Posted on 11/29/2005 12:20:26 PM PST by Dick Vomer
Dr. William F. Harrison has forgotten how many children the woman had.
"We try to make sure she doesn't ever feel guilty," he says, "for what she feels she has to do."
"It was a lot easier than I thought it would be," she says. "I thought it would be horrible, but it wasn't. The procedure, that is."
.... She is not yet sure, she says, how she is doing emotionally. She feels guilty, sad and relieved, all in a jumble.
"There's things wrong with abortion," she says. "But I want to have a good life. And provide a good life for my child." To keep this baby now, she says, when she's single, broke and about to start college, "would be unfair." ...........
..............
For the few women who arrive ambivalent ..., Harrison's nurse has posted statistics on the exam-room mirror: One out of every four pregnant women in the U.S. chooses abortion. A third of all women in this country will have at least one abortion by the time they're 45. ...........
.............. "You think there's room in hell for all those women?" the nurse will ask............
.............. She regrets having to pay $750 for the abortion, but Amanda says she does not doubt her decision. "It's not like it's illegal. It's not like I'm doing anything wrong," she says............
..............
"I've been praying a lot and that's been a real source of strength for me. I really believe God has a plan for us all. I have a choice, and that's part of my plan."
...........
.............. The last patient of the day, a 32-year-old college student named Stephanie, has had four abortions in the last 12 years. She keeps forgetting to take her birth control pills. Abortion "is a bummer," she says, "but no big stress." ...........
..............
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
I am _told_ that there is a surplus of black babies available for adoption. Someone has suggested that the reason so many people (including two couples I personally know) go through such great lengths to get Asian adoptions rather than black babies is because of some kind of racial issue.
True or false? My sister is interested currently in adopting black twins and says there no trouble in finding them.
That's what I had in mind, and it wouldn't be hard to do surreptitiously in the course of a surgical abortion. And "Stephanie" is so utterly clueless and incompetent that she'd never even think to wonder how she happened to stop getting pregnant over and over again.
The reasons for abortion given in this article are the ones that the pro-death crowd deny exist. There should be more of these articles written. It actually tells the truth about the "hard" choices these females go through.
There are certainly racial issues, but also legal and medical issues. There's basically no such thing as a final adoption of a baby U.S. citizen, and the specter of being forced to send a toddler to live with an irresponsible biological parent is more than most people can bear. And a huge number of the available black babies were born to mothers who were doing lots of drugs and alcohol while pregnant -- many have obvious physical and mental problems, and a lot more have more subtle problems that will become serious as they get older and start school. And it's often not clear who the biological father is, thus greatly increasing the chance that some crackhead turns up a few years down the road and proves to be the biological father, and claims (correctly) that he never consented to the adoption because he never knew the baby existed, and now he claims he's got his life in order 9as of a few weeks ago, when he finished his most recent stint in rehab) and wants his child -- and the courts won't toss him out the door.
And these are exactly the women who shouldn't be having babies. All we need is a country full of people raised by mothers like these. Or are you suggesting that the government should start confiscating babies from their mothers as a precautionary measure?
The death rate for abortion is %100.
Just kill 'em all, eh? Why do you advocate the killing of the innocent for the crimes/behaviors of others?
We, who are infertile, would have been delighted to provide a good life for her child if she hadn't killed it. We are struggling through an international adoption right now.
BTTT. Indeed. Some of us would love to and be priveleged to raise a child or another child. Fair to whom? Her? She doesn't want it now so no one can have it? She's broke and single? Some very famous people who have influenced and changed our society for the better have had the most humble beginnings.
Go to hell.
I'd love it if you had some links for this info. I've read this data before, but can't find my sources any more.
Doctors who do abortions don't want women to stop having them. They wouldn't have enough money for that new mercedes.
AMEN, if be some off chance you ask God to forgive you and you do make it into heaven, you can ask your dismembered and destroyed baby how he or she felt at that moment. Geez, just fricking unbelievable.
amen.
That is by far one of the most disgusting things I have ever read. I wanted to vomit. I don't understand how a person, the so-called 'doctor' can go to work EVERY DAY and kill all these people. How can you look casually into the monitor and see a fist and face and say it isn't a baby? How can you just 'suction it out'? It makes my stomach turn.
To GovernmentShrinker: It's better to live a hard life than to have no life at all.
http://www.lifecall.org/suicidelinked.htm
http://www.factcheck.org/article336.html
http://www.physiciansforlife.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=75
Possible Effects of Abortion (updated 10/05)
Immediate Effects
Excessive bleeding (Hemorrhage)
Puncture and tearing of the womb (Uterus)
Infection from mild to fatal (sometimes parts of the baby are left inside the womb)
Cervical laceration in 5% of women
Hepatitis from blood transfusions; blood clots and embolisms
Sterility, ranging from 2% to 5% of abortions
Pain, Shock, Vomiting
Maternal Mortality (Mother's Death) From Abortion
Elliot Institute published a news release on a study by Finnish researchers showing that 94 percent of women's deaths from abortion are not verifiable by looking at death certificates alone.
This means that many maternal deaths from abortion go unnoticed and uncounted in statistics reports, and allow abortion advocates to continue claiming that abortion is safer for women than childbirth -- one of the key arguments for abortion that was laid out in Roe v. Wade.
For more information on death rates after abortion and the scope of the abortion death cover-up, readers can link to the following articles posted on the Elliot Institute's web site:
The Cover Up: Why U.S. Abortion Mortality Statistics Are Meaningless www.afterabortion.info/PAR/V8/n2/abortiondeaths.html
Abortion Four Times Deadlier Than Childbirth: New Studies Unmask High Maternal Death Rates from Abortion www.afterabortion.info/PAR/V8/n2/finland.html
Abortion May Increase Women's Mortality Rate: New Study Shows Women's Death Rate from Abortion Much Higher Than Previously Known www.afterabortion.info/news/deathssmj.html
[Elliot Institute, 27Sept05]
Long Term Effects
Guilt and personality disturbances
In future desired pregnancies...
1. Miscarriage/ Stillbirth
2. Premature delivery because of damage to the cervix
3. Tubal pregnancies (increased from 8-fold to 20-fold by abortion)
Peritonitis / Future Menstrual Problems
Depression / Anger / Mourning / Self-Destructive Tendencies
Loss of Sexual Interest / Nightmares / Troubled Relationships
Flashbacks of the Abortion / Intense Feeling of Loss
Inability to Forget Baby & Baby's Due Date / Drug & Alcohol Abuse
POST-ABORTION STRESS SYNDROME SYMPTOMS
[The Mourning After, Terry Selby, M.S.W., Baker Book House:
Grand Rapids, 1990; Human Development Resource Council, Inc.,
LifeSupport, Spring/Summer 1991]
Re-experiencing Trauma:
Nightmares/ recurrent dreams
Flashback episodes
Anniversary reactions (on the date of the abortion)
Extreme distress at exposure to events that resemble some aspect of the abortion (i.e. a pelvic examination, sexual intercourse, childbirth, the sound of a vacuum cleaner)
Avoidance/ Denial:
Avoiding thoughts of feelings about the abortion
Avoiding situations/activities that cause thoughts of the abortion (i.e. medical exams, sexual intercourse, exposure to infants, conversations about abortion or childbirth)
Inability to recall aspects of the abortion – memory blocks
Emotional numbing – estrangement from others, inability to have loving feelings to children, mate, parents, friends
Increased Arousal:
Sleep disorders
Irritability or outbursts of anger
Difficulty concentrating
Hyper-vigilance
Exaggerated startle response
Associated symptoms:
Depression, frequent crying, anxiety
Guilt/ Inability to forgive self
Self-destructive behavior, including drug/ alcohol abuse, eating disorders, suicidal urges
[The Mourning After, Terry Selby, M.S.W., Baker Book House:Grand Rapids, 1990; Human Development Resource Council, Inc LifeSupport, Spring/Summer 1991]
Kim, a single mother of three, says she couldn't bear to give away a child and have to wonder every day if he were loved. Ending the pregnancy seemed easier, she says — as long as she doesn't let herself think about "what could have been."
Yep, better dead than risking being unloved. And just don't think about it. Yeah, that'll fix it.
What could have been was another child, a child as deserving of a chance at life as her other three, a child who could have brightened hers and her other children's lives or someone else's life. A unique human whose only crime during his short life was the perceived untimeliness of his existence.
Abortion Complications
January 4, 2005
by Carrie Gordon Earll
What physical and psychological risks do women take when they have an abortion? The range of possible complications may surprise you.
Roughly one million American women each year submit to abortion, making it one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures. But abortion is not without risk - to our bodies, our minds and our emotions.
"I had an abortion at 17 and it was the worst thing I ever did...
I was two months gone when I realized. I went to my mum and she said, without pausing for breath: 'You have to get rid of it.'
She told me where the clinic was and then virtually pushed me off. She was so angry. She said I'd gotten myself in this mess, now she had to get me out.
But she didn't come. I went alone. I was terrified. It was full of other young girls, and we were all terrified and looking at each other and nobody was saying a blood word. I howled my way through it, and it was horrible.
I would never recommend it to anyone because it comes back to haunt you.
When I tried to have children, I lost three – I think it was because something happened to my cervix during the abortion. After three miscarriages, they had to put a stitch in it."
-Sharon Osborne (TV personality and wife of Ozzy Osborne)
Physical
Women face a number of possible physical complications as a result of legal abortion including hemorrhage requiring transfusion, perforation of the uterus, cardiac arrest, endotoxic shock, major unintended surgery, infection resulting in hospitalization, convulsions, undiagnosed ectopic (tubal) pregnancy, cervical laceration, uterine rupture, and death.1
Seventeen percent of women participating in a study on the effects of abortion reported that they have "experienced physical complications (e.g., abnormal bleeding or pelvic infection) since their abortion." Based on reported abortion statistics, this represents 200,000 women annually experiencing physical complications after an abortion.2
Abortion can adversely affect later pregnancies. A recent literature review concluded that abortion is a risk factor for placenta previa (where the placenta implants over the cervix, causing hemorrhaging) and preterm delivery with subsequent pregnancies. 3
Research has found that women having abortions are more likely to have a low birth-weight baby in a later pregnancy.4
Abortion can increase your chance of having an ectopic (or tubal) pregnancy in the future.5
Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that having multiple abortions increases a woman’s chance of having a miscarriage in a later pregnancy.6
All women, especially young teenagers, are at risk for damage to their cervix during an abortion, which can lead to complications with later pregnancies.7
Abortion puts a woman at increased risk for complications in later pregnancies. Medical research states that, "Complications such as bleeding in the first and third trimesters, abnormal presentations and premature rupture of the membranes, abruptio placentae, fetal distress, low birth weight, short gestation, and major malformations occurred more often among women with a history of two or more induced abortions."8
Abortion can increase your risk for breast cancer. A review analyzing 23 studies on breast cancer and abortion states that 17 of those studies indicate an increased risk of breast cancer among women having an abortion.9
Existing evidence of an abortion-breast cancer connection prompted the New England Journal of Medicine to publish a February 2000 review of breast cancer research, which lists abortion as a risk factor.10
Emotional
A recent literature review concluded that abortion is a risk factor for "mood disorders substancial enough to provike attempts of self-harm."11
Women who ended their first pregnancy by abortion are five times more likely to report subsequent substance abuse than women who carried the pregnancy to term and four times more likely to report substance abuse compared to those whose first pregnancy ended naturally.12
Research published in the prestigious Archives of General Psychiatry acknowledges that many women experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after an abortion. In one of the longest-running studies conducted on women after abortion, researchers found that over time, relief and positive emotions relating to the abortion declined and negative emotions increased. PTSD symptoms include dreams or flashbacks to the abortion, a general numbing of responsiveness not present before the abortion, and difficulty falling asleep.
In the same study, a survey of women two years after their abortions found that 28 percent of women were either indifferent about or dissatisfied with their abortion decision and 31 percent said they were uncertain or would not have an abortion again.13
The circumstances surrounding an abortion decision can impact a woman, as well. According to research published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, "Abortion for medical or genetic indications, a history of psychiatric contact before the abortion, and mid-trimester abortions often result in more distress afterward. When women experience significant ambivalence about the decision or when the decision is not freely made, the results are also more likely to be negative."14
After an abortion, women can experience psychological reactions ranging from guilt feelings, nervous symptoms, sleep disturbance and regrets. Also, as many as 10 percent of women "experience serious psychiatric problems following abortion."15
As many as 60 percent of women having an abortion experience some level of emotional distress afterwards. In 30 percent of women, the distress is classified as severe.16
A Finnish study of suicide after pregnancy found that:
"The suicide rate after an abortion was three times the general suicide rate and six times that associated with birth"
Suicides were more common after a miscarriage—and especially after an induced abortion—than in the general population
An increased risk of suicide after an abortion indicates either common risk factors for both suicide and abortion, or harmful effects of induced abortion on mental health.17
Welch researchers examined abortion and suicide and concluded, "our data suggest that a deterioration in mental health may be a consequential side effect of induced abortion."18
A study of couples involved in first-trimester abortions in Canada found that abortion can be highly distressful for both men and women. Researchers found that both before and after the abortion, “study couples were found to be much more distressed than control[s]” couples. High levels of distress among women “correlated with fear of [the abortion’s] negative effects on the relationship, unsatisfying relationships, and not having had a previous child.” 19
Focus on the Family Resources
Tilly (radio drama) Focus on the Family radio broadcast CS335
suggested donation $7
www.family.org/resources/itempg.cfm?itemid=2870
The Post-Abortion Kit: Resources for Those Suffering From the Aftermath of Abortion, CRO75
suggested donation $10
www.family.org/resources/itempg.cfm?itemid=2326
Forbidden Grief: The Unspoken Pain of Abortion by Theresa Burke and David Reardon suggested donation $25
www.family.org/resources/itempg.cfm?itemid=3428
Additional Resources
Crutcher, Mark. (1996). Lime five: Exploited by choice.
This book exposes the dangers awaiting women who choose legal abortion.
To order, call Life Dynamics at 1-800-401-6494.
Christi’s Choice (1996).
A videotape featuring the parents of a young woman permanently injured by legal abortion.
To order, call Life Dynamics at 1-800-401-6494.
Other Organizations
Elliot Institute
PO Box 7348
Springfield, IL 62791
Publishes “The Post-Abortion Review”
www.afterabortion.org
Ramah International
Provides post-abortion resources and training
www.ramahinternational.org
(This page was originally posted on September 9, 2003.)
I wonder why more people aren't responding to this one. I'd have thought it was a fairly controversial issue, and that article was really bad, or good depending on how you are looking at it.
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