Category: Abortion Counseling

Post-Abortive Woman: “I was not empowered as a woman but diminished”

A post-abortive woman named Susan Justice wrote:

“In 1980, just seven years after Roe V. Wade became the law of the land, I became one of abortion’s statistics. I was a vulnerable 18-year-old college freshman when I found myself faced with an unplanned pregnancy. After my high school sweetheart and I found ourselves in crisis, we visited a Women’s Center just blocks from our college campus. It was there the deception began. “It is just a glob of pregnancy tissue… it will be a short outpatient procedure and you can be sent on your way… problem solved.”

My “problem” was NOT solved. Instead, figuratively speaking, the abortion ushered me down a staircase, finding myself spiraling into deep depression. The abortion became my prison cell of post-abortion grief, substance abuse, shame, and heartbreak. Abortion did not solve my “problem”… but only served to magnify it.

At the abortion clinic (a.k.a. campus “women’s center”) I was not empowered as a woman but diminished. I was told, “It will be easier for you to get an abortion and get on with your life.”

Tragically, no one at that women’s center told me the truth of the development of my baby, my option for adoption, or the devastating fallout from post-abortion grief and regret….

The abortion tore through my life like a hurricane, leaving destruction in its wake. The post-abortion fallout with my boyfriend left only devastation. Our previous deeply nurturing relationship shattered into a mass of scattered, broken, irreparable pieces.

I changed from a young woman entering nursing school, hard-working, eager to help people, having dated the same high school sweetheart for two years, sharing our dream of marriage after college… to a broken, promiscuous, alcohol indulging, partying girl, looking for any way to numb the emotional pain from the gnawing reality of the loss of my child and what I had done.”

Susan Justice “Abortion did not solve my ‘problem.’ It sent me into a deep depression” Live Action News March 22, 2021

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Abortionist undermines informed consent law

According to many women’s testimonies, abortion facilities don’t give women accurate and truthful information about abortion’s risks or the development of their babies. Because of this, pro-lifers have passed laws requiring abortionists to read scripts to women with information about abortion and preborn babies. This is to ensure that women can make an informed choice.

Abortionist Curtis Boyd reads the state-mandated informed consent script to women- then interjects his own observation that all the information is false. In this way, he undermines the informed consent law.

According to pro-choice authors Robin Marty, Jessica Mason, and Pieklo Crow:

“… [Dr. Curtis Boyd, abortionist] provides the state script, then adds his own thoughts to the end of it.”

Boyd says:

“Sometimes I wonder what would happen if the state wanted to make an issue of it. You know: “We’ve already told you what you must say; now you can’t say…”

I don’t know. They can’t rule that I can’t have an opinion. They have sort of ruled what my opinion must be to the patient, but it doesn’t say clearly you can’t tell the patient you think something differently. So I do it. I think, “Well, they’ll just have to take me to court.”

There’s just a limit to how far they can go. I have to salvage my integrity, somehow. So I say, “this is what the state wants me to tell you, and my own belief is that abortion does not cause breast cancer,” and so forth - and that you are quite ethically competent to make this decision.

I respect your decision-making process. I’ve given you the decision-making process the state wants you to follow.”

Robin Marty, Jessica Mason Pieklo Crow After Roe (Brooklyn, New York: ig Publishing, 2013) 102–103

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Just 1 in 10 women “counseled” at British abortion clinics choose life

An article in The Telegraph found that only one in 10 women who went to the British Pregnancy Advisory Service and Marie Stopes (The two biggest chains of abortion clinics in England, sometimes called charities, even though they make a profit) decided against abortion. It implies that women are getting biased “counseling” and steered into abortion.

“Just one in 10 women who book consultations with Maries Stopes and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) decide against having an abortion, according to figures from a sample of clinics.

This is half the proportion regularly cited by the charities, who have claimed that one in five women who have consultations decide to keep their baby.

The disparity in the figures, if replicated across the country, indicates that the charities have exaggerated the number of women who continue with their pregnancies after receiving counselling by 14,000 a year…

In Hammersmith and Fulham 1,051 consultations resulted in 968 abortions while 83 decided against the procedure, meaning about 7.9 per cent of women kept their babies.

In Milton Keynes 1,029 women were referred to the clinics and of these 937 had abortions, with just 92, or 8.9 per cent, going ahead with the pregnancy.

In South East Essex 695 consultations produced 624 abortions while 71 women – 10.2 per cent of the total – opted to continue with the pregnancy.

Marie Stopes and BPAS are paid about £60 million a year to carry out abortions, with BPAS specialising in the more costly late-term procedures.”

Simon Caldwell and Nick Collins “Abortion charities could be misleading public” The Telegraph 05 September 2011

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Pregnancy center worker tells of teen’s reaction to seeing her baby

A pregnancy center worker wrote:

“I’ll never forget the 15-year-old girl who, upon seeing her child’s ultrasound image, started crying. When asked why she was crying she said, ‘Everyone lied to me. They told me that I just had a blob of tissue and so it was no big deal. You are the ones telling the truth!’”

Cindi Adair of LifeLine Pregnancy Center in Wilmington, N.C.

Kirk Walden “They told me I just had a blob of tissue. You are the ones telling the truth!” Pregnancy Help News 10 March, 2015

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Woman describes being “emotionally tortured” by her abortion

A woman named Nadine said:

“I was so naïve. I had no idea what an abortion actually was. They made it all sounds so safe, so easy, so simple. They promised an abortion would take care of my problem and I’d be back to my old self and I could continue with whatever I wanted in my life. The counselor even said, “If you were my daughter, I’d tell you the same thing. It’s the right thing to do.”

Everyone assured me not to worry, that there was nothing to be afraid of. The counseling I received was like, yes, you can do this; yes, it’s safe; and don’t worry, you won’t have any problems.

I have been emotionally tortured by this experience for the past 24 years. It’s made my life a pit of depression and anxiety.”

Teresa Burke, David C Reardon Forbidden Grief: The Unspoken Pain of Abortion (Springfield, IL: Acorn Books, 2002) 37

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Pro-choice activist: laws mandating ultrasound viewing just show women the truth

Pro-choice activist William Saletan writes about informed consent laws that require women seeking abortions to be offered the chance to view an ultrasound:

“Critics complain that these bills seek to “bias,” “coerce,” and “guilt-trip” women. Come on. Women aren’t too weak to face the truth. If you don’t want to look at the video, you don’t have to. But you should look at it, and so should the guy who got you pregnant, because the decision you’re about to make is as grave as it gets.

Critics complain that these bills seek to “bias,” “coerce,” and “guilt-trip” women. Come on. Women aren’t too weak to face the truth. If you don’t want to look at the video, you don’t have to. …

Are ultrasound pushers trying to bias your decision? Of course. But of all the things they do to “inform” your decision, this is the least twisted…The image on the monitor may look like a blob, a baby, or neither. It certainly won’t follow some senator’s script. All it will show you is the truth.”

William Saletan “Sex, Life, and Videotape” Slate APRIL 28 2007

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Post-Abortive woman: I had a “ruined life”

One post-abortive woman tells her story:

‘Hi, my name is Renae and I had an abortion when I was 14. I was barely an adult and just didn’t comprehend what was happening. I was pushed (by my mother) into making an uninformed decision out of convenience rather than given counselling and support to wrap my head around the situation I was facing. I now find this lack of care and information very disturbing.

I had no knowledge of what to expect or what would happen at the clinic – I was shuffled in without as much as a word. Someone asked me to confirm my name and that was it.

I was given an inadequate amount of drugs by the anesthetist. I woke up in the middle of the surgery and heard a doctor saying ‘There it is – got it!’ I was absolutely traumatized and distraught as I left the clinic that fateful day….

As a result of this experience I have endured depression, drug addiction and a ‘ruined life’. It’s ironic to think that my mum told me I would ruin my life if I had the baby, but no one ever stopped to think that maybe not having the baby and having an abortion instead would do the exact same thing.”

“Women’s Stories” Abortion Rethink

Visited October 3, 2018

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Abortion counselor scolds teen for crying, tells her “the fetus isn’t human”

What one postabortion teenager says her abortion counselor told her when she asked her about God:

“God’s not going to do anything. He’ll forgive you if that’s your issue. Really, it’s not wrong because the fetus isn’t human. You’re six weeks pregnant, and you need to make a decision now.”

The teen began crying before her abortion and was told:

“What’s wrong with you? Who told you about the procedure for terminating a pregnancy? Has someone been telling you this is wrong? It’s no big deal. It only takes about three minutes and that’s it. Three minutes and it’s over. Why are you crying?”

She did go through with the abortion and later regretted it.

Julia C Loren The Note on the Mirror: Pregnant Teenagers Tell Their Stories (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1990) 62, 63

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Post-abortion woman says there was no counseling

A post-abortive woman named Jasmine wrote:

“I was nine weeks pregnant. There was no counseling offered, just a leaflet telling me that I might feel a little upset, but that it was hormonal and would pass…”

Melinda Tankard Reist Giving Sorrow Words: Women’s Stories of Grief after Abortion (Springfield, IL: Acorn Books, 2007) 33

At nine weeks, her baby was rapidly living and growing.

Preborn baby at 7-8 weeks after conception, 9-10 weeks LMP
Preborn baby at 7-8 weeks after conception, 9-10 weeks LMP
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Post-Abortive woman: Clinic “deceived” me

From Stephanie Williams, who is post-abortive:

“I was deceived because I was not told the truth about what an abortion means to the life of an unborn baby. I was not told that at 10 weeks (which is when I had my abortion) my child was already fully formed. I was made to believe that I was doing something that was as natural as going to the dentist for a teeth cleaning.”

STEPHANIE WILLIAMS, RIDGECREST, CA in LoveMatters.com Advertising Supplement Vol. 14, 2008 ed.

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