”The predominant sensation women felt following an abortion was relief, the group said.” This is very true. They all felt relief, FOR AWHILE. That’s the number one thing I hear all the time in our classes. “I felt relief at first, but later it hit me”.
”Severe post-abortion psychological distress is extremely rare, affecting just one percent of patients.” Bull!! Cotton pickin lie if I ever heard one. Ball faced LIE!!! This is SCIENCE? Whatever!
”Major, who, along with other researchers, tracked women for two years after they had first-trimester abortions” Hmmmmmm…..Gotcha on this one. Do you know probably 90% of the women who come for post abortion support, come about 5 to 10 years later. They come after they saw their first sonogram of their first born child, or after they have giving birth and see what they killed the first time around, or are struggling with infertility. We hardly ever have teenagers or young adults come for support. Very sad!
”Suzanne Poppema…(edited)….has little tolerance for PAS — "because it doesn't exist," Ohhhhhhhhhh really?????? Well, we’ll just see about that. How surprising to see such a “tolerant” liberal (assuming) make such a statement. She has little “tolerance” for suffering women, because THEY don’t exist. If it doesn’t suit her cause, she can erase them from existence.
"This is an invention of those who oppose choice," says Vicki Saporta, NAF's executive director.” WE didn’t invent anything! WE don’t invent the thousands of women walking into clinics with broken hearts. WE didn’t invent their suffering. WE don’t round them up with a gun and force them to admit their grief and suffering. Stupid sentence if you ask me.
”The alternatives to abortion — carrying a pregnancy to term and either keeping the child or making an adoption placement — can have a serious impact on a woman's mental health”. I find this very sad. I also find it to be untrue. This is a BIG overgeneralization. Most women thinking about abortion struggle for the first trimester, but once they feel the baby move for the first time, they are elated and relieved they didn’t exercise their CHOICE.
”women in their study who had abortions felt a need to keep them secret from friends and/or family for fear of social disapproval. The effort of concealment itself was a major source of distress for women, the study said. "Women are hypersensitive to the sociopolitical climate and how it affects their feelings<”/b> What a minute here. I thought two thirds of the American public (polled) supported abortion. Could it be, they are ashamed because they did something they knew was MORALLY WRONG? They are ashamed to tell their mother, for example, who is pro-choice for everyone except herself and her daughters. They know their mother would be heart broken and say, “Why didn’t you come to me. I could have helped you. I would have supported you”.
”In response to these forces, some pro-choice activists are trying new approaches. NAF has a hot line, staffed with trained personnel who are willing to help women sort through their issues and give referrals to psychotherapists. Both The Healing Choice and Peace After Abortion provide exercises to help women review why they made the decision to have an abortion and their feelings about it.” Oh this is just too good! What a hoot! What a minute here. I thought PAS was “not scientific”. I thought it was “bogus”. I thought it was an “invention” of the religious right. I thought it was “dirty play at it’s worst”. I thought Suzanne Popperma has “little tolerance for PAS because it doesn’t exist”. I thought Vicki Saporta claims, “This is an invention of those who oppose choice”. I thought Brenda Major said “PAS only affects 1% of patients”. The first part of the article claims this is all bogus. The article ends, with NAF has a hotline of their very own to help grieving women. HA!!! Makes perfect sense to me.
”In Binghamton, New York, Johnston offers women a polished stone before the abortion, and describes Native American and Buddhist rituals to help the healing process. "I tell them, 'There is no Hallmark card for you, but it doesn't mean you can't honor your loss,'" she says. The touch is personal, but Johnston also sees this approach as a political act to erase the stigma of abortion and silence the anti-abortion thunder.” DISGUSTING!!!!! “Hey, I’ll trade you that baby for a ROCK”. A ROCK????? AUGH!!! Oh how very compassionate. “I’ll murder your baby for $500 and I’ll give you a rock for it”. Sounds like a fair trade huh? I can’t remember when I have heard something so ridiculous, so disgusting, so…..UGH!!. Just absolutely pathetic.
"A lot of the rhetoric of the anti-choice movement has really burdened women," says Johnston I beg your pardon. A WOMAN’S DEAD CHILD AND HER TREMENDOUS GUILT IS REALLY THE BURDEN HERE.
I mean no disrespect to anyone who disagrees with me. Peace and have a nice day!
There are those whose minds are made up to such a degree that they will not accept one word of one or the other of these disertations. There are others who see some truth in both.
Personally I do believe that some women are truely distressed that they aborted. The eastern cultures and religons while freely permitting abortions also have rituals designed to deal with the post abortion distress if it comes up. The rituals are kind, not pumitive. The women of these Eastern Cultures do not feel guilt from the abortion, they feel the sadness that could come from any lost child.
Most of the Western post abortion stress comes from the artificial guilt imposed by those who are against abortion. Mostly, American women are not allowed to feel the pure grief of a lost child. Western woman who dare to express such grief are generally slapped in the face with guilt, thus they suffer their grief alone and without relief.