Is There a Post-Abortion Syndrome?

By: Brie Cadman (View Profile)

I think there are better ways to go about protesting abortion than making women who have gotten them feel like dirt. I do not really see what this accomplishes, other than further stigmatizing and marginalizing the act of abortion and therefore, the women who decided to get one. This is dangerous on many levels. Using junk science to further a political and moral agenda is irresponsible, but diagnosing a non-existent condition is simply reckless.

Even if you could not imagine ever getting an abortion, chances are you know someone who has. While both sides of the debate lob shots, our friends move on with their lives. Whether they see their abortion as the beginning or an end, we should give them the room to discuss painful issues an abortion can raise. Unraveling the PAS myth means realizing these issues may be there. It also means realizing that scare tactics and false maladies are not a means to an abortion end. This harms the very women pro-lifers claim to protect. In an ideal world, no woman would be faced with the abortion prospect. But until then, let us all open our ears and hear what they are saying.   

 

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posted: 09.05.2008
Kristi Stevens
Brie, What a refreshing article. I believe most women who are faced with this choice view it as heartwrenching. I've never encountred anyone who took this choice lightly. To think that a women who chooses to terminate a pregnancy views it as nothing more than a minor medical procedure is ridiculous. Women chose to or chose not to terminate a pregnancy for a whole host of complicated reasons. Its messy, its emotional and its life changing... and because of the gravity and permanence of that choice, it can only be made by the person with the responsibility for the life she is carrying. Is there guilt and grief? Of course. Should that guilt and grief be held up as proof there should be no choice? Of course, not. Best, KS
posted: 10.17.2007
Katherine Harms
I can hardly believe that a woman would feel no pain or remorse at the destruction of a life. I am not suggesting that she should wallow in the feeling, just that if she feels nothing after choosing to end a human life, it would be strange. To abort a baby is to kill that baby, and whether we espouse the political agenda pro abortion or against it, we should not lie to ourselves about the subject. I have never until today heard of "Post-Abortion Syndrome," a term which suggests that every woman's experience falls into some neat grouping of symptoms. I rather doubt there is such a thing. I do believe that every woman who chooses to end the life of the baby gestating within her must certainly consider, before and after the procedure, some concern bigger than her own convenience. I'm glad my mother didn't think I was inconvenient or too expensive.
posted: 10.17.2007
Triumphant 1
I had 4 abortions and know the emotional, psychological and spiritual pain a woman may feel. I also know what it feels like to live in denial about my decisions and not face the decisions I made, because I felt justified to abort my children. I believed they were my choice. However, a choice I was too ashamed to face. I believe my choices now were wrong, but well supported by the pro-choice beliefs I had at the time. I was sold out on pro-choice, but didn't consider the fact that these were precious babies in my womb, like the daughter I carried full term. It's unfortunate I didn't have anyone to help me understand then how the pain from my decisions, would come to haunt me 10 years later and uncover the root of my emotional instability and unworthy feelings of having such an amazing daughter. It wasn't until I allowed myself to feel the pain, repent, forgive myself, acknowledge my children and grieve their loss as any mother who looses a child that I began to heal. I thank God
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