Posted on 02/06/2006 4:20:23 PM PST by wagglebee
CHERRY HILL, New Jersey, February 6, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) Stacy Zallie ended her life at age 21, one year after undergoing a secret abortion. Although her family was close, Stacy never told them she had been pregnant and never talked about the abortion.
Her father believes it was pain over the abortion that led her to take her life. He has started a Web portal and foundation in her memory, the Stacy Zallie Foundation, that offers counseling and support to women who have had abortions.
"I knew it was a life event for her," Mr. Zallie told the CourierPost. "It was the most serious issue in that brief life of hers. I know, in my heart, it took a toll on her emotionally and mentally, that she couldn't recover from it. And it just breaks my heart that she didn't open up."
At one point Stacy asked to go in to therapy, but ended the sessions after only three months.
A successful businessman, George Zallie began the foundation after hearing women speak about the pain of living with the fallout from having an abortion, at a retreat following his daughters death.
"I heard guilt, remorse, loss," he recalls. "Their frankness was really astounding to me. It was helpful for me in understanding just what Stacy was going through . . . It became important to me to get the message out."
The site offers help to women who are suffering emotionally and spiritually from having ended their babies lives. The Foundation emphasizes the need for compassion and non-judgmental care, recognizing the depth of pain caused by abortion.
Dr. David Reardon, a post-abortion specialist and researcher, has collected extensive documentation on the effects of abortion. According to statistics, teenage girls are 10 times more likely to attempt suicide after abortion. 60 percent of women consider suicide and 28 percent attempt it after abortion.
If I get one girl -- one girl -- to go to that site and realize that she's not alone, then it's worth it, Mr. Zallie said.
To visit the Stacy Zallie Foundation site, go to:
http://www.stacyzallie.org
For further resources see:
http://www.afterabortion.org/
See related LifeSiteNews articles:
LifeSiteNews.com Interview with Angelina Steenstra: Coordinator of Silent No More Awareness Campaign
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/may/040510b.html
Frankly, with me it is generally a recognition that I'm addressing a FReeper, as opposed to a poster. I think you know what I mean.
Impart your knowledge to me.
It is simply this:
We have allowed women to play the "folk marxism" card to the point of murder. So long as we continue to permit full, sovereign, citizens (with rather substantial special privileges) who happen to be female, to dilute and diffuse responsibility for making the decision only they can make, we will have women killing their children with clear consciences.....and experience shows those consciences, whether they harden or soften, will not *stay* clear.
And yet people are quick to claim that "only liberals!" have abortions.
You are close.
I was mocking the world's attitude.....
Christians in church are like sick people in hospitals!!!
They are there to GET well; not because they ARE well!!!
Don't yell at ME, I'm just repeating what others have posted all over this site. Apparently if you're conservative, and from a good church background, it simply doesn't happen.
(I know; I don't believe it either).
I'm the father of teenage girls 17 and 15. I live in pathetic CT. I'm trying to be the father that prempts this kind of situation. My wife is taking the 180 degree opposite viewpoint on many of my initiatives. Help/feedback please.
The state of CT allows teen girls to get birth control and abortion and completely denies the parents notification. They will inject the birth control in the kids arm and leave the parents in the dark. As a Christian this is totally beyond our belief system. I feel that one of the parents should be monitoring a daughter's menstrual cycle and keeping a discrete log. This would possibly allow us to detect the first level of activity - I believe that most birth control methods will tamper with the woman's cycle. A pregnancy/abortion should definitely get flagged that way.
My wife thinks I am medling too much. Does this above approach sound like a reasonable approach. Yes, we talk with our girls but hormonal pressure has been known to override many people's will.
Feedback please. Private if you desire.
I understand wanting to "pre-empt" a teenage pregnancy, rather than dealing with it after the fact.
My first impression is that keeping a "log" of a daughter's menstrual cycle is very intrusive. Frankly, if your wife is not willing to do it, I don't know how you would, successfully. When I was a teen (about 14), I was put on the pill to GIVE me a cycle - I was only having one about every four months, and they would knock me flat when they showed up. This was back around 1970, so dosages were higher than they are now.
If you are thinking about monitoring cycles, it sounds like you are having trouble talking to your daughters directly. Nothing substitutes for direct communication. If I had ever found my father rooting through my trash looking for used menstrual products, the feeling of being spied on would probably have ruined our relationship forever. That's just my opinion.
You can reply to me privately if you wish.
I highly recommend:
National Life Center with a Toll Free Hotline, 800-848-LOVE(5683).
Twenty eight percent attempt suicide after an abortion? I don't believe this statistic.
This article claims most DO consider suicide.
I could be wrong but that is just may thoughts...
It does seem pretty high.
It's very confusing. While a good Finnish study from 1996 months ago was conclusive that there is a strong correlation between teen suicides, women's suicides and abortion, the numbers do not correspond with Reardon's.
Here is the study: BMJ Journal
The Finnish study found this:
Table 3--Proportion of all suicides in women that were related to pregnancy and risk per pregnancy by age in Finland, 1987-94 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Age group ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Detail 15-19 24-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-49 Total ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All suicides in women 60 120 147 187 248 585 1347 No (%) of suicides related to pregnancy* 6 (10.0) 10 (8.3) 21 (14.3) 13 (7.0) 19 (7.7) 4 (0.6) 73 (5.4) No of ended pregnancies* 30 198 126 919 228 440 171 146 81 001 27 868 667 572 Suicides per 100 000 ended pregnancies* 19.9 7.9 9.2 7.5 23.5 14.4 10.9 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Births, abortions, and miscarriages. |
Table 4--Odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for suicide after birth, abortion, or miscarriage compared with general suicide rate specific for age by age group in Finland, 1987-94 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Age group --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Detail 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 >/=40 Total --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Birth 2.87 (1.02 to 8.04) 0.11 (0.01 to 0.82) 0.52 (0.18 to 1.49) 0.34 (0.11 to 1.03) 1.03 (0.51 to 2.09) 0.76 (0.39 to 1.49) 0.52 (0.19 to 1.41) Abortion 4.51 (1.69 to 12.03) 3.39 (1.65 to 6.97) 4.76 (2.41 to 9.38) 1.87 (0.94 to 3.73) 4.84 (2.79 to 8.41) * 3.08 (1.57 to 6.03) Miscarriage 2.33 (1.09 to 4.97) 2.25 (1.07 to 4.72) 1.97 (0.99 to 3.90) 1.21 (0.61 to 2.38) 2.01 (1.17 to 3.44) 1.61 (0.70 to 3.38) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *No suicides. |
Most local pregancy centers also offer post-abortion counseling, with great love and concern, and appreciate our prayers and help.
Women deserve BETTER than abortion. -- motto of Feminists for Life. Abortion takes a greater toll than the death of the unborn baby.
Good books: A Season To Heal, help and hope for those working through post-abortion stress, by Lucy Freed & Penny Salazar
And Real Choices by Frederica Mathewes-Green -- understanding the needs [fears, concerns] of women in unplanned pregnancies.
Suicide stats from Scandanavian countries must also be viewed with the understanding that those countries have higher rates than most. You show that even there the rates are not as high as this article claims.
With regards to the first claim in the article, there is no way to measure accurately whether or not 60 percent of women consider suicide after abortion: It could 100% or 10%, because there is no time frame given. For that and many other reasons, this statement can only be construed as opinion based on hearsay.
The second claim is also hard to substantiate, because many people do not go to hospital after a suicide attempt, and of course many suicide attempts are not real, but just a cry for help or release from an overwhelming emotional state.
The Finnish study only measures actual suicides. There is not really much else that can be measured accurately.
Nevertheless, women who have had abortions overwhelmingly state that they experience regret and a sense of loss for years following the abortion.
I wonder if we could tax abortions at the rate they do cigarettes.
http://www.stacyzallie.org/ -- a visit to this website might answer questions some might have.
why would abortion be any different from any of the other number of temptations we ALL have, every day of our lives?
God hates hands that shed innocent blood -- but He also hates liars! oops.
that is a 'shorthand' response to a much greater debate being hinted at here. Abortion has great repercussions to the woman and to society that other sins might not (seem to) have. But we read that all have sinned and fallen short of His Glory ... all are in need of forgiveness on an ongoing basis, whether they have had an abortion or not.
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