They said it.
A study of 30 women who consider their abortions highly stressful said that:
“Though 72% of the subjects reported no identifiable religious beliefs at the time of the abortion, 96% regarded abortion as the taking of a life or as murder subsequent to their abortion.”
Anne Catherine Speckhard, “the Psychosocial Aspects of Stress Following Abortion” (Arlington, Virginia: Family System Center, 1985) 1
Share on FacebookFeminists for life is a pro-life feminist organization that seeks to empower women to choose life for their children. Members of Feminists for Life believe that abortion is often an easy way out for men man who impregnate women and can can escape the responsibility of parenthood, leaving the woman to deal with the emotional physical aftereffects of abortion. They also argue that many women feel coerced into abortions by their life circumstances and are not choosing abortion freely. Finally, they believe that the legalization of abortion allows society to get by without putting policies in place to help mothers – things like availability of daycare, and and end to job discrimination against pregnant women or women with families, etc., because women are expected to simply “choose” abortion. Here are two quotes from the Feminists for Life debate handbook.
“This is not a choice between vanilla and chocolate. This is a choice like “Do you want me to break your arm, or your leg?” This is a choice that says, “Do you want to see your life derailed, see your dreams turn to ashes – or do you want to undergo humiliating, invasive operation and have your own child die?” “Do you want to sacrifice your life plans, or would you rather sacrifice your offspring?” It’s a lousy choice. Women should not be forced into making such a choice. We should be able to keep both mother and child lives and bodies intact.”
Feminists for Life Debate Handbook, 15
“If we could limit abortion to only those women who truly decided to have one, with adequate information without unfair and unjust pressures, we could cut the abortion rate dramatically.”
Feminists for Life Debate Handbook, 12
Quoted in Randy Alcorn “Pro-life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments” (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Publishers, 2000) 131
Share on FacebookIn his textbook on how to do abortions, Abortion Practice, Dr. Warren Hern describes second trimester abortion:
“[at 18 weeks post fertilization age] it can be a significantly more difficult procedure accompanied by unnerving hemorrhage. Forceps use must be sure and relatively rapid. There is frequently not much time for exploring the nuances of different tissue sensations. Grasping and collapsing the calvaria [upper domelike portion of the skull] are often difficult. Stripping the calvaria of soft tissue is sometimes the first step in successful delivery of this part, followed by dislocation of parietal bones… [From 19 to 22 weeks post fertilization age] A long curved Mayo scissors may be necessary to decapitate and dismember the fetus, since it may be impossible to apply forceps or to do so while avoiding the thinned out cervix.”
Warren Hern Abortion Practice (Philadelphia: J Lippincott, 1990) PP 153 154 in Stephen Wagner, Common Ground Without Compromise: 25 Questions to Create Dialogue on Abortion. (Signal Hill, CA: Stand to Reason, 2008)76
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In a trial about the partial-birth abortion ban, Judge Arnold explains why he feels that a common late-term abortion technique called D&E (dilation and evacuation) where the baby is torn apart with forceps could be mistaken for partial-birth abortion,where the baby is extracted feetfirst and then killed by plunging scissors into the skull and suctioning the brain. Judge Arnold supports the kind of abortion he is describing:
“In a D&E procedure, the physician inserts forceps into the uterus, grasps a part of the fetus, commonly an arm or a leg, and draws that part out of the uterus into the vagina. Using the traction created between the mouth of the cervix and the pull of the forceps, the physician dismembers the fetal part which has been brought into the vagina, and removes it from the woman’s body. The rest of the fetus remains in the uterus while dismemberment occurs, and is often still living…”
Richard Smith “Candor and the Court: The Supreme Court will confront as never before the violent nature of mid-and late-term abortion” America April 1, 2000
Here is the result of this type abortion at 16 weeks – keep in mind that this procedure is legal in every state of the country and is performed hundreds of times a day:
Many pro-choice groups have complained that most counties in the United States do not have an abortion clinic. They argue that rural women need to drive long distances to reach abortion clinics, and often blame pro-lifers for this. In reality, the main reason that clinics are usually located in cities has to do with money. From an article in the New York Times:
“In Detroit, and in other large metropolitan areas around the country, there are not too few abortion providers, as abortion proponents have lamented for years. There are too many. It is still true that fewer hospitals are providing abortions, fewer doctors outside abortion clinics are offering the procedure and 86 percent of counties in the country have no abortion provider.
But, over the past few years, as the number of abortions has declined, abortions increasingly have been concentrated in specialty clinics in cities and pockets of competition have developed.
So while women in rural areas must sometimes drive hundreds of miles to the nearest clinic, in cities and suburbs there are price wars and competition over amenities. Doctors have refused to train colleagues, fearing they will only help a potential competitor in a lucrative, often cash-only, business.
…. Clinic owners say they have little choice but to cluster in cities — that is the only way they can find enough patients. Ruth Arick, the owner of Choice Pursuits in DeLand, Fla., which does management consulting for abortion clinics, said that a population of about 200,000 is needed to support a full-fledged clinic.”
In addition, pro-choice people often blame pro-lifers for a shortage of providers, claiming that doctors fear violence. In reality, stigma is a major reason why doctors don’t do abortions. Another reason is the emotional trauma of tearing apart developing babies every day.
A third reason is that doctors don’t want to train competitors. From the New York Times article:
“One doctor in Detroit, who spoke on condition he not be identified, saying he feared hostility from his colleagues, said that when he finished medical school, trained in obstetrics and gynecology, he asked abortion doctors in the area to train him. He was turned away.”
GINA KOLATA “As Abortion Rate Decreases, Clinics Compete for Patients” The NY Times December 30, 2000
Abortion is a business, like any other. Clinics do not do abortions for free. Abortionists and clinic owners are out to make money off of the women who come in for abortions.
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Dr. Theresa Burke, from her book Forbidden Grief:
“Repeat abortions and replacement pregnancies are two common ways in which women reenact elements of their abortion trauma.”
Quoted in Father Frank A. Pavone “Ending Abortion: Not Just Fighting It” (New Jersey: Catholic Book Publishing Corp, 2006) 73
Quoted by Pavone also on page 73:
Dr. Philip Ney
“Tragedy is repeated not because we do not understand, but because we are trying to understand.” Meaning that a woman is reliving her abortion experience trying to resolve the — a replacement child, but then realizes that the same reason she had an abortion before is still present.”
The quote is from Dr. Ney’s book Deeply Damaged.
From Dr. Pavone himself
“an underlying conflict, perhaps created by previous trauma, is unresolved. We find we cannot resolve it by simply replaying it in our minds. So we relive it. This happens in many arenas of life. The sexually abused child may become seductive; the child who lacked touch and affection may seek an emotionally cold partner, and so forth. We repeat what we don’t understand, in the hopes of mastering it.
Repeat abortions can be repulsive even to people who call themselves “pro-choice” and even to those who work in abortion mills. Sometimes the reaction is exasperated, indignant, “How could she do that??!!” But we should change the question and ask instead, “How can I help you to heal?” That question expresses the heart of the pro-life movement, a movement that knows that the destiny of mother and child are forever intertwined and that we can’t love one without loving the other.”
Read what abortion providers have to say about women who have repeat abortions here.
Share on FacebookFrom Priests for Life:
I was a nurse practicing in North Carolina. I worked on a Gynecology/tumor unit at a teaching hospital. The unit included 4 prostaglandin abortion beds. The babies who were aborted were between 18-20wks of age. Most women were young, but occasionally there were patients whose babies had life threatening defects. I assisted the doctor in the initial placement of the prostaglandin. Then the women were left on the floor to deliver.
One thing that is often forgotten by people is that there is a big difference between a picture of a baby at a certain number of weeks pregnant, and seeing and experiencing a birth. There is a sensation of life, of a living thing. It is like the difference between a picture of a puppy and a real puppy. Even a movie does not capture the whole picture. All of your senses are involved.
After the second abortion I began changing my own thoughts about abortions and after a few more I could no longer participate. After several more years, my faith began to grow and with that my guilt increased. I spoke with a therapist and my parish priest. I asked for God’s forgiveness, but it took a while before I could let go of my guilt.
Now I want to do what I can to stop abortions.
Here is a picture of a prostaglandin abortion at 20 weeks:
This testimony is further evidence that most second trimester abortions are done on healthy mothers with healthy babies.
Share on FacebookConclusion to two studies on abortion providers, done by authors who were pro-choice:
“Obsessional thinking about abortion, depression, fatigue, anger, lowered self-esteem, and identity conflicts were prominent. The symptom complex was considered “transient reactive disorder” similar to “combat technique.”
Ambivalent periods were characterized by a variety of otherwise uncharacteristic feelings and behavior including withdrawal from colleagues, resistance to going to work, lack of energy, impatience with clients and overall sense of uneasiness. Nightmares, images that could not be shaken and preoccupation were commonly reported. Also common was the deep and lonely privacy within which practitioners had grappled with their ambivalence.”
Roe, KM “private troubles and public issues, providing abortion amid competing definitions” Social Science and Medicine, 1989 volume 29 number one, 1197
Share on FacebookFrom the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology:
“There has been no major impact on the number of women dying from abortion in the US… After all, it really makes no difference whether a woman dies from legal or illegal abortion, she is dead nonetheless. I find no comfort in the fact that legal abortion is now the leading cause of abortion related maternal deaths in the US.”
Dr. Dennis Cavanaugh “Effect of Liberalized Abortion on Maternal Mortality Rates” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (February 1978) 375
Many times, abortionists who operated illegally before Roe Vs Wade simply began operating legally after it, moving from the back alley to the “front alley.” There have been abortionists who killed women before Roe and then went on to kill women after Roe. Read about some of them in the “Providers Hall of Shame” section.
Read about women who died from legal abortions here.
Share on Facebook“There clearly is no logical or moral distinction between a fetus and a young baby; free availability of abortion cannot be reasonably distinguished from euthanasia. Nevertheless we are for it. It is too facile to say that human life is always sacred; obviously it is not.”
“The Unborn and the Born Again” editorial, New Republic, July 2, 1977, 6
