They said it.
Clare Murphy, a spokesperson for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, a chain of abortion clinics in England, says there is “not a jot of evidence” that women suffer post-abortion trauma.
But she says:
“There will of course be women who, even if they do not regret their decision, feel devastated that this was a decision they had to take in the first place.”
Radhika Sanghani “The harsh truth about how women feel after an abortion” The Telegraph 14 July 2015
Share on FacebookClare Murphy, a spokesperson for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, a chain of abortion clinics, says there is “not a jot of evidence” that women suffer post-abortion trauma.
But she says:
“There will of course be women who, even if they do not regret their decision, feel devastated that this was a decision they had to take in the first place.”
Radhika Sanghani “The harsh truth about how women feel after an abortion” The Telegraph 14 July 2015
Share on FacebookByllye Avery, founder of the National Black Women’s Health Project, interviewed many women about their life experiences. She says:
“Women have been totally silent about all the issues. But the issue they were most silent about was abortion. I was amazed that women would talk about the worst kinds of psychological abuse. But they would not talk about their abortions.”
Quoted in Serena Garcia Collective Voices: Newsletter: Defending Abortion Rights as Black Women (Atlanta, Georgia: SisterSong, Summer 2011) 6
Is there something about abortion that is so traumatic that women can’t talk about it? Many women just want to forget their abortions and never tell anyone. If abortion was just the removal of cells, akin to getting a tooth pulled, why would women have such a hard time owning up to and discussing their abortions?
Share on FacebookAbortion worker Steph Herold expresses her frustration over how few of the women she who came to her clinic are active in the pro-choice movement:
“We need our patients, who we do everything for, to stand up for us. We don’t need them to tell their abortion stories to everyone they know, although of course, that would be great. We need them to fight for abortion access in whatever way makes sense to them. If one in three US women has an abortion by age 45, where are these women? Why don’t they stand up for us?”
Sarah Erdreich Generation Roe: Inside the Future of the Pro-Choice Movement (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2013) 175
Could it be because women don’t find their abortions empowering and don’t want to advocate for abortion after they’ve been wounded by one?
Share on FacebookAbortion facility owner Maggie Cage ran a full-page newspaper ad during Operation Rescue’s campaign. While pro-lifers staged sit-ins in front of the facility door, Cage called for her former patients to come and “defend” the facility. She couldn’t understand why they weren’t coming back to support the clinic:
“Where are you? Where are all the people we’ve helped over the years? We need you now. When you needed us, we were there. We held your hand and supported you. We see you in restaurants and at the grocery store, at PTA meetings and softball games. You are the businesspeople, the school officials, the politicians, the voters. We kept you safe. We held your secrets. But now we need help. Where are you?”
Quoted in Susan Wicklund This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor (New York: Public Affairs Perseus Books Group, 2007) 160
Could it be because these women didn’t feel so “helped” by their abortions?
Share on FacebookAbortionist William J. Sweeney III writes:
“Consider five patients going up to the operating room for a dilation and curettage [for a non-abortion reason]: we put them to sleep and do the procedure: then they go to the recovery room and everything’s fine. But if we take five women upstairs to have abortions by suction curette, at least four of them will vomit as they’re waking up in the recovery room. Now although an abortion is a more delicate procedure technically, it’s practically the same operation as a D&C when you assess what has been done to the patient: same anesthesia, same operating room, same nurses, same doctors. Yet only an occasional D&C patient is nauseated whereas the vast majority of abortion patients will vomit. I think they throw up because of an underlying emotional feeling. Maybe they’re trying to get rid of the baby or their guilt. Or maybe they’re punishing themselves… Legal or not, an abortion is still a traumatic experience for most women.”
William J. Sweeney III, MD, Barbara Lang Stern Woman’s Doctor: A Year in the Life of an Obstetrician-Gynecologist (New York: Morrow & Company, 1973) 209
Share on FacebookA woman who had an abortion at 17 and is now a pro-life speaker describes an experience she had when she did a pro-life talk in front of a group of students:
“I think the saddest thing that happened to date was in New Brunswick when I addressed a mixed group of students. There was a young girl in the audience who seemed very uncomfortable. I knew her life had in some way been touched by abortion and I wasn’t surprised to see her quietly make her way up to me afterwards. She stood off to the side patiently waiting for privacy. I excused myself and went to her. She was only 17, and she broke down immediately. “I had an abortion just last Thursday and I wanted to know… Do you ever…get over it?” And she cried and I held her and cried with her as I remembered another 17-year-old and a wound that will never heal completely.
There is so much pain out there. One nun remarked at one time that the women are like broken pieces of the finest porcelain china. They can never, ever, be put back together like they once were. For many, their lives are completely shattered. These women, too, need to be made aware that they are not alone and there is a faction of society that does not condemn, does not ignore, but understands and can respond to whatever needs they might have.”
Tanya Hughson 15 Minutes: The Story of My Abortion Victoria, British Columbia: Braemar Books LTD, Life Cycle Books, 2205 Danforth Ave., Toronto, Ontario, M4C IK4, undated, pgs 75 – 76
Share on FacebookA 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
Share on FacebookA 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
Share on FacebookFrom 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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