they change their minds about having children in the future. Please, I beg of you, think twice about abortion if you care about the women’s mental and social well-being. If you have any questions, I encourage you to consult the book “Pro-life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments” by Randy Alcorn. He admits the book is biased, but says he gave both sides his neutral attention before making his decision to be pro-life. If you have questions, I encourage you to keep an open mind and check out this book, which is even used in some bioethics classes in college! It has PURELY STATISTICAL data on abortion that can be used. May God Bless you and help you with your decision, enchfor! 

      • Sweetpea92696

        please look up Crisis Pregnancy Centers in your area – i know in mine we have White Rose, Mother and Unborn Baby Care, etc. 
        http://www.texasrighttolife.com/a/311/Mother–Unborn-Baby-Care
        http://www.texasrighttolife.com/a/295/White-Rose-Womens-Center
        please feel free to look some up in your area :)

        • Sweetpea92696

          here is a sample of randy alcorn’s work – i hope it is eye-opening :) please consider your view enchfor! I will pray for you and the women you counsel, that they make the safest most wonderful decision for both the mother and the child – life :)
          http://www.epm.org/resources/2010/Mar/29/prolife-answers-prochoice-arguments-introduction/
          please have an open mind, as i have had to the pro-choice side. i chose this side anyways for a reason. God bless you, enchfor! 

          • Sweetpea92696

            Researchers investigating post-abortion reactions report only one positive emotion: relief. This emotion is understandable, especially in light of the fact that the majority of aborting women report feeling under intense pressure to “get it over with.”8,23Temporary feelings of relief are frequently followed by a period psychiatrists identify as emotional “paralysis,” or post-abortion “numbness.”18 Like shell-shocked soldiers, these aborted women are unable to express or even feel their own emotions. Their focus is primarily on having survived the ordeal, and they are at least temporarily out of touch with their feelings.Studies within the first few weeks after the abortion have found that between 40 and 60 percent of women questioned report negative reactions.3,23,35 Within 8 weeks after their abortions, 55% expressed guilt, 44% complained of nervous disorders, 36% had experienced sleep disturbances, 31% had regrets about their decision, and 11% had been prescribed psychotropic medicine by their family doctor.3A study of the medical records of 56,741 California medicaid patients revealed that women who had abortions were 160 percent more likely than delivering women to be hospitalized for psychiatric treatment in the first 90 days following abortion or delivery. Rates of psychiatric treatment remained significantly higher for at least four years.37In another study of 500 aborted women, researchers found that 50 percent expressed negative feelings, and up to 10 percent were classified as having developed “serious psychiatric complications.”10Thirty to fifty percent of aborted women report experiencing sexual dysfunctions, of both short and long duration, beginning immediately after their abortions.23,8 These problems may include one or more of the following: loss of pleasure from intercourse, increased pain, an aversion to sex and/or males in general, or the development of a promiscuous life-style.Up to 33 percent of aborted women develop an intense longing to become pregnant again in order to “make up” for the lost pregnancy, with 18 percent succeeding within one year of the abortion.23,22,29 Unfortunately, many women who succeed at obtaining their “wanted” replacement pregnancies discover that the same problems which pressured them into having their first abortion still exist, and so they end up feeling “forced” into yet another abortion.In a study of teenage abortion patients, half suffered a worsening of psychosocial functioning within 7 months after the abortion. The immediate impact appeared to be greatest on the patients who were under 17 years of age and for those with previous psychosocial problems. Symptoms included: self-reproach, depression, social regression, withdrawal, obsession with need to become pregnant again, and hasty marriages.29The best available data indicates that on average there is a five to ten year period of denial during which a woman who was traumatized by her abortion will repress her feelings.23,24 During this time, the woman may go to great lengths to avoid people, situations, or events which she associates with her abortion and she may even become vocally defensive of abortion in order to convince others, and herself, that she made the right choice and is satisfied with the outcome. In reality, these women who are subsequently identified as having been severely traumatized, have failed to reach a true state of “closure” with regard to their experiences.Repressed feelings of any sort can result in psychological and behavioral difficulties which exhibit themselves in other areas of one’s life. An increasing number of counselors are reporting that unacknowledged post-abortion distress is the causative factor in many of their female patients, even though their patients have come to them seeking therapy for seemingly unrelated problems.13,17Other women who would otherwise appear to have been satisfied with their abortion experience, are reported to enter into emotional crisis decades later with the onset of menopause or after their youngest child leaves home.6,21Numerous researchers have reported that postabortion crises are often precipitated by the anniversary date of the abortion or the unachieved “due date.”23,29 These emotional crises may appear to be inexplicable and short-lived, occurring for many years until a connection is finally established during counseling sessions.A 5 year retrospective study in two Canadian provinces found that 25% of aborted women made visits to psychiatrists as compared to 3% of the control group.5Women who have undergone post-abortion counseling report over 100 major reactions to abortion. Among the most frequently reported are: depression, loss of self-esteem, self-destructive behavior, sleep disorders, memory loss, sexual dysfunction, chronic problems with relationships, dramatic personality changes, anxiety attacks, guilt and remorse, difficulty grieving, increased tendency toward violence, chronic crying, difficulty concentrating, flashbacks, loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities and people, and difficulty bonding with later children.23,24Among the most worrisome of these reactions is the increase of self-destructive behavior among aborted women. In a survey of over 100 women who had suffered from post-abortion trauma, fully 80 percent expressed feelings of “self-hatred.” In the same study, 49 percent reported drug abuse and 39 percent began to use or increased their use of alcohol. Approximately 14 percent described themselves as having become “addicted” or “alcoholic” after their abortions. In addition, 60 percent reported suicidal ideation, with 28 percent actually attempting suicide, of which half attempted suicide two or more times.2from: http://afterabortion.org/1999/abortion-complications/

          • Sweetpea92696

            So obviously, even if relief is felt at first, it is usually the result of hiding guilt

          • Anonymous

            Thank you for your efforts to be helpful about an issue that is obviously very important to you. I appreciate your intent.

    • SuperLogic

      It’s every womans own decision what to do, when it doesn’t impact another life.   The taking of another life is no longer her decision.

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  • Anonymous

    Wow, that web site dose a good job of making abortion sound like abortion is never talked about. That it’s some top secret thing and by talking about it you become part of a movement to “bring truth” to people. What would happen if some one shared there story on that web site and it was not a happy one or good one, if they would post it.

  • Guest

    “In fact, the Elliot Institute reports
    that women who abort have a 65% higher risk of clinical depression and
    are 6 to 7 times more likely to commit suicide than delivering women.” Is this solely in regards to women with unwanted pregnancies? If not, the data are skewed. Women who deliver are most often those who wanted the pregnancy.

    • Anonymous

      This is an important point.

    • SuperLogic

      But by that logic, you could say that the women who are aborted are now relieved and also did made their choice.   Supposedly the campaign is saying that having an abortion is just as “normal” as having a child.  So there should ultimately be no difference in the clinical depression rates or suicide rates.   In fact, there should possibly be a higher rate in those continuing their pregnancies as many of those will be “unwanted” with the woman deciding to give birth anyway.

      • Anonymous

        Doesn’t make sense. Women who have gotten pregnant and really don’t want to be are much more likely to have a male partner or unsupportive, more likely to have gotten pregnant from being abused in some way, more likely to be very young, etc. Many factors that would automatically make them more likely to be depressed. Being pregnant when you don’t want to be can be very traumatic. Most women who continue pregnancies are happy to be pregnant.

  • Ashisu84

    Actually, a British study was done recently that reviewed dozens of other studies conducted worldwide over 20 years and found that women who have abortions are no more likely to suffer from mental health issues like depression than any other women. They did however find an increased rate of depression and anxiety disorders in women who had unwanted pregnancies. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/09/abortion-mental-health_n_1138545.html

  • SuperLogic

    I have yet to find any person who is pro-abortion who had it done to them.

    • Anonymous

      I know scores and scores of them.

      • SuperLogic

        No you don’t.  If they had it done to them, they wouldn’t be alive.

  • Shawtiifreszh

    I am pro abortion and I did one myself because I was date rapped and I don’t feel guilty about it.

  • L_princess23

    My mother had an abortion and I survived and I agree that abortion was right.

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