ClinicQuotes

Man unprepared for impact of partner’s abortion

A man named Charles whose partner had an abortion says:

“I knew what was going to happen wasn’t really up to me. So it was obviously one of the most powerless moments of my life — by a longshot. And feeling powerless about something that’s very much a part of you makes you feel very alone…..

I had a good idea of what was medically involved in an abortion, but I definitely wasn’t prepared for how I’d feel or how to process that feeling. Watching my half-sister grow up, who was a year older than this baby would’ve been, would sometimes remind me that another reality could’ve played out….Talking about how I was feeling seemed impossible….”

Angelina Chapin “8 Men on What It Was Like When Their Partner Had an Abortion” Mel Here

visited 10/2/2017

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Post-Abortion woman: No one told me the truth

From one postabortion woman:

“Not just one, but two children were ripped from my womb within a year of each other. Oh, they were not called children back then. Instead, they were called “blobs of tissue not yet formed,” according to the Planned Parenthood counselors. Little did I know that my life would become even more complicated and dysfunctional as a result of this decision – if you can call it that, for it really was the only choice I was given…

Why wasn’t I told about the side effects of abortion – the pain, the guilt, the fear, the anger, the condemnation, and the loss? No one told me about the depression, the hurt, the loneliness, the fatigue, the anxiety, and the suicidal thoughts that would follow me for years after my abortion. No one told me how I would react when I would see little babies in the mall, or that I would break down and cry if I passed the baby section of the department store. No warning was given to me that I would mourn the death of my children for many years to come and not understand what had gone on inside of me. No one told me I wouldn’t enjoy sex again… I had severe intimacy issues, migraine headaches, and seething anger… I rejected all those who loved me; yet I had sex with men in order to feel loved.…

Is this how someone should feel for simply removing a blob of tissue from the womb? This feeling never occurred after my period, when I could see blood and a clot – like substance releasing from my body. What was different? I was not a medical doctor, but I knew something was wrong. I had been lied to!…

I was told the abortion was supposed to allow me to finish school and later have a family. I was told the abortion was to make the “mistake” go away, and my boyfriend and I could still get married and have children. I was told after the abortion that I’d be on my way, free and clear, with no regret, because I was young and had my whole life in front of me. After the abortion I was told I might bleed a bit, just like having a period, for a few days, and that I might experience cramping and weakness, but after that I’d be fine. Lies, lies, and more lies! Planned Parenthood lied to me, society lied to me, and the doctors lied to me…

I did not finish school. The relationship between my boyfriend and I went from bad to worse, and I lost intimacy not only with him but also with my friends and family… My depression, my self-hatred, these all came about as a direct result of the lies I believed from the counselors. This, in turn, resulted in my consent to abortion and sent me through a downward cycle of torment.”

Cheryl Chew Make Me Your Choice (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publishers, 2006) 81 – 83

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Abortion doula encourages 14 year old girl having abortion

An abortion doula, who encourages women while they have abortions, recalls talking to a girl about to have an abortion:

“Another patient asks, “Do you think I’m too young for an abortion?” I tell her no; I think she’s making a really responsible choice. She looks at me, says, “Do you even know how old I am?” I shake my head no. “I’m 14,” she says.”

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

Above: most abortions take place around this time.

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Abortion clinic supervisor on women’s choices

A supervisor at an abortion clinic says the following:

“I feel it’s important for women to acknowledge that sometimes they have got a choice, even though it’s not a very good one. Like living on welfare, it is a choice, even though it’s not attractive. You acknowledge that people have got a choice, even if it is a very small amount of choice because of their circumstances…

Women may say, oh, I don’t want to have a baby because I haven’t enough money, or my partner and I haven’t known one another very long. When I feel it’s good just to say, I don’t want a baby at the moment. I think that’s perfectly all right. There’s nothing stronger than that, when you think of what it takes to have a baby.”

Patricia Lunneborg Abortion: A Positive Decision (Westport, Connecticut: Bergen & Garvey, 1992)

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Communist compares banning abortion to rape

From one pro-choice article:

“Banning abortion is like rape – the violent assertion of male domination and male supremacist society over women, forceful and violent control of women’s bodies, in the most personal dimensions.

Banning abortion means suppression of women by force of law and the state. It is institutionalized violence against women.”

Revolutionary Worker “A Revolutionary Communist Viewpoint on Abortion and Women’s Liberation” January 15, 1995

Below are diagrams of the two most common abortion procedures. Is opposing these procedures equivalent to supporting rape?

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23% of pro-choicers believe life begins at conception

According to one study:

“14% of pro-choice advocates say life begins when the fetus has measurable brain activity or motion.

Even among pro-choice advocates, 23% believe life begins at fertilization.

38% of pro-choice advocates believe life begins when the fetus would be able to survive outside the womb.

15% believe life begins at birth.”

“When Does Life Begin?” The Harris Poll, HarrisInteractive, February 18, 2007

]Cited in Johannah Haney The Abortion Debate: Understanding the Issues (Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, Inc., 2009) 19

Brain waves have been measured in an embryo at 42 days after conception

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Study: women who have repeat abortions have problems getting along with others

“A study at the University of Pennsylvania found that repeat abortion patients had more difficulty in getting along with others and evidenced significantly higher distress scores on interpersonal sensitivity, paranoid ideation, phobic anxiety, and sleep disturbance than women undergoing abortion for the first time.”

Ellen Freeman “Emotional Distress Patterns among Women Having First or Repeat Abortions” Obstetrics and Gynecology 55 (5), 1980, 630

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Juli Loesch on Operation Rescue and nonviolence

Juli Loesch, who helped organize sit ins with Operation Rescue, describes the organization’s commitment to nonviolence:

“Operation Rescue has a serious commitment to nonviolence: participants sign a pledge to refrain from engaging in verbal exchanges with abortion–bound women, clinic staffers, hecklers, or police. Operation Rescue people don’t carry picket signs. They are instructed not to shout or chant; the rules call for singing, praying, or maintaining a dignified silence…

Judging from the number of apparent “turnarounds” at the sites and the increasing numbers of women seeking help at pregnancy aid centers, Operation Rescue leaders are reasonably sure that 400 – 500 pregnant women and their children were indeed “rescued” in 1988 because of Operation Rescue efforts.”

Juli Loesch “Operation Rescue” Fidelity August 1988, 17

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Student says death of “tiny life” will motivate her

Olivia was 17 when she had her abortion. She says:

“I couldn’t even conceive of having a child then; of being a pregnant highschooler; of letting my family down; of the shame I would feel if anyone else knew; of not going to college. There were so many reasons to have the abortion, in my mind, and virtually no reason not to have one.”

She went on to study medicine. She describes how the death of her baby “motivates” her to be a better person.

“I try to let [the abortion] motivate me to help others, so that that tiny life that was beginning inside of me will continue to teach me for the rest of my life; so it will motivate me to be the best person I can be and to help others do the same for themselves.”

Johannah Haney The Abortion Debate: Understanding the Issues (Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, Inc., 2009) 44 – 45

Olivia knows that her baby was a “tiny life.” On some level, she may feel guilt, and tries to give her lost baby meaning by using his/her death to inspire her to be “the best person” she can be.

7 1/2 weeks. Most abortions happen at this time in pregnancy or later.

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Pro-Choice man says abortion “messed with me horribly”

A man named Rodolfo Parra shares his feelings about the child he and his partner aborted:

“We broke up about six months later, but the abortion haunted me for a long time. When I was younger, I’d get high and think of the kid I could’ve had. It messed with me horribly — I felt like the biggest piece of shit in the world. That kid would be seven or eight now. What if they were a straight-A student and went on to do something amazing? Part of me still feels like a coward….

I’m pro-choice, but I feel completely selfish that I thought more about how I would pay for the abortion than a potential life that could have impacted so many others. Maybe all we had to do was struggle to make it work, but instead, we chose to not even try. I still don’t think I ever deserve to have another kid. I’ll adopt going forward because I feel that I’ve lost my privilege to help create a life.”

Angelina Chapin “8 Men on What It Was Like When Their Partner Had an Abortion” Mel

visited 10/2/2017

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