Florida Women Who Regret Their Abortions Protest Teen’s Controversy

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   May 6, 2005   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Florida Women Who Regret Their Abortions Protest Teen’s Controversy Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 6,2005

West Palm Beach, FL (LifeNews.com) — Almost twenty women who say they regret their decisions to have abortions protested outside of a Florida court Thursday against a judge who ruled that a 13 year-old teenager in state custody could have an abortion. The teen had the abortion Wednesday.

The women, who appeared outside of the Palm Beach County Courthouse, along with pro-life advocates from a local organization, carried signs saying "My Abortion Hurt Me" and said the girl would be harmed for the rest of her life by the abortion.

"Abortion has two victims. It’s not just the baby. It’s also the person that chooses to have the abortion," Jacqueline Anderson of West Palm Beach, told the Palm Beach Post newspaper.

Anderson had an abortion she regrets and is now the director of a post-abortion outreach group that is part of the First Care Pregnancy Center.

Faith Croshaw, also with First Care, told the Post newspaper that she has been trying for 26 years to "get rid of this pain from he fact that I ended my child’s life." She called her abortion the "biggest mistke of my life" and added that the "ramifications of [abortion] are not small."

Meanwhile, Rebecca Porter, the statewide leader of the post-abortion group Opertion Outcry, said she suffers from guilt and shame associated with the three abortions she had.

"I don’t want other women to go through the pain that I have," she said of the teenager.

Porter and the other women questioned whether the teenager, identified as L.G. in court papers, was capable of making a good decision about her future and the pregnancy. They also wondered if she was informed about the possible emotional and physical consequences of having an abortion, such as an increased risk of breast cancer.

Meanwhile, the Post newspaper reported that the teen’s caseworker did not encourage her to have an abortion, but did offer to drive her to an abortion facility.

Pro-life advocates say it would have been wrong for a state employee to take the teen for an abortion.