ClinicQuotes

Cynthia Hardeman wrote about her abortion and its aftermath:

“My ex-husband and I decided to abort our third child because of the instability of our marriage, our finances, and our desires… Instead of seeking counsel, we chose to abort and give up. Little did we know what we would deal with the rest of our lives.

During my abortion I actually saw an innocent life ripped apart and trashed like garbage. The ordeal was enough to put me in bed weeping for days. To deal with the pain, I turned to drugs and alcohol. My first marriage disintegrated quickly, and I married 2 more times. I tried everything to ease the pain of what I thought was insanity.…

I was literally on the edge and suicide seemed the only way out. Being a Christian, I knew I needed help. That is when I began to deal with the tragedy that haunted the inner depths of my very soul. Healing has not been an easy process.”

Wendy Williams, Ann Caldwell Empty Arms: More Than 60 Life-Giving Stories of Hope from the Devastation of Abortion (Chattanooga, Tennessee: Living Ink Books, 2005) 35

A nurse who worked with women who had abortions had an abortion herself. She describes the bewilderment and fear she felt. The nurse sent a letter to the makers of the program “Mixed Feelings”:

“I write anonymously as a nurse who has cared for women having abortions. Although I am familiar with hospital routine, it was quite different experiencing it from the other side. I find it frightening and bewildering, because no one bothered to explain any of what was going on. Nobody ever stopped to ask how I was feeling. In the hospital, everything was unreal and frighteningly out of my control. At one point, a nurse came in after several hours spent on my own to find me crying. She asked if I was in pain. I said no, and she walked out without a word. I think that I have learned that good nursing care means more than efficiently performing tasks. I certainly have never felt more alone and scared.”

Mary Kenny Abortion: The Whole Story (London: Quartet Books, 1986) 273

This nurse found out firsthand that having an abortion is not an easy experience for a woman.

When Cindy Hendrickson was a teenager, she had a saline abortion. Saline abortions are seldom performed today. They were done by injecting a caustic saline solution into the uterus to kill the baby and then inducing labor.

Hendrickson says:

“When I told my parents about the pregnancy, dad decided I would have an abortion, even though I wanted to give my baby up for adoption. We told no one about the baby. My mother always obeyed my father, and I was afraid to disobey him, so I agreed to the abortion.

Mother and I went to a Houston clinic where dad said they had counselors to help me. Mother paid them $500 in cash and was told to leave me there. The counselor took all the girls (about 25) and taught us about birth control.

That was the last I saw of her. I was given a shot of Demerol, and around midnight the doctor came to my room and injected saline my uterus. The nurse never told me what would happen.

Later, I went to the bathroom and saw my baby hanging from the umbilical cord. As I screamed hysterically for help, I heard the nurses out in the hall talking and laughing.

After 15 minutes, my roommate went to get a nurse. She made me get back in bed with the baby hanging between my legs and said they had to wait until I passed the placenta. I lay in bed crying, trying not to touch the baby with my legs. Finally, they removed it. We went home…”

She writes about the emotional aftermath of her abortion:

“During college I started taking speed, stopped eating, and was anorexic (90 pounds.) I was on antidepressants for 20 years until recently… I spent 8 years after the abortion in destructive behaviors, going to three different secular counselors and never talking about the abortion.

A Christian counselor at Birth Choice helped me examine how I felt about my child, and I grieved for three days and nights. She suggested The Memorial as a place to honor my child, and that has given me peace.”

Wendy Williams, Ann Caldwell Empty Arms: More Than 60 Life-Giving Stories of Hope from the Devastation of Abortion (Chattanooga, Tennessee: Living Ink Books, 2005) 112 – 113