Ignoring the Obvious: Having an Abortion May be Hazardous to Your Health
by Maria Vitale
LifeNews.com Editorial Columnist
December 7, 2008
LifeNews.com Note: Maria Vitale is an editorial opinion columnist for LifeNews.com. She is the Public Relations Director for the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation and Vitale has written and reported for various broadcast and print media outlets, including National Public Radio, CBS Radio, and AP Radio.
I was relatively new to the pro-life movement when I met a young woman I’ll call Charisse outside a Midwestern abortion facility.
Charisse had dropped down to her knees to pray on the sidewalk leading up to the clinic’s doors. I later engaged her in conversation and she told me she had a friend who had been hurt inside the facility’s walls.
As I spoke with her further, her eyes widened and she told me that she was sorry she had lied to me—that she was the one who had the abortion.
As the tears rolled down her cheeks, a jumble of words tumbled out of her mouth. She was reliving, in horrid detail, the day of her abortion. It was apparent that she was hurting deeply, and I was thankful that I was able to refer her to post-abortion counseling for assistance.
Since that time, I have met a number of women who say they are still feeling the psychological impact of their abortions—years after the incidents. It doesn’t take a Ph.D. in psychology to recognize that these abortions were traumatic events in their lives.
This week came another study, this time from Johns Hopkins, claiming that there is no link between abortion and mental health issues. One researcher went so far as to say that pro-life groups or lawmakers who promote laws based on an abortion-depression link are “distort(ing) science to advance political agendas.”
But abortion isn’t just a political problem.
Women who go into abortion facilities are not looking for political solutions. Research indicates that as many as 60 percent of abortions are coerced. This suggests that, in many cases, women are having abortions they don’t even want. They are, in fact, fulfilling someone else’s agenda—a boyfriend, husband, parent, friend—who doesn’t want to be bothered with the implications of a newly-created life.
No study can change the fact that abortion ends a human life—specifically, a child’s life. It has been documented that the loss of a child can result in the most profound grief a human being can experience. Yet, we as a society refuse to allow women who have had abortions to openly mourn their losses. Therefore, they may turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms, such as drugs, alcohol, and promiscuity, in an attempt to deal with their pain.
The mere mention of possible health effects from abortion leads to a knee-jerk reaction from apologists for the abortion industry within the medical community. They issue immediate denials and attempt to discredit medical professionals who see validity to claims of potentially devastating side-effects from abortion.
The abortion industry and its supporters are in a state of denial.
Like the alcoholic who refuses to admit that he has a problem, they need to own up to the devastation that the unhealthy habit of abortion has caused America’s families. One needs to only talk with the courageous women of Silent No More, a group of women who regret their abortions, to recognize the fact that each abortion facility should display a sign which reads: “May be hazardous to your health.”
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