The Forbidden Grief: The Unspoken Pain of Abortion by Theresa Karminski Burke and David C. Reardon tells the stories of woman who have had abortions and suffered trauma from the experience. One woman identified as “Julie” told the story of her sister who had an abortion after being the victim of incest.
Julie’s sister eventually went on to have three children. She suffered tremendously from memories of the incest and also of the abortion, and went through many years of counseling.
As an adult, she became pregnant for a fifth time and was encouraged by those around her to have a second abortion. After the abortion, the woman’s problems became worse and she ended up killing herself. Julie wants abortion clinics to have better counseling and to screen prospective patients better. She says:
“She [my sister] was crying when she entered the clinic; she cried throughout the procedure, and was sobbing as she left. No one at the clinic asked her any questions that might upset her any more. But of course, had anyone asked her, they might have recognized that she was not emotionally strong enough to stand the abortion. Had they inquired about her health history they may have seen her as the high risk patient she was.
None of this took place. One week after the abortion, she took her life with a gunshot to the chest, striking her heart. Her three children are growing up without their mom because no one wanted to ask questions.
I am suggesting nothing that would bar any healthy, determined woman from obtaining an abortion she is sure she wants. But abortion without regulation doesn’t give her a chance to make all the decisions based on the true facts and the security of knowing that as much as possible has been done to protect her against criminal-minded persons and inferior medical practices.”
Excerpted from Forbidden Grief: The Unspoken Pain of Abortion by Theresa Kurminski Burke with David C. Reardon (Springfield, IL: Acorn Books) 2000
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