Category: Women’s Stories

“I remember some of the women just squalling, just absolutely lost their minds, just crying. And I remember shaking constantly. It was just like you were a herd of cattle… Women were crying before they went in and they were crying after.”

Postabortion woman.

James D Slack Abortion, Execution, and the Consequences of Taking Life (New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 2009) 64

From an interview with a postabortion woman:

“When Donna arrived at the clinic with her boyfriend there were forms to fill out. The forms asked “Do you want counseling?” Donna replied, “Yes.” The forms also asked “Are you sure you want this abortion?” Donna replied, “No.”

Donna told me, “I wanted to know the facts about abortion. I wanted to know how it would affect me physically and mentally. I wanted to know if the fetus was human.”

Before Donna received any counseling, she, along with the other women, first paid for the abortion, had her blood test taken, was told to undress and given a hospital gown to wear. In other words, she was “prepped” for an abortion she had indicated on the form she wasn’t even sure she wanted!”

Pro-Life Feminism: Different Voices Gail-Garnier-Sweet, editor Life Cycle Books (June 1985)

Pro-life writer Rachel McNair recounted the following:

“During a phone in radio interview a woman who underwent an abortion several years earlier insisted that she had made the right decision.  Yet the pain in her voice was so obvious that I made reference to it without the remotest fear that there was anyone in the audience who would not [perceive] it.  It was not just her tone of voice; she referred to the incident as “two hours of pain and humiliation.”

Rachel MacNair”Is Abortion Good for Women” Angela Kennedy , editor “Swimming Against the Tide: Feminist Dissent on the Issue of Abortion”  (Dublin Ireland: Four Courts Press, 1997) 79 – 80

Bureeda B. who had two abortions:

“Regardless of what pro-choice people say… if the spontaneous impulse of abortion had not been an available option, I would have learned to live with and love the idea of the baby of my own. “

Pamphlet: “Abortion: where have all the babies gone?” American tract Society, 1985.

“I went to the Aware Women’s Clinic on Friday, May 24, 1986. There were at least 15 of us that were there that day. The took us all into a room so we could fill out a form and they gave us all some kind of pill. I do not know what it was. The only question that I remember answering was the last one, “Do you really want to have this abortion?” I wrote no. They collected our forms and few minutes later a nice lady came and took me out of the room. We went down a hall and into her office. She very kind and soft spoken, she was the grandmotherly type. She asked me why I put no on the last question. I told her that I loved the feeling of being pregnant. I also told her the story that lead me to the clinic. She agreed with the other ladies and assured me that I was making the best choice. It was only a blob of tissue, not a baby yet, I was too young to have a baby anyway, when I left there that day I would never have to think about it again, etc…. so, I allowed them to kill my baby that day….When I first arrived at the clinic there was a girl there about 14 years old. She was crying and begging her parents not to let them kill her baby. Someone on the staff came and took her and her parents to another room away from the rest of us. I did not see her again that day. However, I did hear her screams an hour or so later.

After I joined the group again, they took us into a room for us to change into a gown. We were all just sitting in that room in silence and awkwardness. The nurse came in and told us they would start the procedures soon and they would take us one at a time. (like an assembly line) The minute she walked out of the door we heard the 14 year old. She was yelling and begging the doctor not to kill her baby. I will never, ever forget the sound of her screams as long as I live! The lady that took me into her office earlier came into the room with us. She said that the girl was okay, they hadn’t even started the procedure yet she was just a little frightened. (YEA RIGHT!) Well, you can guess who they took next? Me of course. I know they were worried that I was about to leave the clinic.

The grandmotherly lady took me in there herself and told me she would hold my hand. The doctor said only two things to me. The first was, “Thank God I have one that is not screaming!” Then he turned on a machine that sounded like a huge vacuum cleaner. The grandmotherly lady told me it would hurt a little but would only take a minute, and the doctor finished the procedure. The second thing he said to me was, “You were barely six weeks along,” and he left the room.

I was looking through a medical book two years after my abortion and I flipped the page and there was a two page spread of what a fetus looked like during a pregnancy. My entire world came crashing down that day. I saw for the first time what the baby looked like when I allowed it to be killed. I had a nervous brake down that night. I begged God to please give me back the baby! For the next five years I stuffed it way down inside me. I just could not believe what I had done. I could not think about it anymore.”

“Kirsten’s Story” The Forerunner May 24, 1986

Ellen Hamilton, who had an abortion because she was raped, said she was more traumatized by the abortion.

According to Danielle Capelli with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on a NPR “All Things” Considered segment April 3, 1992, “Abortions without Anesthesia at Canadian Hospital.”

“She was sent over to Yellowknife, and she had–she was told that no anesthesia would be used because it wasn’t necessary; that general anesthesia was dangerous–that it would cause bleeding–and that local anesthesia wasn’t needed because it would only cause minor discomfort and the procedure would be over in a couple of minutes. In fact, she found it excruciatingly painful. She said she was strapped down to the table, held down by a number of nurses, including one male member of the staff at the hospital who had to come in and help hold her down. She said she was screaming and writhing in pain; she was begging the doctor to stop. The doctor was yelling at her, saying, ‘You’re only making it worse, stop moving,’ and refused to stop; he just kept going. “

“I had an abortion in Anaheim without my parents’ knowledge. The doctor performing the operation molested me, knowing I would not tell. I will vote yes on parental notification.”

caller on the O’Reilly Factor

The O’Reilly Factor Transcript 10-13-2005