Posted on 01/15/2020 5:25:58 AM PST by Kaslin
Many in the media are asserting that a new study proves women don’t regret abortion ever – but “ever” only means the following five years.
A study published in Social Science & Medicine on January 12 found that by five years after an abortion, “the large majority of women (84%) had either primarily positive emotions or no emotions whatsoever” and just “6% expressed primarily negative emotions.” The media widely covered the study while, at the same time, overlooked the women who say it took them decades to acknowledge their regret after abortion.
CNN’s headline about the study, which was performed by researchers at University of California at San Francisco and examined 667 women, declared, “The majority of women feel relief, not regret, after an abortion, study says.”
“One of the largest studies about women's emotions after an abortion finds most feel relieved,” producer Jen Christensen wrote January 13. She added that the study “builds on previous research” – but failed to address conflicting studies.
Christensen also cited the study’s author, Corinne Rocca, who serves as a professor at UCSF’s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, which is biased in its support for abortion.
According to Rocca, “All the claims that negative emotions will emerge over time, a myth that has persisted for decades without any evidence to substantiate these claims, it's clear, it's just not true.”
But Rocca only had five years of evidence – not five decades.
Salon also relied on Rocca, publishing a piece by her about the data “Debunking the ‘abortion regret’ narrative” on January 13.
Rocca admitted that while some women “do wish they had not had” an abortion, “every major life decision, medical or otherwise, carries with it the risk of regret.”
“As bioethicists have pointed out, some patients regret having heart surgery or seeking a kidney transplant,” she compared. “For that matter, some people regret marrying their high-school sweetheart, or having children.”
Rocca made no effort to hide her support for abortion.
“Access to abortion has clear benefits for both the person seeking care and for society as a whole,” she concluded, before pointing to the “social, economic, and medical good of abortion access.”
Other media, like Vice, appeared to agree. “Most Women Don’t Regret Abortions. Why Would They?” the outlet’s headline read on January 13.
“The idea that someone will regret not having a kid they don’t want or know they can’t afford is nothing more than a scare tactic pushed by the federally funded, faith-based anti-choice clinics,” insisted writer Harron Walker.
“Most women do not regret having an abortion, study finds,” one Guardian headline read on January 12. A day later, another asked, “Do women feel guilt after having an abortion? No, mainly relief.”
Leslie Blackwell, a co-regional coordinator for the campaign in Virginia, told National Review last year that she first became pregnant in 1980, and went on to have “two abortions within two years.” Afterward, she identified as a radical feminist and almost served as a board member of the Virginia League for Planned Parenthood.
She didn’t have a change of heart until 2007 when she says she had a “spiritual epiphany” and realized, “Whoa, I took two of [God’s] precious lives.”
Another woman associated with the campaign, Mary Eisman, discovered she was pregnant at 16. When she had an abortion, she felt like she was “just getting rid of a pregnancy.”
She didn’t begin her healing process, she said, until she turned 42.
Another woman from Washington, named Jenn, wrote on the campaign site that she “carried this secret burden” of abortion for 19 years. Kim from Massachusetts admitted, “I hid it from everyone for about 15 years,” while Fern from Ontario, Canada, said that after she sought two abortions, she “lived a life in denial” and that it wasn’t until 44 years after her first abortion that she realized she “had to deal with these issues.”
“It is my prayer that God will use my painful past to bring hope and healing to others who have suffered,” she concluded. “I would give anything to be able to go back and change those decisions.”
Rocca and many in the media ignore these women’s realities – and the reality that, regardless of regret, abortion always ends a life.
I only know a few women who had abortions. They ALL deeply regret it. Every. Single. One.
Of course, that is only anecdotal. It would be interesting to do this for only women who got an abortion more than ten years ago and see how it does.
My limited experience with women that had abortion is they were truly screwed up over it and their lives were changed forever.
Re whores not regretting murdering their children. What would one expect? They’re whores. They long ago fried the part of their brain that controls conscience in order to prostitute themselves to the god of Base Desires.
I seriously wonder about the methodology of this “study.” Given that the “researcher” is a strong advocate of abortion, I highly suspect that the study was designed to achieve a certain result, rather than to reveal women’s true feelings about past abortions.
If you look at the behavior of post-abortion women, it is always skewed from normal. While they may claim that they have no negative emotions from their abortions, their behavior screams otherwise. Mostly, they try to suppress the guilt that they feel—oftentimes expressing it as rabid support for abortion.
As a contrast, how many people “shout their wisdom teeth removal”? How many people join post-appendectomy support groups? The only medical treatments I have seen that come even close to the support structures designed to make women feel better about their abortions would be the cancer support groups. Getting cancer is a highly emotional and disruptive experience, thus the support groups. If getting an abortion really is a benign experience comparable to getting dental surgery, then why the support groups? By the very way the abortion industry and its clients behave, they put the lie to the claim that women do not feel guilt after abortion.
Whores? Stay classy, FR.
Looking at the methodology, it looks like they sought to interview around 3000 women (if I’ve done my math right), but only 956 agreed to participate, and only 678 completed a survey within the last two years of the study.
It’s entirely possible that women who didn’t regret their abortion were happy to participate in the study while those that regretted it were not.
The almost 300 that dropped out of the study might have come to regret it during that time and didn’t want to continue participating.
Or not.
There’s really no way to know, but when 77% of potential candidates refuse to be part of the sample, it’s difficult to trust the conclusion of the study.
On a side note, women’s post-abortion guilt is an important thing to point out, but it isn’t what makes abortion wrong. Even if everyone were delighted by abortion, it would still be wrong.
That is exactly my experience. Several had abortions 20 years ago, I had no idea that they’d had one, every one cried while telling me, even though it was far in the past, but in the meantime, they’d had kids of their own and realized what they’d done.
I don’t get it?
What does parrot biology have to do with human abortion?
I agree, I think this “study” was designed to “prove” a particular result. That’s not particularly difficult to do.
I’d like to see a study done of women who contemplated having an abortion and chose not to. How many of them regret the decision? The only people I’ve heard expressing that “regret” are ones suing someone for “wrongful birth.” That’s all about the money, not regrets.
I’ve thought about that, and I keep coming up with wondering why they wouldn’t ponder, more severely as time goes by, what that child would be like at whatever age she or he would be?
Whores. Grow up. Maybe you’re on the wrong forum.
I’ve known a few women who’ve had an abortion... all deeply regretted it and worse, a very high percentage of them had mental health issues which seemed to stem directly from what they did (perhaps all of them did but some hid it better than others).
Here’s what I’ve often wondered .... in Russia, contraception was almost impossible to find during the 60s and 70s and abortions were so frequent that the stats are that there were 3 abortions for every live birth. The average woman had 5 abortions during her lifetime and some women ended up having dozens. It became the ‘accepted form of birth control’ and remember... Russia became the first country in the world to legalize abortion and that was exactly 100 years ago in 1920. So... if my ‘anecdotal observations’ from North America showing that women who have abortions also end up carrying serious mental issues, what does this say about Russian women?
By the way, the most current stats for Russia show that the trend has changed substantially. There are now under one abortion for each live birth which is something to be thankful for..... still horrible but at least in the right direction.
Nothing.
Bless your heart.
I know one who had an abortion in college. Her boyfriend insisted and bullied her into it, still she gave in. I had her tell me one night about the abortion and you never saw a person with such guilt and anguish. I asked her if she had prayed about it and asked for forgiveness and she said she had numerous times, she was earnest through her tears and wailing of repentance telling me this and I said well, the Lord says he will forgive and cast that sin into the deepest ocean, never to be seen or heard again. You have repented and asked forgiveness, but you have to forgive yourself as well and come to terms with this. She is a strong pro-life advocate and eventually married and had several children
Shut your whore mouth!
Oh, sweetie. Late for your incel rally? You, a Man?!?!, unlikely.
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