And I am angry. I am angry at Billie Jean King and Gloria Steinem
and every woman who ever had an abortion and didn't tell me about this
kind of pain. There is a conspiracy among the sisterhood not to tell
each other about guilt and self-hatred and terror. Having an abortion
is not like having a wart removed or your nails done or your hair cut,
and anyone who tells you it is a liar or worse.
"An Apology to a Little Boy I Won't Ever See."[1]
Anti-Life Philosophy.
[Post-abortion syndrome is a] largely non-existent phenomenon
[circulated by] anti-family planning extremists ... emotional
responses to legally induced abortions are largely positive.
Planned Parenthood.[2]
The decision to have an abortion is made only after a great deal of
serious thought, and is never made lightly. It is a tragic choice, but a
necessary choice. It must remain available for women with no other
option.
We have been hearing a lot lately about the so-called post-abortion
syndrome (PAS). This is a myth designed by WEBA, Victims of Choice, and
similar anti-choice propaganda fronts. These fanatics cannot make
abortion illegal, so they try to make women feel guilty about exercising
their fundamental Constitutional right to choose abortion.
Contrary to what these groups allege, abortion is a great stress
reliever, and gives peace of mind to a woman by relieving her of an
unwanted pregnancy. Post-abortion syndrome simply does not exist, and
this is why post-abortion counseling is completely unnecessary.
A Serious Decision?
Whatever the differences in conscious or unconscious motivations
for abortion, the experience of abortion inevitably arouses an
unconscious sense of guilt.
Flaunders Dunbar, M.D., M.SC.D., Ph.D.,
Director of Psychosomatic Research, Columbia Presbyterian Medical
Center.[3]
For Some Women, Perhaps ...
It is certainly true that many women arrive at the decision to abort
only after an intense period of soul-searching and reflection. And many
other women are simply not allowed to reflect or even to have a
truly free choice: they are indirectly or even directly pressured
into abortion by husbands or boyfriends, or, even more despicably, by parents
who want to preserve their family's 'good name' by shedding the blood of
their own grandchildren.
However, not every woman aborts after careful consideration of
all the options. Every sidewalk counselor has encountered many women who
are totally cold towards their preborn babies and literally could not
care less about them. Every sidewalk counselor has been cursed at,
ridiculed, and told by these women words to the effect of "Yes, I
use abortion for birth control. This is my fourth. So what? I couldn't
care less. It's my choice, it's legal, and you can f_ck off!"
According to Neofeminist abortion clinic operators, some women were
already having their third legal abortion within nine months of the
procedure being legalized in New York State.[4] And state abortion
statistics consistently show that many women having their fifth and
sixth abortions are no more likely to use contraception than when they
had their first abortion.[5]
The 'Gifts' of Abortion.
Some Neofeminists even advocate using abortion as a fertility
'self-check.' In other words, they urge women to get pregnant for the
sole purpose of insuring that their reproductive systems are functioning
properly. Once this is ascertained, of course, their babies must be
consigned to the garbage can.
This "fertility self-check" is one of the "many gifts
of abortion" described by author Rebecca Altafut.[6] She also says
that another of the alleged "gifts" of abortion is that women
don't have to be bothered with the inconvenience of birth control. Talk
about aggressive rationalization!
Even Abortionists Can Be Disgusted.
This totally callous and selfish attitude has been extensively
documented and has even distressed many hardened abortionists over the
years. Women who couldn't care less about their preborn babies have been
using abortion for birth control even when contraception was easily
available to them.
Therefore, pro-life activists should not fall for the propaganda that
it is an "agonizing decision" for every woman.
Some sample quotes from pro-aborts who believe that abortion is
trivial in nature, and from those abortionists who are disgusted by this
cavalier attitude, are listed below.
How come they [right-to-lifers] don't get upset over a little kid
having its tonsils out? That's worse than having an abortion any day!
"Abortion Eve," 1973 anti-Catholic
comic book by Chin Lyvely and Joyce Sutton, promoted by Planned
Parenthood, page 20.
'Women don't do this [abortion] lightly.' I'm sick and tired of
hearing this. 98 percent of the women do do it lightly in here, but I
never say that. And they do it lightly. They think of abortion like
brushing their dime teeth, and that's OK with me.
Marilyn Buckham, director, Buffalo GYN
Womenservices Clinic, quoted in the Revolutionary Worker
(Revolutionary Communist Party newspaper), March 6, 1989.
I do dislike a certain type of modern young woman who indulges
promiscuously, uses contraceptives rather reluctantly, preferring
repeat abortions, which she regards as lightly as tossing down a
cocktail or a glass of whiskey.
British abortionist William Robinson, quoted
in the Critic and Guide, 1921, page 24.
Abortion is so routine that one expects it to be like a manicure:
Quick, cheap, and painless.
Sallie Tisdale, abortion clinic nurse,
October 1987 Harpers Magazine article entitled "We Do
Abortions Here."
On Abortion and Childbirth.
As described in Chapter 59, "Maternal Deaths Due to
Abortion," most pro-abortionists wrongly insist that childbirth is
anywhere from five to one hundred times more dangerous than their
treasured "safe and legal" abortion.
They make such comparisons when discussing the risks of pregnancy and
childbirth to maternal physical health. Since the pro-aborts do not even
acknowledge the existence of post-abortion syndrome, they make no
comparisons between the psychological trauma associated with abortion
and childbirth, other than in extremely general terms.
So how do abortion and childbirth compare in terms of causing
psychological stress?
Psychiatrists J. Lawrence Jamieson and Martin H. Stein of the
Dominion Hospital and Sleepy Hollow Psychiatric Center, Falls Church,
Virginia, recently conducted a study of the most traumatic events in the
lives of hundreds of women. Each of these women rated a comprehensive
list of fifty stressful life events on a scale of one to one hundred,
with forcible rape (as the most stressful event) given the maximum value
of one hundred points. All other events were keyed to this maximum
scale, and the numbers shown below indicate the perceived relative
intensity of selected stressful situations to the study group.
THE MOST STRESSFUL EVENTS IN WOMEN'S LIVES
[A medium text size on your computer's 'view'
setting is recommended, otherwise, the tables may be discombobulated.]
Ranking of Life Event Points
#1.
Rape
100
#2. Parent's
suicide
99
#3. Parent's
death
95
#4. Parent's
divorce
90
#5. Past or present sexual
abuse
85
.
.
#9.
Abortion
77
#18.
Pregnancy
60
#20. Child seeing single parent
fornicating
53
#22. Breakup with steady
boyfriend
51
#27. Fear of nuclear
war
45
#33. First sexual
encounter
38
#40. College
rejection
28
#43. Fear of
AIDS
20
Reference: J. Lawrence Jamieson, Ph.D., and
Martin H. Stein, M.D. of Dominion Hospital and Sleepy Hollow Psychiatric
Center, Falls Church, Virginia. "The Holmes Personal Stress
Scale." This study is described in The Oregonian, December
28, 1986.
It is interesting to note that this large group of women rated
"pregnancy" much lower than "abortion" as a
stressful life event. Significantly, this study also revealed that
ending a pregnancy with abortion more than doubles the stress that a
woman must endure from the pregnancy itself.
Other surveys and studies have confirmed that abortion consistently
ranks at or near the top of the scale as a life event that causes
extremely high levels of emotional distress. A 1992 Gallup poll showed
that, of all of the events or situations that would make a person feel
"bad about himself," 67% of the women questioned and 55% of
the men questioned in the age group 18 to 29 years old stated that
having an abortion tops the list.
Note that women in this age group are more likely than those in any
other age group to have abortions.[7]
What About the Rest? The
Impacts of PAS.
Nobody must find out or they will do that to me again, strap me to
the death machine, emptiness machine, legs in the metal framework,
secret knives. This time I won't let them.
Margaret Atwood.[8]
Introduction.
PAS is now a recognized psychological trauma, similar in cause, scope
and effect to the delayed shock syndrome (DSS) experienced by many
Vietnam veterans. Just as many Vietnam vets do not suffer from
DSS, many aborted women do not suffer from PAS. In particular,
those women whose only problem with abortion is the cost seem to
experience little or no remorse over their decisions. Their consciences
have been effectively killed, usually by an amoral, utilitarian
lifestyle practiced long before they killed their preborn babies.
This utilitarian worldview is epitomized by women like writer Barbara
Ehrenreich, who claims that "Quite apart from blowing up clinics
and terrorizing patients, the anti-abortion movement can take credit for
a more subtle and lasting kind of damage: It has succeeded in getting
even pro-choice people to think of abortion as a "moral
dilemma," an "agonizing decision," and related code
phrases for something murky and compromising, like the traffic in infant
formula mix. In liberal circles, it has become unstylish to discuss
abortion without using words like "complex,"
"painful," and the rest of the mealy-mouthed vocabulary of
evasion. Regrets are also fashionable, and one otherwise feminist author
writes recently of mourning, each year following her birthday, the
putative birthday of her discarded fetus. I cannot speak of other women,
of course, but the one regret I have about my own abortions is that they
cost money that might otherwise have been spent on something more
pleasurable, like taking the kids to movies and theme parks ..."[9]
But a long series of studies show that women with this callous
attitude are in the minority. Most women do suffer from PAS
especially those women who feel compelled to abort due to very serious
reasons, i.e., grave health dangers, rape, incest, or severe fetal
deformity. The fact that women who abort for the "hard cases"
usually suffer severe PAS contradicts the several pro-abortion
"hard cases" arguments for abortion. Therefore, those women
who face difficult circumstances are, from a psychological point of
view, precisely those who should not abort!
Diagnostic Criteria.
Figure 45-1 lists the diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress
disorder established by the American Psychiatric Association, adapted by
Dr. Vincent Rue for post-abortion syndrome. PAS meets every one of the
criteria listed in this figure for post-traumatic stress disorder.
FIGURE 45-1
AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA FOR POST-TRAUMATIC
STRESS DISORDER, ADAPTED FOR POST-ABORTION SYNDROME
STRESSOR: the intentional destruction
of one's unborn child is sufficiently traumatic and beyond the range of
usual human experience so as to cause significant symptoms of
re-experience, avoidance, and impacted grieving.
RE-EXPERIENCE: The abortion is
re-experienced in the following ways:
1. recurrent and intrusive distressing
recollections of the abortion;
2. recurrent distressing dreams of the
abortion or of the unborn child (e.g., dreams or fantasies about newborn
babies or fetuses);
3. sudden acting or feeling as if the
abortion were recurring (including reliving the experience, illusions,
hallucinations, and dissociative (flashback) episodes including upon
awakening or when intoxicated);
4. intense psychological distress at exposure
to events that symbolize or resemble the abortion experience (e.g.,
clinics, pregnant mothers, subsequent pregnancies);
5. anniversary reactions of intense grieving
and/or depression on subsequent anniversary dates of the abortion or on
the projected due date of the aborted child.
AVOIDANCE: Persistent avoidance of
stimuli associated with the abortion trauma or numbing of responsiveness
(not present before the abortion), as indicated by at least three of the
following:
1. efforts to avoid/deny thoughts or feelings
associated with abortion;
2. efforts to avoid activities, situations,
or information that might arouse memories of the abortion;
3. inability to recall the abortion
experience or an important aspect of the abortion (psychogenic amnesia);
4. markedly diminished interest in
significant activities;
5. feeling of detachment of estrangement from
others;
6. withdrawal in relationships and/or reduced
communication;
7. restricted range of affection, e.g.,
unable to have loving feelings;
8. sense of foreshortened future, e.g., does
not expect to have a career, marriage, children, or a long life.
ASSOCIATED FEATURES: Persistent
symptoms (not present before abortion), as indicated by at least two of
the following:
1. difficulty falling asleep or staying
asleep;
2. irritability or outbursts of anger;
3. difficulty concentrating;
4. hypervigilance;
5. exaggerated startle response to intrusive
recollections or reexperiencing of the abortion trauma;
6. physiologic reactivity upon exposure to
events or situations that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the
abortion (e.g., breaking out in a profuse sweat upon a pelvic
examination, or hearing vacuum pump sounds);
7. depression and suicide ideation;
8. guilt about surviving when one's unborn
child did not;
9. self-devaluation and/or an inability to
forgive one's self;
10. secondary substance abuse.
COURSE: Duration of the disturbance
(symptoms described above) of more than one month's duration, or onset
may be delayed (greater than six months after the abortion).
Reference: Vincent Rue, Ph.D. Specifications
for post-abortion syndrome adapted from diagnostic criteria under the
heading "post-traumatic stress disorder," American Psychiatric
Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
(revised), DSM III-R: criteria 309.89. American Psychiatric Press, 1400
K Street NW, Washington, DC 20005. 1987, pages 247 to 251.
Symptoms of PAS.
PAS had not been categorized and documented until recent years,
because typical early studies had been conducted during the denial phase
immediately following abortions (anywhere from a day to a month after
the act, when most women may indeed feel relief).
However, physicians recognized the lingering signs of post-abortion
syndrome as early as 1870, and this was one reason that the AMA
continued to vigorously oppose abortion as late as the mid-1950s. In the
late 19th Century, one doctor noted the pervasive and lingering
psychological impacts of abortion as he wrote that "We cannot
recall to mind an individual [woman] who has been guilty of this
[abortion] crime (for it must be called a crime under every aspect), who
has not suffered for many years afterward in consequence. And when
health is finally restored, the freshness of life had gone, the vigor of
mind and energy of body have forever departed."[10]
The relief that many women feel immediately after their abortions is definitely
temporary.
A fairly typical sequence of emotions and feelings was described in Mademoiselle
Magazine several years ago; "At first, physical sensations
overpowered her emotions; soon, however, her emotions came up. Even
today, nearly two years later, she says she still thinks about what
happened. A lot. She knows she did the right thing. But now, as she did
that day riding home with her lover, she feels an ache that is not
physical but emotional, as if there were some part of the process left
undone."[11]
If this is the reaction of a woman who believes that abortion was the
right decision for her, imagine the psychological impact on a
woman who was forced into abortion; lied to by clinic personnel about
fetal development; or who converts to a pro-life position later!
The above quote might have been written about the woman described in
the Scripture passage in Jeremiah 21:17. This passage, which prophesies
the massacre of the Holy Innocent, is also an apt description of the
woman bereaved by abortion. These women often have the clinging feeling
that they are 'forever pregnant,' even years after the loss of their
preborns.
Despite intense pressure from Planned Parenthood and other abortion
pushers who did not want her findings published, Dr. Anne Catherine
Speckhard of the University of Minnesota revealed the results of a study
on the psychological effects of abortion upon women that occur after the
initial emotions have subsided. These results are shown below.[12]
COMMON PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACTS OF ABORTION UPON WOMEN
Percent of
Psychological
Effect
Women Affected
Preoccupation with the death
of the unborn
child
81%
Unwanted flashbacks of the
abortion
73%
Feelings of 'craziness'
after the
abortion
69%
Nightmares related to the
abortion
54%
Received visitations from the
aborted
child
35%
Uncontrollable hallucinations
related to the
abortion
23%
Reference: Anne Speckhard. Psycho-Social
Stress Following Abortion. Kansas City, Missouri: Sheed and Ward,
1987.
Dr. Speckhard found that, although 72 percent of the aborted women in
this study reported no religious beliefs at the time of their abortion,
a full 96 percent now believe that their abortions were acts of
murder.[12]
The Experts Speak.
Introduction.
When confronted with evidence regarding PAS, pro-abortionists will
invariably point out that there is no "consensus of opinion"
regarding even the existence of Post-Abortion Syndrome.
This is certainly true, of course. Some cigarette manufacturers also
claim that there is no "consensus of opinion" regarding
whether or not smoking is healthful.
Generally, those who profit from abortion or who are pro-abortion
idealogues deny the existence of PAS. Experienced and impartial field
workers, however, have seen the evidence with their own eyes.
This section contains quotes from eminent psychiatrists, a suicide
worker, and abortionists regarding their experiences with women who
suffer from PAS.
The Psychiatrist's Experiences.
It is interesting to note that eminent psychiatrists, before their
profession got entangled with the abortion business, accurately and
honestly assessed the various aspects of the psychological impacts that
abortion can have on women.
The problem of post-abortion psychiatric trauma was so prevalent that
hundreds of psychiatrists held conventions to address and analyze the
problem.
One of these conferences was convened by the Conference of the
National Committee on Maternal Health on June 19 and 20, 1942, and was
entitled "The Abortion Problem." Many of the psychiatrists who
attended this gathering outlined some of the more common aspects of
abortion-related psychiatric sequelae.
Theodore Lidz, M.D., professor of psychiatry at the Yale University
School of Medicine, stressed that the trauma caused by an abortion may
last for the rest of a woman's life unless she comes to grips with the
guilt it causes; "At times the guilt over the abortion draws into
its dragnet many old guilts, leading to severe depression. In other
instances, the overwhelming guilt cannot be managed and leads to
pathologic projection. The immediate assimilation of the trauma is no
assurance of successful integration: In later years new guilts may
reawaken the dormant and one sees women at the menopause suffering
torment over an abortion performed many years before."[3] David C.
Wilson, M.D., chairman, Department of Neurology and Psychiatry,
University of Virginia, concurred with Dr. Lidz' theory; "The
reaction of guilt and depression is out of proportion to the woman's
apparent attitude and may frequently occur months afterward, although
she denies any feelings of guilt or concern."[3]
More than 80 percent of all relationships break up within three
months after a woman has an abortion. Although men probably instigate
the majority of these breakups, Dr. Harold Rosen outlined how women may
be compelled to reject their "partners" in some way as a
direct cause of abortions; "Some women, married or unmarried alike,
may reject even the very thought of motherhood. Nevertheless, if they do
conceive and manage to have their pregnancies interrupted, they may at
some future date repeat the pattern. This later urge to motherhood seems
greater and more powerful than their previous rejection of the unborn
child. Or, if they cannot again become pregnant, they may grow furious
at their 'sacrifice' and turn their anger and rage, on the one hand,
against themselves by developing a suicidal depression or, on the other,
against their sexual partners by becoming frigid and punishing them
either by developing severely neurotic or psychotic symptoms or by
leaving or divorcing them."[3]
Although there are many common characteristics of the depressions
that women suffer after abortions and after miscarriages, there is one
decisive difference: In the former case, women take an active role in
planning the demise of their preborn children. May E. Romm, M.D.,
Institute of Psychoanalytic Medicine of Southern California, recognized
this difference; "She [any woman] may later equate the abortion
with murder and react to the guilt entailed in it with a reactive
depression or, in extreme cases, with a psychosis. Early inculcated
concepts, whether religious or ethical, which are consciously submerged,
may assert themselves with intense impact after the deed has been
accomplished. There is a cardinal difference between the emotional
reaction of sadness and regret accompanying a spontaneous miscarriage,
and an abortion which was deliberately performed. Reassurance by the
physician that it was indicated does not, at all times, neutralize the
guilt following the operation. The patient is consciously or
unconsciously aware that she participated in the decision."[3]
At the 1955 conference on induced abortion held by Planned
Parenthood, Dr. Iago Gladston summed up the damage that can be caused by
abortion when he said at his talk that "If and when a so-called
adult woman, a responsible female, seeks an abortion, unless the warrant
for it is overwhelming as say in the case of rape or incest we are in
effect confronted both with a sick person and a sick situation.
Furthermore, and I want strongly to underscore this point, neither the
given person nor the given situation is likely to be remedied by the
abortion, qua abortion. It is of course true that both the person and
the situation may be relieved and somewhat ameliorated by the
abortion,just as an individual suffering from a gangrenous foot may be
relieved by the amputation of the affected member, but I would like to
go on record that in numerous instances both the individual and the
situation are actually aggravated rather than remedied by the abortion.
Bad as the situation was initially it not infrequently becomes worse
after the abortion has taken place."[13]
A Suicide Expert Speaks.
M. Uchtman, Ohio Director of Suiciders Anonymous, painted a pitiful
picture of what has happened to many aborted women who have come to her
for help in her September 1, 1981 Report to the Cincinnati City Council;
After years of listening to their [would-be suicide] stories, we
know there are thousands more out there being brave. By holding a
tight reign on their emotions, they tuck all that unexpressed emotion
and unshared experience deep down inside themselves, where it keeps
growing, like a pressured tumor of pain.
Of all the emotions they experienced during the abortion crisis,
none brings more pain and distress than the one they now know and
identify five to ten times more than any other feelings. These women
always tell us the same thing. 'Oh, my god, I am evil. I have to be
evil to have done this thing. I feel so alone, so forsaken.'
Panic and distress grips them after an abortion, because the
feelings are allowed to remain shadowy, ominous, ghost-like. They are
shapes dancing around the edges of their consciousness. They commonly
postpone the moment of truth as long as possible. But when the
subconscious throws it forward, they go through mental hell! Even at
age 87, the critical moment comes when the chilling reality overwhelms
them and cold reality numbs their spirit and casts them into those
dark 'pits' of despair and pain!
They fantasize that the 'cancer' will disappear. But it cannot! So
feelings cannot be denied and repressed without doing violence to
every other area of their living. And to all of those they touch!
Here are the two questions they always ask us: "Will this pain
never die?" and "How many years does it take to get over
this pain?"
Margaret Wold writes: "This pain remains as a counterpoint to
the rest of their lives, even though time mutes its sharpness."
Many women purposely keep the pain alive by never forgiving the
spouse or mate after the decision. He rejects her, leaving her to live
in the pits alone, in the depths and in deep depression!
They become more and more depersonalized, superficial, and
artificial. Suicide is now more desirable for them than a lifetime of
false pretense and hopelessness.
The Abortionists Speak.
Certainly nobody is more qualified to speak on the psychological
aspects of abortion that a veteran abortionist who is also a practicing
psychiatrist.
Probably only one person in this country fits this description
Washington abortionist Julius Fogel, who has killed more than 20,000
babies. According to him, "I've had patients who had abortions a
year or two ago women who did the best thing at the time for themselves
but it still bothers them. Many come in some are just mute, some
hostile. Some burst out crying ... There is no question in my mind that
we are disturbing a life process. The trauma may sink into the
unconscious and never surface in the woman's lifetime ... but a
psychological price is paid. It may be alienation, it may be a pushing
away from human warmth, perhaps a hardening of the maternal instinct.
Something happens on the deeper levels of a woman's consciousness when
she destroys a pregnancy. I know that as a psychiatrist."[14]
Another veteran abortionist has found that, for women who decide not
to abort, the opposite reaction is prevalent. Aleck Bourne, who
confesses to having committed over 5,000 abortions, said that "I
have never known a woman who, when her baby was born, was not overjoyed
I had not killed it."[15]
Curiously, some pro-abortion experts see a pattern of repeated
abortions as a symptom of mental illness. This is very significant, in
light of the fact that 40 percent of all women who obtain abortions are
repeaters.[16]
Not surprisingly, Planned Parenthood (which owns and operates the
largest chain of abortion mills in the country) exhibits a profound
degree of schizophrenia when addressing this topic. On the one hand,
they loudly and persistently claim that women suffer few or no
psychological impacts as a result of their abortions indeed, the
organization states with a straight face that abortion is conducive
to good mental health! On the other hand, one of PP's publications says
that "People who work in abortion clinics have come to believe that
any woman who has repeated abortions shows indications of being
chronically mentally ill, inasmuch as she does not or cannot take
control of her life."[17]
What About the Fathers?
The Current Situation.
The current controlling decision regarding father's rights and
abortion is the United States Supreme Court's Planned Parenthood of
Central Missouri v. Danforth decision of July 7, 1976.
Among other findings, the Court held that any requirement that a
husband even be informed about his wife's abortion is
unconstitutional.
This decision stripped fathers of any legal right whatever to protect
their own preborn children. The father therefore has less of a right to
protect his own child than abortion referral agents have to
arrange its death, the abortionists to kill it, or the State to declare
his slightest opposition unconstitutional and punishable. His
relationship to his own child is deemed much less important than his
relationship to a piece of property say a car or a microwave oven.
At least he has a legal right to defend his car or his microwave.
In his scathing dissent, Justice Byron White stated that "It is
truly surprising that the majority finds in the United States
Constitution, as it must in order to justify the result it reaches, a
rule that the State must assign a greater value to a mother's decision
to cut off a potential human life by abortion than to a father's
decision to let it mature into a live child."
According to a national poll, more than half of all fathers including
married men are not even told that their child has been
aborted.[18] In one case, a father desperate to save his child filed
suit to stop an abortion, and found that the only reason his wife wanted
to kill their child was so that she would look good in a bikini when
they went on summer vacation![19]
His wife had her abortion.
When challenged about the trivial justification for such abortions,
pro-aborts will either duck the question entirely or slavishly insist
that a woman's self-image is much more important than the life of her
child or the right of the father to love his child.
This attitude, while bizarre in the extreme, is nevertheless
understandable. After all, Neofeminists must have complete control.
Control is their religion. They covet it. They need it. Yet they
see no inconsistency in not allowing the father of a preborn baby to
even voice his opinion on whether or not his child may live. While they
squawk loudly about 'oppressive' males, they work for laws that give
them oppressive veto powers over a father's most basic right the right
to protect his own children.
Public Opinion Polls on Father's Rights.
Pro-abortionists love to quote heavily-doctored public opinion polls
that 'show' that 75 percent (80 percent, 88 percent, pick a number that
sounds good) of all American adults think that abortion should remain
legal. They bring up these polls in order to paint pro-lifers as a tiny
(but always 'vocal') minority who should be ignored by the public. They
also point to the polls to shore up their assertion that the 'majority'
should rule and abortion should remain legal.
Naturally, pro-aborts ignore public opinion polls that go against
their positions. Pro-aborts always talk about public opinion polls
except when they do not support the pro-abortion position. Then,
suddenly, we are talking about "basic rights that everyone should
have."
The most well-documented and well-known national poll on abortion
attitudes was performed by the Boston Globe and WBZ-TV on March
27-29, 1989. Two questions addressed spousal rights regarding abortion;
RESULTS OF POLL QUESTIONS ON SPOUSAL RIGHTS
QUESTION: "In this case, do you think it should be legal or
illegal for a woman to obtain an abortion?"
Illegal
Legal
"Mother wants abortion
but father wants
baby."
72%
14%
"Father wants abortion
but mother wants
baby."
75%
11%
This extensive poll clearly shows that three-quarters of the American
public wants each spouse to have essentially a "veto power"
over the abortion decision. Yet pro-abortionists still insist that the
pro-life view is a "minority position" that should be ignored
by the general public. As always with selfish pro-aborts, their own
rights are paramount, and the rights of everyone else take a distant
second place.
For information on how pro-abortionists conduct phony public opinion
polls and doctor other polls to reflect their own viewpoints, see
Chapter 76, "Public Opinion Polls on Abortion."
The Impacts on the Fathers.
The impacts of abortion on the fathers of the preborn babies who go
to their 'little deaths' are largely ignored by hard-line
pro-abortionists and the medical profession. After all, if the preborn
baby is just 'unwanted biological tissue,' and if abortion has 'no
adverse psychological impacts on women,' as the pro-aborts claim, there
must certainly be no reason for men to suffer any ill effects
from abortion.
This attitude is obviously contrary to common sense. University of
Maryland psychologist Arnold Medvene has correctly concluded that
"Abortion is one of the major death experiences that men go
through. It resurrects very important, very primitive issues, memories,
and feelings."[20]
It is just plain stupid to summarily presume that men do not bond
with their own flesh and blood, even if such flesh and blood is as yet
unseen. Men who are commanded not to interfere while their own preborn
children are slaughtered (almost always for pure convenience) must
suppress their feelings of helplessness and outrage at the injustice of
the 'system.' They are then expected to accept their aborting 'partner'
as if nothing at all happened. They are many times even expected to pay
for the abortion of the child that they often wanted so desperately.
Since a father has no rights whatever in the pregnancy, he may remain
aloof from the mother because his child might be killed at any time,
based purely upon her whim. Even when the mother and father make a joint
decision to have a child, he can never be sure that she will not change
her mind. Therefore, in order to lessen the pain of a possible loss, he
remains aloof and unresponsive to the mother's pregnancy. This will
cause tension between the mother and the father whether or not the
pregnancy continues, and his aloofness may continue after birth or after
abortion.
Studies have shown that more than eighty percent of the relationships
that aborted women are involved in break up within two months after
their abortions. In light of the powerful psychological forces working
on both the father and the mother of the aborted baby, this is not at
all surprising.
Yet More Inconsistency.
The general attitude of pro-aborts towards men and abortion is yet
another example of the ingrained inconsistency and hypocrisy of the
pro-death position. Neofeminists tell us that men should "get in
touch with their feelings" and must "tap into the female
aspects of their personalities." They also say that "men must
become more involved with their children."
Meanwhile, they also tell us that a man is not allowed to even attempt
to influence the mother of his child when she is considering aborting
his preborn baby. His input is flatly labeled "unwarranted
pressure."
The reaction of Louise Tyrer, vice-president of medical affairs at
Planned Parenthood, is typical of the utter callousness that
pro-abortionists show towards any rights other than their own; "But
it doesn't matter how much men scream and holler that they are being
left out [of the abortion decision]. There are some things that they are
never going to be able to experience fully. I say, 'tough
luck.'"[21]
And What About the
Siblings?
Kids Discerning Parent's Attitudes.
Another largely-ignored group of people affected deeply by abortion
is the vast pool of surviving siblings of aborted children.
Many children do not know their parents' stance on abortion. But many
do. Children are remarkably perceptive and usually piece together their
parents' positions on social issues through months and years of
observation, even if the issues are not mentioned by name.
Many kids have parents who are active pro-abortionists or who are
'dilettantes' who occasionally contribute money to pro-abort groups or
attend an annual pro-abortion event. Since the issue is constantly in
the public eye, many kids hear about abortion and then ask their parents
if they support 'reproductive rights' and receive an affirmative
response of some kind.
Kids think a lot about their relationship with their parents. What
messages are transmitted to the child(ren) of parents who they know are
'pro-choice?' What questions may arise in their minds?
The following questions and fears typically arise in the minds of
kids who know that their parents have aborted one or more of their
siblings;
• "How come you didn't abort me? What if I hadn't come at a
'good time?' What if I had been less than perfect? Why did you abort
my sister or brother?"
• "Sometimes you tell me that I'm more trouble than I'm
worth. Does this mean that you can still abort me or give me to
someone else?"
• "Do I have worth all of my own? If I do, why would it be
possible to abort me before I was born? Why do I have worth now but
not then? After all, I was the same person!"
What message does a child receive from the knowledge that his parents
are 'pro-choice?' What messages do kids get when they see a news program
about a pro-abortion march that features a view of a small child with a
sign around her neck proclaiming that "I'M A CHOICE, NOT A
CHILD?" What does a child think when he sees or hears one of the
most popular pro-abortion slogans, "EVERY CHILD A WANTED
CHILD?"
Kids are not stupid. They have an innate common sense that has not
yet been corrupted by the world. They know that the 'pro-choice' message
means that they have no intrinsic worth of their own; all of their worth
was assigned to them by another person. They were not even deemed to be human
beings unless their mother willed it. If their parents now show
disapproval of them, it means that, at least for a little while, they
are "unwanted" and therefore less worthy than
"wanted" children.
Kids As Things.
A recent national survey of aborting women performed by the Alan
Guttmacher Institute found that 68 percent of all these women gave as a
reason for aborting "I can't afford a baby right now."
What this statement means most of the time is this: "If I have
this child, I won't be able to afford the things that I
want." These things might include a vacation, a new car,
redecorating, or a new wardrobe.
On a larger scale, a prominent psychologist has found that many more
people are looking upon even their born children as just more
"things" to have, as opposed to a new car or vacation or
addition to the house. In other words, children are being evaluated in
purely economic terms or in terms of how good they make the parents
feel.[22] This is at least a partial and direct result of the
attitude our society has towards preborn children.
The result of this pervasive attitude is that children are generally
losing their intrinsic value and are being reduced to the level of possessions
in general. This massive devaluation by society cannot help but lead
to self-devaluation in children, especially those children of so-called
"pro-choice" parents.
The Problems of the Survivors.
The psychiatric problems suffered by children who discover that their
mother has had an abortion, either before they were born or after,
include death phobias, impulses to run away from home, separation
anxiety, outbursts of fear or hatred of the mother, anxiety attacks,
recurrent and severe nightmares, stuttering, and even suicide
attempts.[23]
Small children are remarkably aware of their mother's subsequent
pregnancies and of their ultimate dispositions. Additionally, women who
have abortions are more likely to have difficulties with their families
than those women who do not abort. Therefore, they may be exposed to
'family mental health' programs that now urge them to tell their
children when they have miscarriages or abortions.
Although many children may be jealous when they know that their
mother is pregnant, this certainly does not mean that they wish death
upon their preborn siblings. In fact, the opposite is true: They may
feel grave guilt or may suffer from a cluster of other syndromes, some
of which are listed below.
• The "haunted child:" The child knows that the mother was
pregnant, but now is not. The child's mistrust of the parents is
engendered by their unwillingness to tell him of the facts surrounding
the sibling that is now gone, but he is terrified to ask for details
because of the fear that the truth may be even more awful than the
lurid fantasies he is having.
• The "bound child:" More than 98 percent of all
abortions are done for convenience or for economic or social reasons,
as proven in Chapter 87, "Statistics on Abortion." The
parents try to insure that their living conditions will 'improve' to
the point where another abortion will not be 'necessary,' and so they
overprotect the surviving siblings to the point where his curiosity,
adaptability, and intelligence are hobbled.
• The "substitute child:" All CPC counselors are aware
of the fact that a large percentage of women who abort immediately
become pregnant again out of a guilty need to replace the child that
they have killed. This child may be overprotected, but, more
frequently, must live up to very high expectations placed upon him by
his parents expectations that they would have had for the previously
aborted child. Since this aborted child is now idealized and can do no
wrong, the surviving child is held to impossibly high standards and
continually 'lets his parents down.'[24]
In a world where 'self-esteem' is said to be critically important to
a child's healthy development, the 'pro-choice' message can only do
massive harm to children who are lucky enough to survive the
abortionist's knife. It can only lead to a cluster of fears and
self-doubts that might be labeled the 'Sibling Survivor Syndrome.'
On the other hand, children of pro-life parents have something that
kids from a pro-abortion family can never have. They know that they are
accepted and loved just the way they are. They know that it would have
made no difference at all to their parents even if they had been
diagnosed as having birth defects before they were born.
Best of all, they know that they have worth that springs from their
own existence, not worth that is conferred upon them only if they
'measure up.'
Reaching the High Schoolers.
All high school classes that are now graduating are composed entirely
of teenagers conceived several years after the Roe v. Wade
decision. These high schoolers are missing a quarter to a third of their
classmates.
Despite this appalling slaughter, many of these teenagers are still
pro-abortion. Why?
Because they want to be 'progressive' and popular, of course. It is a
curious paradox that those teenagers who strive most vigorously to be
'different' from the 'establishment' become 'establishment thinkers' to
a much greater degree than all of the rest.
But it is one thing for high schoolers to proudly shout about their
knee-jerk pro-abortionism at a school presentation on abortion or at a
debate between a pro-abort and a pro-lifer. It is another thing for them
to think about the ramifications of abortion on a personal level.
When a pro-lifer asks the overtly pro-abortion element of a high
school audience certain questions, there is invariably a colossal impact
on the thinking and attitudes of the entire gathering.
Questions that a pro-lifer might ask include;
• "Are your parents 'pro-choice?' If they are, please ask
them this question: "How many brothers and sisters don't I
have because of abortion?""
• "If your parents are 'pro-choice,' ask them why they
didn't abort you. What if you came at a difficult time? What if
your parents were "shacking up" before they were married? If
they were, you are very lucky indeed that you are here today, because
80 percent of unmarried mothers abort their children."
• "Would your parents have aborted you if you had a minor
birth defect? What about a major birth defect? Where would they have
drawn the line? Isn't treatment like this discrimination based solely
upon a person's handicaps? Do you know anyone who is handicapped? Why
weren't they aborted? Could it be because their parents are
pro-life?"
• "Do you have any intrinsic worth now? If so, why did you
not have any before you were born?"
Some pro-life activists might object that questions like these are
cruel.
They undoubtedly are to a certain extent, but they will bring home
the reality of abortion to teenagers like nothing else can.
If we do not tell the younger generations the truth, if we try to
shield them from the reality of the slaughter, we are doing them no
kindness.
Such questions will stick in the minds of high schoolers (and college
students) and will demand a resolution one way or another. And they will
ultimately require thought on the part of the teenager thought
that will tend to cause an evolution in philosophy from unthinking and
unquestioning acceptance of the 'popular' pro-abortion position to
thinking and logical adherence to a pro-life philosophy.
Pro-Abortion Propaganda.
[I was] enclosed by a kind of anguish ... for the loss of a
scarcely begun life, the destruction of a child I had conceived,
should have carried, loved, and looked after. Appeasing the ache of
physical desire I was also comforting that anguish, trying to numb it.
"Sarah," who became promiscuous after her abortion.[25]
The Reasons for the Attacks.
The very existence of women suffering from post-abortion syndrome
poses a very real threat to the abortion peddlers. Therefore, it is
logical that pro-abortion activists should launch a propaganda campaign
whose purpose is to refute the conclusions of a growing body of studies
that show that abortion has serious psychological after-effects. In
fact, some anti-life groups are going so far as to say that such studies
simply do not exist, including the Speckhard study mentioned above!
This is really not surprising, in light of the typical pro-abortion
attitude: If the data doesn't support abortion, simply ignore it!
There is a deeper reason to this close-minded attitude as well; as
long as aborted women can deny the humanity of their children and the
effects of their own abortions, they will never have to come to grips
with their repressed grief.
Pro-abortionists, of course, have an organic, insatiable desire to
continue believing that Abortion Is A Good Thing For Everyone. No true
pro-abortionist will admit that abortion impacts anyone in any
detrimental manner.
Pro-abort propagandists like to compare abortion to "having a
wart removed" or "having a tooth extracted." Even these
latter minor surgeries sometimes cause psychological trauma, and yet the
pro-aborts would literally have us believe that not one of the 20
million individual women who have had one or more abortions in the last
twenty years has suffered any kind of psychological trauma whatever.
Since the pro-aborts must deny that abortion can be damaging in any
way, they will go to absurd lengths to reassure themselves and others
that what they are doing pushing abortion is inherently noble and good,
and that what pro-lifers are doing saving lives is "sadistic,"
"vindictive," and "exploitative."
For example, Lana Clarke Phelan, in a March 1968 speech before the
Society for Humane Abortion, claimed that "Out of hundreds of women
I have talked with across the United States who have undergone from one
to 20 abortions each, not one has expressed any regret over the decision
to abort, but all have expressed regret for the humiliation, hypocrisy
and expense heaped on them by exploitive, sadistic [anti-abortion]
law."[26]
A careful examination of this statement leads one to speculate as to
what kind of company Phelan keeps.
Attacking Informed Consent.
In addition to denying the existence of post-abortion syndrome, the
pro-abortionists have gone into an offensive posture by suppressing the
provision of informed consent, which would certainly affect a woman's
decision about abortion and her subsequent state of mind. They also
attack and censor scholarly research in the field. After all the more
women know about fetal development, the more likely they are to feel
guilty about aborting. And guilt is the one thing that the Neofeminists
want to be rid of most of all.
At the October 1989 annual conference of the National Abortion Rights
Action League, pollster Harrison Hickman stated in a workshop entitled
'Framing and Selling the Pro-Choice Message' that "Probably nothing
has been as damaging to our cause as technological advances that show
pictures of the fetus."[27]
According to Dr. Vincent Rue, post-abortion syndrome expert and
co-director of the Institute for Abortion Recovery and Research, based
in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Planned Parenthood successfully pressured
the publishers Harper & Row into canceling Dr. Anne Speckhard's book
Psycho-Social Stress Following Abortion.[28] It was later
published by Sheed and Ward.
The Koop 'Non-Report.'
Pro-abortionists got a lot of mileage out of Surgeon General C.
Everett Koop's January 1989 "non-report" on the psychological
and physical impacts of abortion. This report, which had been ordered by
the Reagan Administration, concluded that not enough data currently
existed on the deleterious effects of abortion.
Pro-abortion liars and their toadies in the press immediately twisted
the conclusions of the report. While the report stated
"inconclusive" or "insufficient" evidence on the
matter of PAS, the media reported instead "no
evidence."
Koop himself was deeply enraged by this deception and manipulation,
and said during an interview that "Instead of saying 'the Surgeon
General could not find sufficient evidence to issue a scientifically
statistically accurate report that could not be assailed,' the
Associated Press said, 'He could find no evidence.' I know there are
detrimental effects [from abortion]. I have counseled women with this
problem over the last fifteen years. There is no doubt about
it."[29]
The press also failed to mention that ongoing research, completed too
late for inclusion in the Koop report, shows definite and concrete
patterns that prove abortion is anything but the harmless
procedure the pro-abortionists make it out to be.
Figure 45-2 lists just a few of the early studies that have
conclusively proven the link between abortion and subsequent
psychological disorders. The existence of such studies show that the
media is being either extremely lazy or deliberately dishonest.
FIGURE 45-2
SUMMARIES OF EARLY STUDIES ON THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS CAUSED BY
ABORTION
• Liebman and Zimmer, 1979: Recorded 24
different post-abortion negative
impacts.
• Cavenar, Spaulding, and Sullivan, 1979: Living children severely
impacted
("survivor syndrome")
• Shusterman, 1979: PAS caused by poor support, bonding with unborn
baby,
dissatisfaction with decision.
• Fisher, 1979: Aborters have poor relations with men, masochistic
tendencies,
and poor impulse control.
• Brewer, 1978: Twenty percent of aborters experience negative psychic
trauma.
• Cavenar, 1978: Anniversary reactions and psychogenic abdominal pain
common among aborters.
• Cavenar, Maltbie and Sullivan, 1978: Some women suffer for 20 years
or
more; so do grandparents.
• Spaulding and Cavenar, 1978: Post-abortion guilt, psychoses,
anniversary
reactions common.
• Blumfield, 1978: 34% of aborting women have underlying conflicting
desire to
be pregnant.
• Bracken, 1978: Being married contributed to difficulty of abortion
decision.
• Burke, 1977: Abortion patients deny aggressiveness and project onto
unborn
babies to rationalize.
• Kent, 1977: Abortion major indicator of subsequent suicide attempts
and
requirements for psychiatric care.
• Jacobsen, Perrls and Espvall, 1977: Aborter's psychological profile
suggests
sadomasochistic desires.
• Greenglass, 1976: Three percent of aborting women attempt suicide.
• Lipper, et al., 1976: Repeat aborters acutely obsessive-compulsive
upon seeing
dead baby.
• Evens, Selstad and Welcher, 1976: 20 percent regretted abortion.
Pressure to
abort contributes to PAS.
• Adler, 1975: Typical post-abortion emotions; guilt, shame, fear,
loss, anger,
remorse, and resentment.
• Blumberg, Golbus and Hanson, 1975: Eugenic abortions associated with
higher
rate of depression.
• Bracken, Hachmovitch and Grossman, 1974: PAS aggravated by pressure
or
lack of parental support.
• Moore-Carver, 1974: Review of existing PAS literature indicates
range of 2%
to 23% severe guilt.
• Martin, 1973: PAS aggravated by lack of support system and emotional
involvement in pregnancy.
• Barglow and Weinstein, 1973: PAS is aggravated by pressure to abort
by
parents, peers, and partners
• Lawrence, 1973: Abortion does little to decrease overall anxiety
over a life
situation.
• Hutcherson, 1973: Women who abort were found to be low in
self-esteem.
• Ewing and Rouse, 1973: 19 percent of aborting women expressed
immediate
negative reactions.
• Kaltrieder, 1973: Second-trimester aborters who felt baby was human
felt
guilty and sad.
• Perez-Reyes and Falk, 1973: 15 percent of aborted adolescents felt
depressed, guilty, angry and anxious.
• Osofsky and Osofsky, 1972: 16 percent of abortion patients were
unhappy
and 25 percent felt guilty.
• Bracken and Suigar, 1972: PAS is exacerbated by being single, young,
and
lacking support.
• Calef, 1972: Post-abortion anxiety can disrupt marital sexual
relations.
• Colman and Colman, 1971: Stress from abortion can retard bonding
with
subsequent children.
• Pare and Hermione, 1970: Post-abortion syndrome frequency increases
with
age.
• White, 1966: Abortion increases bitterness towards men, especially
the father.
• Sim, 1963: Abortion is not an appropriate treatment for, nor will it
prevent,
mental illness.
Reference. Vincent Rue, Ph.D. "Major
Studies on Psychological Ill Effects of Induced Abortion." ALL
News, December 1982, page 7.
Frightening Concessions from the Pro-Aborts.
Recently, a frightening trend of thought has become prominent among
pro-abortion activists. This attitude acknowledges that abortion is
definitely killing. However, instead of mourning or condemning this
killing, the pro-aborts say that the killing is justified, and is not
murder, since it is state-sanctioned.
This 'reasoning' is precisely identical to that of the Nazis in World
War II who admitted that, when a Jew was shoved into an oven or gas
chamber, killing definitely took place but that this act was not murder,
since it was perfectly legal. Just as preborns are dehumanized now, the
Jew was likened to an "infestation" or a "human
weed."
Today, many rescuers feel chills run up and down their backbones as
they witness abortuary owners testifying under oath, "Yes, it's
killing, and yes, it's a baby, but so what? It's legal!"
It is humorous (in a rather lugubrious way) to see the pro-abortion
movement contort itself while trying to come to grips with this 'new
attitude.' The anti-life people know that the vast weight of biological
evidence proves that life exists before birth. Therefore, they are
forced to admit this fact.
For example, the authors of A Woman's Guide to Safe Abortion
say that aborted women should "... allow yourself to mourn for the
dead baby. Assuming, that is, that you feel you've killed a baby."
(No, this is not a misprint)! In other words, a mere thought can
define the baby as alive or dead.
In another book, Kathleen McDonnell, author of Not An Easy Choice,
says that "Abortion is in some sense an act of violence, and
indisputably results in the termination of life."
Yet these and other authors who harbor this strange attitude are
strongly pro-abortion.
Organizations Dedicated to Helping Women With Post-Abortion Syndrome.
Abortions will not let you forget ...
I have heard in the voices of the wind
the voices of my dim killed children.
Gwendolyn Brooks, "The Mother."[30]
Many women in your area, in your workplace, in your clubs and
organizations, and especially in your church are suffering from
post-abortion syndrome and have no place to turn, because nobody
understands or acknowledges their situation. These poor women must
suffer alone because the pro-abortionists and the media have
successfully convinced the vast majority of the public that abortion is
a guilt- and pain-free process.
There are more than a dozen nationally-based pro-life organizations
that exist specifically to lessen the burden of aborted women. These
groups research post-abortion syndrome, assist women in the filing of
lawsuits against abortuaries that have injured them, and provide
counseling and support.
These organizations, listed below, can also supply literature,
counseling, and information on other resources in your area. If no local
chapter of these organizations exists in your area, you might be
interested in starting one.
There will be a pressing need for such groups until the last
generation of aborted women passes away, and abortion is just an ugly
memory, a historical curiosity for scholars with strong stomachs.
Abortion & Recovery Research
Vincent Rue, Ph.D.
111 Bow Street
Portsmouth, New Hampshire 03801-3819
Telephone: (603) 431-1904
The Abortion Lawsuit Project
Family Concerns, Inc.
Post Office Box 550168
Atlanta, Georgia 30355
(Assists women injured by abortion in filing lawsuits against
abortuaries).
Abortion Survivors Anonymous
Post Office Box 279
Fort Collins, Colorado 80522
Telephone: (303) 223-2097
Abortion Trauma Services and Outreach
1608 13th Avenue South, Suite 112
Birmingham, Alabama 35202
Telephone: (205) 939-0302
American Rights Coalition (ARC)
Post Office Box 487
Chattanooga, Tennessee 37401
Telephone: (615) 756-7065
(Assists women injured by abortion in filing
lawsuits against abortuaries).
American Victims of Abortion
Olivia Gans
419 7th Street NW, #402
Washington, DC 20004
Telephone: (202) 626-8800
Christian Action Council
701 West Broad Street
Falls Church, Virginia 22046
Telephone: (703) 237-2100
The Elliott Institute and The Abortion Case Study Project
David Reardon
Post Office Box 9079
Springfield, Illinois 62971
Telephone: 1-(800)-634-2224.
(Post-abortion syndrome research).
Legal Action for Women (LAW)
1145 Candlewood Circle
Pensacola, Florida 32514
Telephone: (904) 474-1091
(Assists women injured by abortion in filing
lawsuits against abortuaries).
National Organization for Post-Abortion Reconciliation and Healing
(NOPARH)
St. John's Center
3680 Kinnickinnic Avenue
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53207
Telephone: (414) 483-4141 or
1-800-593-2273.
(For information on PAS and for a video series
on how to train church-based PAS ministries).
Open ARMS (Abortion Related Ministries)
Post Office Box 1056
Columbia, Missouri 65205
Telephone: (314) 449-7672
Post-Abortion Counseling and Education (PACE)
Christian Action Council Education
and Ministries Fund
101 West Broad Street, Suite 500
Falls Church, Virginia 22046
Telephone: (703) 237-2100
Post Abortion Ministries
Post Office Box 3092
Landover Hills, Maryland 20784
Telephone: (301) 773-4630
Project Rachel
C/O Milwaukee Archdiocese
Post Office Box 2018
Telephone: (414) 769-3391
(For Catholics suffering directly or indirectly from the effects of abortion).
Psychiatrists for Life and Family Values
16 East Brittany
Arlington Heights, Illinois 60004
Telephone: (708) 259-5269
Sorrow's Reward
(a quarterly newsletter devoted to articles and testimony about post-abortion syndrome.
Suggested donation is $10 annually).
Subscribe by writing to;
Human Life International,
7845-E Airpark Road,
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20879.
Victims of Choice (VOC)
Nola Jones
124 Shefield Drive or
Post Office Box 6268
Vacaville, California 95688
Telephone: (707) 448-6015
Women Exploited by Abortion (WEBA)
Route 1, Box 821
Venus, Texas 76084
Telephone: (214) 366-3600
References: Post-Abortion Syndrome.
[1] An Apology to a Little Boy I Won't Ever See." Letter from an
aborted mother in the Providence (Rhode Island) Evening Bulletin,
April 23, 1980.
[2] Planned Parenthood "fact sheet," described in Keith J.
Finnegan. "Post-Abortion Syndrome: An Emerging Crisis."
American Family Association Journal, August 1988, pages 4 to 6.
[3] Flaunders Dunbar, M.D., M.SC.D., Ph.D., Director of Psychosomatic
Research, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center from 1932 to 1948, David
C. Wilson, M.D., Chairman, Department of Neurology and Psychiatry,
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, Harry M. Murdock,
M.D., Medical Director, Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, Towson,
Maryland, and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Maryland,
Baltimore, Maryland, May E. Romm, M.D., Institute of Psychoanalytic
Medicine of Southern California, Harold Rosen, M.D., Ph.D., and Theodore
Lidz, M.D., professor of psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine,
quoted in The National Committee on Maternal Health, Inc. The
Abortion Problem: The Proceedings of the Conference of the National
Committee on Maternal Health, Inc., at the New York Academy of Medicine,
June 19 and 20, 1942. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins Company,
1942. Pages 31, 197, 203, 211, 212, 240, and 279.
[4] Sarah Lewit (editor). Abortion Techniques and Services:
Proceedings of the Conference, New York, N.Y., June 3-5, 1971.
Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica, 1972. Page 164.
[5] See for example Oregon Department of Human Resources, Health
Division, Center for Health Statistics. Induced Terminations of
Pregnancy, Oregon, 1988. Published in January 1990. Table 8-5,
"Contraceptive Use, Number of Previous Abortions, and Number of
Living Children By Age of Patient, Oregon Occurrence, 1988," page
208.
[6] Rebecca Altafut. "Abortion With Dignity," New Haven
Advocate, February 26, 1986.
[7] As described in "The Curse of Self-Esteem." Newsweek
Magazine, February 17, 1992. Also described in a letter by John Leonardi
entitled "Abortion and "Self-Esteem."" ALL About
Issues, September/October 1992, Page 6.
[8] Margaret Atwood. Surfacing. New York: Simon &
Schuster, 1972, pages 164, 165, and 187.
[9] Barbara Ehrenreich. "Hers" column in The New York
Times, February 7, 1985. Quoted in Rebecca Chalker and Carol Downer.
A Woman's Book of Choices: Abortion, Menstrual Extraction, RU-486.
Four Walls Eight Windows Press, Post Office 548, Village Station, New
York, New York 10014. 1992, 271 pages.
[10] Sheila M. Rothman. Women's Proper Place: A History of
Changing Ideas and Practices 1870 to the Present. 1978, page 89.
[11] "Abortion: The Mourning After." Mademoiselle
Magazine, September 1983.
[12] Anne Speckhard. Psycho-Social Stress Following Abortion.
Kansas City, Missouri: Sheed and Ward, 1987. 134 pages. Reviewed by Gary
Crum, Ph.D., on page 44 of the October 1988 issue of ALL About Issues.
This book analyzes the results of 30 in-depth interviews of women who
have had abortions and compiles the results to arrive at a summary of
all of the symptoms of post-abortion syndrome.
[13] Iago Gladston, M.D., at the 1955 conference on induced abortion
held by Planned Parenthood. Quoted in Mary Calderone, M.D., Medical
Director of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (editor). Abortion
in the United States. New York: Paul B. Hoeber, Inc., 1956. Page
117.
[14] Dr. Julius Fogel, quoted in Kathleen Kelly. "PAS,
Professionals, and "Sorrow's Reward."" The Wanderer,
April 13, 1989, page 2.
[15] Abortionist Aleck Bourne, M.D. Quoted by James Wilkinson,
"A Doctor Speaks." London [England] Express, January
25, 1967.
[16] United States Bureau of Commerce, Department of the Census.
National Data Book and Guide to Sources, Statistical Abstract of the
United States. 1990, 110th edition. Washington, DC: United States
Government Printing Office. Table 101, "Legal Abortions, By
Selected Characteristics: 1973 to 1985." Also: Alan Guttmacher
Institute and Center for Disease Control Abortion Surveillance Unit
annual reports.
[17] "Let's Tell the Truth About Abortion." Pamphlet
distributed by Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood. 1985, 22 pages. Fight
Back Press, Post Office Box 61421, Denver, Colorado 80206. Page 9.
[18] Marie Shelton. "Abortion Often Causes Guilt, Regret, Poll
Finds." Sacramento Bee, March 19, 1989, page A7.
[19] In re Unborn Baby H., No. 84C01 8804JP185, slip opinion
at 1-2 (Vigo County, Indiana Circuit Court, April 8, 1988).
[20] Tamar Jacoby. "Doesn't a Man Have Any Say?" Newsweek
Magazine, May 23, 1988, pages 74 and 75.
[21] Quoted in John Leo. "Sharing the Pain of Abortion." Time
Magazine, September 26, 1983, page 78. For more information on men's
role in abortion, see the book by Arthur Shostak, Gary McLouth and Lynn
Seng. Men and Abortion: Lessons, Losses, and Love. Praeger
Publishers, 1984.
[22] S. Spencer. "Childhood's End." Harpers, May
1979, pages 14 to 19.
[23] A.C. Cain, et.al. "Children's Disturbed Reactions to
Their Mothers' Miscarriages." Psychosomatic Medicine,
26:58-66, 1964.
[24] R. Krell and L. Rabkin. "Effects of Sibling Death on the
Surviving Child: A Family Perspective." Fam Process 18:
471-478, 1979.
[25] "Sarah," who became promiscuous after her abortion.
Quoted in Paul Scott's The Raj Quartet. New York: Morrow. Book
One, A Division of the Spoils, page 356.
[26] Lana Clarke Phelan. "Abortion Laws: The Cruel Fraud."
Speech presented at the First California Conference on Abortion at Santa
Barbara, California in March of 1968 by the Society for Humane Abortion,
Inc., San Francisco, California.
[27] Charles Isenhart. "Experts Discuss Impact of 'Post-Abortion
Syndrome'" National Catholic Register, June 24, 1990, pages
1 and 9.
[28] Human Life of Washington State. Human Life News,
January/February 1990, page 1.
[29] Dr. C. Everett Koop. Interview with the Rutherford Institute,
Spring 1989. Also recounted in The Abortion Injury Report (a
publication of the American Rights Coalition, Post Office Box 487,
Chattanooga, Tennessee 37401, telephone: 1-800-634-2224). Spring 1990,
page 2.
[30] Gwendolyn Brooks, "The Mother." The Black Poets.
New York: Bantam Books, 1971. Quoted in Eileen Farrell. "Abortion
in Literature." The Human Life Review, Summer 1985, page 74.
Further Reading: Post-Abortion Syndrome.
Bill and Sue Banks. Ministering to Abortion's Aftermath.
Impact Books, Inc., 137 West Jefferson, Kirkwood, Missouri 63122. 1982.
Reviewed by Dr. Olga Fairfax on page 20 of the April 1983 ALL About
Issues. A book for those counselors who are involved in professional
help for women with various problems, but will also be of help to anyone
dealing with a woman suffering from post-abortion syndrome.
Bernadell Technical Bulletin.
This monthly newsletter, written by
Dr. Bernard Nathanson and his wife Adelle, deals with technical and very
valuable abortion-related issues in a format that just about everyone
can understand. Particular attention is given to the effects of
abortion. Subscribe by writing to Post Office Box 1897, New York, New
York 10011.
Gale Brennen. Alone.
1984, 32 pages, hardbound. Order from
ALONE, Post Office Box 102, Elm Grove, Wisconsin 53122. The
heartbreaking story of a young boy whose mother aborts his younger
sibling and then attempts to justify her decision in the name of
"openness." The numerous photographs accurately portray the
charged emotions of the family members as the young boy asks questions
that his parents can't answer, such as "Why didn't you abort
me?" This book is reviewed on page 8 of the August 22, 1985 National
Right to Life News.
Father James Tunstead Burtchaell. Rachel Weeping and Other Essays
on Abortion.
Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel, Inc., 1981. 383 pages.
Reviewed by Dick Conklin on page 7 of the June 24, 1982 issue of National
Right to Life News.
H.P. David, Z. Dytrych, Z. Matejcek, and V. Schuller (editors). Born
Unwanted: Developmental Effects of Denied Abortion.
Springer
Publishing Company, 536 Broadway, New York, New York 10012-3955. 1988,
144 pages. Synopses of eight European studies on the impacts of denied
abortion on mothers and family members. These studies, carried out in
Czechoslovakia, Sweden, and Finland, are extensive but in many cases
very seriously flawed. It appears that some of the authors are bending
over backwards in their attempts to arrive at the conclusion that denied
abortion is detrimental for everyone involved.
Paula Ervin. Women Exploited: The Other Victims of Abortion.
Huntingdon, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor, 1985. Reviewed by Dale O'Leary
on page 8 of the October 24, 1985 National Right to Life News.
Order from: Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton, Virginia 24174,
telephone: (703) 586-4898. This book consists of testimonies from
members of WEBA (Women Exploited by Abortion), linked together by the
author's commentary. It was a pioneering work one of the first books on
PAS and is significant as such; however, it has largely been surpassed
by more recent works. It includes a wealth of case studies on the
physical and psychological effects of abortion.
Thomas G. Klasen. A Pro-Life Manifesto.
Westchester, Illinois:
Crossway Books, Good News Publishers, 1988. 160 pages. Reviewed by John
Hinshaw in the March 1989 issue of Fidelity Magazine. Mr. Klasen
asserts that the pro-life movement is laboring under false assumptions
and using less than optimal strategies. Although some of his assumptions
are weak, he rightly demands that the Movement use the power of aborted
women and to console them in its campaign to stop abortion. He proposes
a series of "mourning centers" in large cities where women
could go to mourn their dead preborn babies. The author says that we
must recognize the silent victims of the American Holocaust before we
can heal as individuals and as a nation.
Pam Koerbel. Abortion's Second Victim.
Victor Books, Post
Office Box 1825, Wheaton, Illinois 60187. Pamela Koerbel had an abortion
herself and then found forgiveness in Our Lord. In this book, she
describes her own experiences. She also shows how to obtain peace and
forgiveness, either for yourself or for another aborted woman.
David Mall and Walter F. Watts, M.D. (editors). The Psychological
Aspects of Abortion.
Sponsored by the Department of Obstetrics and
Gynecology, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University. 1979:
University Publications of America, Inc, Washington, DC. 156 pages.
Order from: Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton, Virginia 24174,
telephone: (703) 586-4898. This collection of studies covers
post-abortion psychosis, abortion and the consequent abuse of siblings,
the psychic causes of the abortion mentality, and how abortion
depersonalizes both the individual and society in general. Written in
layman's language, easily readable, and filled with good and
indisputable information.
Father Michael Mannion. "Abortion and Healing: A Cry to be Whole."
Kansas City, Missouri: Sheed & Ward, 1986. 111 pages. Reviewed by
Regis Walling on pages 268 and 269 of the Fall 1986 issue of the
International Review of Natural Family Planning and by Olivia Gans in
the January 15, 1987 issue of National Right to Life News, page
18. Father Mannion's book draws on his experience in counseling
post-abortive women and other troubled persons. This book could most
accurately be characterized as a collection of the author's thoughts on
abortion, ministry, and other subjects, with questions at the end of
each chapter for the reader's reflection. The intended audience for this
book is not aborted women themselves, but rather those who counsel them.
Nancy Michels. Helping Women Recover From Abortion.
Bethany
House Publishers, 6820 Auto Club Road, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55438.
1988, 192 pages. This excellent book is packed with references and
statistics and quotes from studies that deal with why women have
abortions, the impacts of abortion, and how abortion stresses can be
healed. One chapter deals with the impacts of abortion on siblings and
fathers.
David C. Reardon. Aborted Women: Silent No More.
Crossway
Books, 9825 West Roosevelt Road, Westchester, Illinois, 60153, 373
pages. Reviewed by John Hinshaw in the July/August 1988 issue of Fidelity
Magazine, and by Johanna Rubin, M.D., on page 45 of the February 1989
issue of ALL About Issues. This book deals with the very detailed
results of the surveys of 252 members of Women Exploited By Abortion (WEBA).
The book describes in very personal terms the abortion 'experiences' of
these women, and how they were pressured into the act in some cases, the
quality of the so-called 'counseling' they received, the procedure
itself, and its effects upon the women and their families and friends.
If you have any lingering doubts that pro-life work truly benefits women
as well as babies, you must read this book.
Ann Saltenberger. Every Woman Has the Right to Know the Dangers of
Legal Abortion.
1983, 237 pages. Order from Air-Plus Enterprises,
Post Office Box 367, Glassboro, New Jersey 08028, or Sun Life, Greystone,
Thaxton, Virginia 24174, or Life Issues Bookshelf, Sun Life, Thaxton,
Virginia 24174, telephone: (703) 586-4898. Reviewed by Michael M.
Donovan, M.D., on page 19 of the December 1982 issue of ALL About
Issues, and by Daniel J. Martin, M.D. on page 8 of the November 24,
1983 issue of National Right to Life News. This book goes into
minute detail about every imaginable type of physical or psychological
harm that could possibly arise from abortion. It also addresses the
impact on other family members, particularly siblings. The appendix
features over 300 references.
Terry Selby and Marc Bockman. The Mourning After: Help for
Postabortion Syndrome.
Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan
49516. 1990, 150 pages. A guide to all of the various stages of
post-abortion syndrome and all of the forms it can take, with special
emphasis on breaking through denial.
Ann Speckhard, Ph.D. Post Abortion Counseling: A Manual for
Christian Counselors.
Published by Post-Abortion Counseling and
Education (PACE), Christian Action Council Education and Ministries
Fund, 701 West Broad Street, Suite 405, Falls Church, Virginia 22046,
telephone: (703) 237-2100. 1987, 114 pages. Detailed information on
identifying and counseling those with post-abortion syndrome (PAS), and
how to use counseling skills to help women through the aftermath of
abortion.
Kathleen Winkler. When the Crying Stops: Abortion, the Pain and
the Healing.
Northwestern Publishing House, 1250 North 113th Street,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226-3286. 1992, 180 pages. This book consists of
detailed interviews with 15 women who have had abortion and are
suffering from a variety of typical symptoms associated with
post-abortion syndrome (PAS).
© American Life League BBS — 1-703-659-7111
This is a chapter of the Pro-Life Activist's Encyclopedia Published
by American Life League.
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