Posted on 09/21/2008 11:44:33 AM PDT by wagglebee
A second national conference on the negative effects of abortion on men has been held, and more may be scheduled.
The conference's purpose explores the revelation that men experience, according to LifeNews.com, profound regret and grief after an involvement in an abortion decision. Vicki Thorn of the National Office of Post-Abortion Reconciliation and Healing believes consideration and psychological care for post-abortive fathers is long overdue.
"It's time we begin speaking about it, and that was my intent in being able to organize these two conferences -- that we begin to speak through the veil of science about the fact that there's more than one partner in this," Thorn explains. "The pregnancy didn't occur in a vacuum, and so there is both a woman and a man that are involved."
Thorn knows that fact from her own practice. "I've had calls from men from the very beginning, when I first started doing post-abortion work, risking to share their experiences and seeing that, within the society, there's no validation for the fact that a male might suffer afterwards," she adds.
Over 70 percent of relationships, according to Thorn, break up after an abortion. She claims the American Psychological Association (APA) mislead the American people in its recent claims that abortion is "psychologically safe" for women. The APA refuses to recognize long-term effects on women, and certainly on men, but Thorn believes it is a legitimate problem that needs to be addressed.
Another psychologist at the conference, Catherine Coyle, believes pro-lifers should be more available to help men who are grieving an abortion and show them that they are not alone.
"It is the compassionate thing for us to do to recognize that some people -- men and women -- have profound grief and suffering after an abortion," Coyle contends. "And if we are to be a compassionate society, we must validate their pain and provide the help they need regardless of where we may stand individually on the issue of abortion."
The APA doesn't want ANYTHING to interfere with their agenda.
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Of course, that does give them a problem explaining the suicide rate, and postings on places like the PASS boards.
I must be unusually insensitive.
We are supposed to terribly concerned about those “grieving” over the person they’ve killed.
Isn’t that like the guy who killed his parents and then begged for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan?
Makes me wonder about parents of young women who’ve pressured their daughters into having an abortion.
In the case of the fathers, sometimes they had no say in the matter. Remember the Official SCOTUS Abortion dogma: abortion is a “woman’s right,” men have no say in it at all, even if they’re married to the woman in question.
Okay, I’ll buy that. But the article does talk about the men being involved in the decision, and we all know that in many if not most abortion cases the man implicitly if not explicitly encourages the choice to abort.
Still seems to me this is an article of extreme disconnect with reality about who is the victim and who are the perps.
What planet are you on? The man gets no say in the abortion whatsoever. I think you’ve proven your comment on sensitivity without a doubt though.
The APA diminishes the science behind psychology by pushing the notion that ANYTHING is healthy normal if accepted by society by fiat.
The APA needs to be regulated out of existence.
The secrecy of the procedure itself is the biggest obstacle to the truth of the evil being known. A girl in our community committed suicide four days after having an abortion. She literally fell into a depression so intense no one could talk to her for the last day of her life.
Naturally, her family didn’t want the story discussed—and so the moral lesson could not be made more plain to a broader public.
Abortion kills more than just the babies.
No. It isn't like that at all.
you are looking at it wrong.
what happens when the father finds out his wife or girlfriend had the abortion? he has no legals say.
For the sake of argument, his wife decided his child should die. Or worse.
That is certainly a problem in Britain in fact so much that many young teenagers hide the pregancy until it is illegal to abort.
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Not surprising. Even if there had been any hope for a commitment, this would likely kill it. Some memories, though, can never be banished.
Think of it this way - if and as ANY person feels remorse and repentence to the point of wanting to change/do something to stop abortion, as compared to the horrific indifference of death, then any help to vocalize the anguish for guilt as a first step to that end is worth it.
Yes, definitely a legitimate problem. May God bless these men with understanding, patience and perseverance in their lives. Let not the actions of the abortionists defile their faith. Amen.
I think it happens more often than people realize. Know if there's been any studies done in Britain about the issue?
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