Category: Abortion Counseling

The abortion clinic never suggested alternatives

A woman who tried to abort her baby twice and was later glad the abortions failed (read her story here)  wrote about how clinic workers never suggested any other option to her. There was, apparently, no counselling at the abortion facility she went to. She says:

“What I saw at that private clinic also totally shocked me. I expected to see young girls on their own waiting in the abortion clinic. Instead it was like a cattle market – full of women of all ages – many with their husbands and partners encouraging them to go through with it.

I couldn’t help wondering why all of these women – many seemingly in relationships – were ending their pregnancies.… although the staff at the clinic were lovely, no one even suggested there may be a different way forward.”

Allison Smith-Squire “I tried twice to abort my baby – but I’m delighted I failed” Daily Mail July 2, 2007

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Woman who had abortion: “there was no counseling”

Pro-choice author Cara J. Marianna compiled a collection of women’s abortion testimonies for a book. One woman says:

“I had to [travel to another town for the abortion]. I remember going once and, thinking back now, there wasn’t any question from the nurses there about, ‘Do I want to keep this child?’ It was just assumed that this is what I’m going to do. There wasn’t any counseling otherwise or questions about it.”

Cara J. Marianna Abortion: A Collective Story (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002) 78

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Abortion training documents reveal questions women often ask

Feminists for Life obtained a copy of notes from the abortion training developed by Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and CAPS, the Consortium of Abortion Providers.  These notes reflect what abortion workers were taught to say to women.

From the training:

“The training frames abortion as “life event”, similar to other life events of having a baby, getting married, getting divorced or losing a loved one.”

PFA/CAPS list the following questions as commonly asked by women:

“Will my baby feel pain?

What happens to the baby?

Can I see the ultrasound?

Which is better, the abortion pill or surgical abortion?

The abortion pill is just like a miscarriage, isn’t it?

Will it hurt?

Does this make me a bad person?

Does this mean I will go to hell?

Will God forgive me?”

It also says:

“Abortion is a common experience.

Women are not alone.

A range of emotions is normal.

Most women do fine.

Women have abortions for a variety of reasons.

Including becausethey care about themselves, their families or their future families.

Serrin M Foster “What to Expect When You’re Expecting at Planned Parenthood” The American Feminist Fall/Winter 2016

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Abortionist refuses to answer woman’s question

One woman who had an abortion asked the abortionist a question that he refused to answer:

haunted
Ultrasound of first trimester child

“I always wondered, you know. I asked if it was a boy or a girl. He said, ‘Why would you want to know?’ He wouldn’t tell me if they could know. But he said, ‘Why would you want to know? It doesn’t make a difference.’ So it was a shut-down question. The feeling was, ‘You don’t need to know.’

Cara J. Marianna Abortion: A Collective Story (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002) 66

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Sometimes abortion doula uses the word “baby”

An abortion doula, who comforts women as they kill their babies, says:

“I’ve been taught to follow the patient’s lead. If she calls it her baby, then I do too. But with the next patient, just as far along, it’s fetal tissue, it’s the products of conception. One stumbles over her words, says “all the stuff inside,” and that feels right, too. “

Alex Ronan “My Year As an Abortion Doula” The Cut SEPTEMBER 14, 2014

Is this a baby? Or “fetal tissue?”

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Woman sobs uncontrollably at crisis pregnancy center

The book Thank You for Saving My Life tells the tragic story of a pregnant young woman named Maddie, who was on her way to a crisis pregnancy center when her mother called:

“When she reached the parking lot, her cell phone rang. She saw it was her mother, so she answered it.

“You’ll make a terrible mother! You’ll ruin the life of the child, so you might just as well terminate the life now!” Her mother yelled into the phone…

Confused and now even more scared, she didn’t know what to do. She put her car in reverse and headed toward the Planned Parenthood office…

[S]he filled out the papers for the WebCam doctor to review. …The questionnaire asked if she was sure about her decision and Maddie answered, “I don’t know.” But that day the doctor did inquire about her “I don’t know” answer. He just told her to go ahead and push the button to receive the two pills needed to terminate the pregnancy. Maddie took the first pill and drove home.”

After the abortion:

“Six months later, Maddie called the center crying hysterically. No one could even understand her on the phone, she was crying so hard. We encouraged her to come in to the center.

Maggie sat in my office and cried for an hour. The only thing I was able to get out of her was that she had had an abortion. She never looked up. She just cried a heart wrenching cry…

The next two appointments were much like the first time we met. Maddie hung her head and cried the whole hour.”

She eventually found healing through counseling at the crisis pregnancy center

Mike G Williams Thank You for Saving My Life (2016) 68 – 70

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Guidebook for pregnant teenagers says crisis pregnancy centers lie

Anna Runkle, a former Planned Parenthood abortion counselor, wrote a guidebook for teens who are pregnant. The book was intended to help teens decide whether to carry their children to term or abort. In the book, she says:

“When looking for pregnancy counseling, watch out for anti-abortion clinics that advertise free pregnancy counseling. These groups will pressure you not to have an abortion.… A number of antiabortion organizations use advertising designed to trick you into calling them for abortion services. Once they get you in the door, they will try to pressure you to have a baby. They will give you lectures, show you films of aborted fetuses and stillborn babies, and even lie to you to stop you from having an abortion. Of course, they won’t help you find an abortion provider…

Some will tell you upfront that they are against abortion and wish to support you in carrying the pregnancy to term. But unless you want this type of service, it is best to use facilities that will support you whatever you decide. Remember that abortion providers are pro-choice – they are there to help you choose the option that is best for you, whether it’s abortion, adoption, or raising the baby yourself.”

Anna Runkle In Good Conscience: A Practical, Emotional, and Spiritual Guide to Deciding Whether to Have an Abortion (San Francisco: Jossey–Bass Publishers, 1998) 64, 105 – 106

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Resource book for teens omits crisis pregnancy center

A handbook given out to pregnant teens that was meant to provide resources in the community included Planned Parenthood, but not a local crisis pregnancy center:

“… Let’s look more closely at programs in one midsize southwestern city. The Teenage Parent Council of Austin, Texas, publishes a “Green Book” resource directory for “teens, pregnant teens, and teenage parents.” The book, touted as a directory of services available in Austin and Travis County, includes agencies that provide counseling, medical services, birth control, abortion, adoption, maternity homes, health and education programs, social services, legal aid, shelter, transportation and other miscellaneous helps – but it excludes the Austin Crisis Pregnancy Center because it is pro-life and attempts to promote sexual abstinence among the unmarried.”

The Teenage Parent Council hands out a listing of birth control purveyors and abortionists who “are committed to helping teens feel comfortable when they come for services or for information. All of these clinics provide confidential services. That means that no one, not even parents, is informed about your birth control visit.”

Susan Olasky, Marvin Olasky More than Kindness: A Compassionate Approach to Crisis Childbearing (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway books, 1990) 41

The text from the Teenage Parent Council comes from Garfinkel, Sara S McLanahan Single Mothers and Their Children (Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 1986) 82

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Woman angry at not being informed of abortion’s effects

A woman who had an abortion and wished that she had been warned about its aftereffects said:

“I think there’s a little anger there, too, at the doctors that didn’t counsel, or that did it so off-handedly, and said, ‘No, this won’t bother you; it’s no big deal. This is what you want to do; it’s okay.’ You know, not having a concern for anything more than the physical body. Because that, I think, is what still makes me angry.”

Cara J. Marianna Abortion: A Collective Story (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002) 65

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Abortion worker: “I don’t say baby”

Abortion clinic worker Sallie Tisdale on what she says to women considering abortion:

“…..I describe the procedure to come, using care with my language. I don’t say “pain” any more than I would say “baby.”

Sallie Tisdale “We Do Abortions Here: A Nurse’s Tale” Harper’s Magazine, October, 1987, 66-70.

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