Category: Abortion Counseling

Abortion Clinic Workers Told to Use”Neutral” Terms to Describe Unborn Babies

“In Carole Joffe’s ethnographic work at an abortion clinic that performed first-trimester abortions, she found out, “the most interesting problem was how to refer to the product of the abortion. Although it was acknowledged that many clients would refer to this as “baby,” or “the pregnancy,” new counselors were, not surprisingly, urged not to use these charged terms, but instead to use the more neutral, though admittedly more awkward, ‘products of conception’ or ‘tissue.’

Wendy Simonds. Abortion at Work: Ideology and Practice in a Feminist Clinic  Rutgers University Press: New Brunswick, NJ) 1996 p 80

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Studies Indicate Problems with Abortion Counseling

Several empirical studies in the U.S. have indicated the deficiencies of current abortion counseling practices with the majority of respondents reporting insufficient information provided by the abortion counselor; insensitive, unhelpful abortion clinic personnel, with respect to providing assistance in decision-making, and the provision of misinformation, thereby contributing to increased anxiety, confusion and levels of post-abortion depression and hostility

Barnard, C. (1990), The Long Term Psychological Effects of Abortion, Portsmouth, NH: Institute for Pregnancy Loss; and Vaughan, H. (1990), Canonical Variates of Post-Abortion Syndrome, Portsmouth, NH: Institute for Pregnancy Loss.

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Abortion Counselors Are Not Trained in Mental Health

A pro-choice author, who interviewed  dozens of abortion providers, said the following:

“The abortion counselor was typically a person without medical training-who often herself had had an abortion, either legal or illegal-whose role it was the counsel the patient before the procedure, accompany her through the abortion itself, and also “advocate” for patients in general.”

Carole Joffe. Doctors of Conscience: the Struggle to Provide Abortion before and after Roe Versus Wade (Boston, Massachusetts: Beacon press, 1995) 133

Obviously, the counselors were not there to provide qualified mental health counseling for the women. Rather, they were just there to “keep her company” and be there to support her through the process. They were not trained, and were not able to spot women who might be aborting under duress, discuss the reasons for the abortion and whether or not it was right for the woman, or to talk to a woman about alternatives.

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Counselors Expected to Help Women Abort

Counselors are often made available to pregnant women who are being tested to see if their babies have health issues. Author Paige Comstock Cunningham quotes writer Elizabeth Crystal saying:

“Within the medical literature there is a clear assumption that counselors are there, in effect, to help patients through the difficult process of agreeing to be tested and agreeing to abort in the event of a diagnosed defect….”

Elizabeth Kristol. “Picture Perfect: the Politics of Prenatal Testing” First Things 32 (April 1993): 24

Quoted in Paige Comstock Cunningham, Esq. “The Supreme Court and the creation of the two-dimensional woman” in Erika Bachiochi. The Cost of “Choice”: Women Evaluate the Impact of Abortion” (San Francisco, CA: Encounter Books, 2004)

The implication is that a woman who has an amniocentesis or other test and discovers that the baby has a handicap will abort, and the counselors are there to guide her through the process. As you can see by reading other quotes in this section, women often feel coerced into aborting babies with defects, as medical personnel pressure them to do so.

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Pregnant Woman Given No Options But Abortion

Stephanie William’s Comment:

“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 there were other options. 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 teeth cleaning.”

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Study Reveals 81% of Women Felt Victimized by the Abortion Process

 “And Katherine Speckhard, PhD of the University of Minnesota reported that 81% of the women she surveyed said they felt victimized by the abortion process. These women felt either that they were coerced into the abortion or that important information about the pregnancy resolution and abortion procedure had been withheld.”

Journal of Social Issues 1997

Dorinda C Bordlee, ESQ “Abortion Alternative Legislation and the Law of the Gift” in Erika Bachiochi. The Cost of “Choice”: Women Evaluate the Impact of Abortion (San Francisco, CA: Encounter Books, 2004) on page 136

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Planned Parenthood Pressures Woman About Abortion

Alicia went to Planned Parenthood to see if she was pregnant.

“When my name was called, naturally my mom and husband stood up to come with me and the nurse told them they were not allowed. I asked the nurse, “not even my husband?” and she said “no, just you!” I felt very disappointed and confused.”

She went in by herself. The nurse asked her if she wanted to keep “it” if she was pregnant. She said she did.

“You can be honest with me, are being forced to keep it against your will?” I said, “Absolutely not. I wasn’t expecting to get pregnant so quickly, but if I am pregnant I want to keep my baby” and again she asked “So your husband or mom are not forcing you to keep it if you are?” I said, more aggressively and upset, “NO!”

When she was asking me if I was forced to keep the baby she looked like she was reading from a script. I remember her saying that if I kept ” it,” it would be very expensive and life changing. She was poking at the fact that I didn’t seem like I could afford to have a baby. She also asked if I was scared to say that I wanted an abortion, and that if I had any questions I could talk to someone that can ease my nerves. She never really said baby she said “it” a lot. She also mentioned that if I was pregnant depending how far a long I was that there might not even be a heartbeat.”

Alisha didn’t give the woman a chance to go on, however, She said, “excuse me, If I am pregnant I am keeping my baby. I may not be rich but I know God will make a way!” and walked out.

….

“I have not been able to shake that experience, it was very disturbing that I had someone trying to convince me to abort my baby especially after telling her over and over again that I wanted to keep my baby. I didn’t sleep for a week! I turned out not to be pregnant at that time, but I now have two amazing little boys Josué and Josiah!”

SUSAN MICHELLE TYRRELL “‘They kept asking me if I was being ‘forced’ to keep the baby’: Alisha’s Planned Parenthood visit” Life Site News December 1, 2011 http://www.lifesite.net/news/they-kept-asking-me-if-i-was-being-forced-to-keep-the-baby-alishas-planned

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Just a Clump of Cells

A woman getting an abortion at three months related the following conversation with an abortion clinic counselor:

“Are there psychological problems?” I continued.

“Hardly ever. Don’t worry,” I was told.

“What does a three-month-old fetus look like?”

“Just a clump of cells,” she answered, matter-of-factly.

Later the woman said:

“When I saw that a three month old “clump of cells” had fingers and toes and was a tiny perfectly formed baby, I became really hysterical. I’d been lied to and misled, and I’m sure thousands of other women are being just as poorly informed and badly served.”

Quoted by David C Reardon, Randy Alcorn “Pro-life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments” (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Publishers, 2000) 198

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“Planned Parenthood Railroaded Us…”

From Kathy Walker, who had an abortion:

“I felt like my family had no control over anything. My parents felt as deceived as I was; we never really made an informed decision. Planned Parenthood railroaded us….But nobody ever really asked me what I wanted to do.”

David Kupelian “Abortion, Inc.” New Dimensions (October 1991) 14

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Abortion Is Not the Best We Can Do for Women

From the Washington Post.com 11 -9-2005, PBS Frontline: “The Last Abortion Clinic, quoted by Life Dynamics:

Atlanta, Ga.(Caller) :

“I am a woman that believed the lies that I was told by an abortion facility in Atlanta in 1978 and had an abortion as I was led to believe this was my only choice. There was no “counseling”, just sign your name here, give us your money and we will take care of “your problem” in just a matter of minutes. I was never told that the problem was “my baby”. I almost died by bleeding to death weeks after and was never helped by that clinic, only told NOT to call my doctor. What makes pro-choice people afraid of showing the client an “ultrasound”?. Believing the lies that I was told “it is just a clump of tissue and cells”, I went through with the abortion and have regretted it every day of my life. For 25 years I lived in a pit of hell, not being able to forgive myself. It is about time that woman know the truth, that woman obtain “rights” and women are protected! Abortion is not the best we can do for women.”

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