Women's Health Archives - Page 5 of 38

Abortion textbook urges pro-choicers to consider women’s sadness post-abortion

A textbook intended to train abortion workers how to counsel patients says:

“The opposing argument originally put forward by feminists tried to minimize the emotional effect of termination on women. This appeared vital during the struggle for abortion as any discussion of ambivalent feelings or possible harmful effects could, they thought, have weakened their cause. Now that the law is in place and safer from attack, pro-choice supporters can afford to look at some of the emotional costs to women themselves.”

For example, they say:

“… Most studies identify a variably sized group of women who do seem to experience significant psychological sequelae which are not always short-lived.”

Joanna Brien, Ida Fairbairn Pregnancy and Abortion Counseling (London: Routledge, 1996) 141, 142

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Adolescents feel “guilt, shame, and fear of disapproval” after abortion

From a 2004 study that did a group interview with post-abortive adolescents:

“The loss of a potential child by abortion gives rise to the universal experience of mourning, in which adolescents are developmentally more vulnerable…. Because strong cultural and religious taboos exist, aspects of traumatic grief are sometimes ignored….

The adolescents described feelings of guilt, shame, secrecy, or confusion that clarified how the social stigma of abortion was reinforced in the high school setting. American adolescents are more likely to disapprove of abortion because they tend to respond in absolute terms to moral issues. Stone and Waszak’s study (Stone, R., & Waszak, C. (1992). Adolescent knowledge and attitudes about abortion. Family Planning Perspectives, 24, 52-57) demonstrated that adolescents’ first association to abortion was “killing the baby” ….

The group members in our study indicated they felt guilty when they were seen entering the abortion clinic, a feeling exacerbated by protesters who were sometimes encountered outside the clinic. Classroom discussions that condemned abortion also made the adolescents feel uncomfortable and guilty….

The socially based negative emotions of guilt, shame, and fear of disapproval were still noted in these group participants, even 40 years after the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed women’s right to choose, offering some societal acceptance of this choice. These feelings of guilt and shame, along with the shock and trauma of the pregnancy, can prevent adolescents from incorporating the experience of abortion into a learning experience because the defense of denial is used. This denial may cause a repetition of the shameful experience….

Some group members shared that they talked to the fetus and said, “I’m sorry,” to the fetus.”

Daly, Joan Ziegler, ACSW; Ziegler, Robert, MD; Goldstein, Donna J, RN, CPNP “Adolescent Postabortion Groups” Journal of Psychosocial Nursing & Mental Health Services; Thorofare Vol. 42, Iss. 10, (Oct 2004): 48-54.

Read more studies about the emotional impact of abortion

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Woman describes extremely painful abortion

From one woman who had an abortion:

“I just got a surgical abortion yesterday at 10 weeks 3 days. I didn’t have a driver so I couldn’t be sedated. The doc did give me some kind of numbing shot in my cervix but I’m not sure it did anything for me.

From the start, inserting the speculum, the shot, and the procedure itself was one of the most painful experiences I’ve ever had. The doc had to continually tell me to stop clenching my butt and to keep my legs wide (I did not know I was doing those things until he would tell me I was). I can’t describe the pain, the nurse/assistant was holding my hands and reminding me to breathe. I’m almost in tears thinking of what I went through. Near the end I broke down crying. I had to choke down tears walking into the room with the other ladies who have not gone yet (I was first). I felt so bad that a younger girl saw me and started crying herself. They wouldn’t even give me a Tylenol when I asked.”

She says she does not regret her abortion

“The Physical Pain of Killing a Child” CultureShift September 25, 2018

Visited October 3, 2018

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Abortion worker; Women “punish themselves” for abortion by using abortion pill

Abortion counselor Andrea Butcher:

“Occasionally, a woman will say that she wants an RU-486 abortion to punish herself for having become pregnant, even if it was a failure of contraception. She feels guilty and wants to punish herself with what she believes will be hours of strong period pains and consciousness of the procedure. She believes that she will be aware of the miscarriage and body changes and that remembering the procedure will force her not to let it happen again. That is not a good reason for having an RU-486 abortion. I have also heard women say that they want to have a local anesthetic prior to a surgical abortion for the same reason – to remain conscious through the procedure so that it won’t happen again. Consciousness is seen as a form of punishment.”

Miriam Claire The Abortion Dilemma: Personal Views on a Public Issue (New York: Insight Books, 1995) 154

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District Attorney describes terrible conditions in Kermit Gosnell’s clinic

Dist. Atty. Seth Williams describing Kermit Gosnell’s clinic after raiding it under suspicion that he was prescribing illegal narcotics. Keep in mind that this clinic was legally doing abortions:

“There was blood on the floor. A stench of urine filled the air. A flea infested cat was wandering through the facility, and there were cat feces on the stairs. Semi-conscious women scheduled for abortions were moaning in the waiting room or the recovery room, where they sat on dirty recliners covered with bloodstained blankets.

All the women had been sedated by unlicensed staff – long before Gosnell arrived at the clinic – and staff members could not accurately state what medications or dosages they had administered to the waiting patients. Many of the medications in the inventory were past their expiration dates.

Investigators found the clinic grossly unsuitable as a surgical facility. The two surgical procedure rooms were filthy and unsanitary – Agent [Stephen] Doughtery described them as resembling “a bad gas station restroom.” Instruments were not sterile. Equipment was rusty and outdated. Oxygen equipment was covered with dust, and had not been inspected. The same corroded suction tubing used for abortions was the only tubing available for oral airways if assistance for breathing was needed. There was no functioning resuscitation or even monitoring equipment, except for single blood pressure cuff in the recovery room.”

James Taranto “Back Alley Abortion Never Ended” Wall Street Journal April 18, 2013

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14 year old has complications during abortion

Linda Huffsteller wrote about her abortion:

“I was only 14 years old acting out of fear and desperation. I didn’t even give them an I.D. because I didn’t have any. . . . All I had to do is sign in. No one even talked to me until I had a gown on and was ready to wheel me to the OR room. During my abortion I was told by the nurses that I almost didn’t make it and there was complications. I was told I would be in and out within an hour or two. I was in recovery for the next 10 hours and my boyfriend (now my husband) wasn’t kept informed why I wasn’t coming out into the waiting room where he had to wait. They even locked the doors due to closing time.”

AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF OF 3,348 WOMEN INJURED BY ABORTION AND THE JUSTICE FOUNDATION IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENTS FOR AFFIRMANCE

WHOLE WOMAN’S HEALTH, et al., Petitioners, v. JOHN HELLERSTEDT, M.D., COMMISSIONER, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES, et al., Respondents.

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Questionnaire shows high rate of depression, guilt in post-abortive women

A questionnaire given out by a pro-life researcher asked post-abortive women whether they felt certain emotions after their abortions. Following are the percentages of women in the survey that said yes to the following emotions. The question was “Circle any that apply to your abortion.”

guilt: 89%

worry: 80%

shame: 87%

panic: 60%

emptiness: 61%

sorrow: 71%

isolation: 62%

anxiety: 73%

anger: 77%

fear: 85%

insecurity: 81%

weeping: 69%

depression: 81%

regret: 82%

eating disorders: 55%

sexual problems: 62%

emotionally numb: 59%

suicidal thoughts: 67%

chemical dependency: 73%

separated from God: 53%

hopelessness: 79%

Jennifer O’Neill Healing through God’s Grace after Abortion (Deerfield Beach, Florida: Faith Communications, 2005)

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Woman kills herself after abortion, never told there was no baby

A book on post-abortion women cited the following case from The Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology:

“An 18-year-old female underwent suction curettage for a suspected pregnancy at 8 weeks duration. She committed suicide three days after the procedure, having expressed guilt about having killed her baby. There had been no pregnancy tissue in the suction specimen, but the patient was never told this.”

Paula Ervin Women Exploited: The Other Victims of Abortion (Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor Inc., 1985) 68

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Counselor on the abortion experience

From one therapist:

“From my own experience as a counselor, I’m convinced that the experience of abortion rarely leaves a woman emotionally and psychologically whole.”

Dr. Ron Lee Davis

Dr. Ron Lee Davis, James D Denney A Time for Compassion: A Call to Cherish and Protect Life (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H Revell Company, 1986)

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Woman who worked at mental hospital says many patients had abortions

A woman named Kae who worked in a mental hospital says:

“During the years that I worked in a psych unit of the hospital, I encountered many depressed women who had abortions and kept their emotions about it buried. The emotional pain that is hidden so deeply will eventually resurface if left unresolved. Many of these women suffered from eating disorders. Most eating disorders manifest from the patient’s desire to gain control over certain issues in her life. Most young girls I saw who had been pushed into abortions by their parents or boyfriends would either overeat, not eat, or purge… Emotional pain surfaces. Psychiatric episodes are also very real to some of these women whose pain from abortion had been ignored and therefore untreated.”

Jennifer O’Neill Healing through God’s Grace after Abortion (Deerfield Beach, Florida: Faith Communications, 2005) 74 – 75

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