Post Abortion Stress (PAS) (1 views) Subscribe   
  From:  David (DavidABrown)    9/17/2001 10:19 am  
To:  ALL   (1 of 11)  
 
  200.1  
 
Abortion and Post Abortion (After Abortion) are Difficult topics to discuss do to the extreme and irreversible consequences of the Abortion act. We as people are emotional and it is ok to have emotions about emotional topics.

 

It is also ok to Remember that God is a Loving, Carrying, and Forgiving, God. And that God offers the Love, Compassion and Forgiveness that people many times cannot give each other or themselves.

 

One of the repeated Promotions for the Basic Christian forum is titled Abortion had One?? God Still Loves You!!

 

It is in the Context that God is Loving and Forgiving that this Information is being posted. It is Information and Links to begin and to Continue healing from hurting. Jesus Himself is well acquainted with death and tragedy and Jesus offers True help and healing that Only the Living God, Jesus Christ, can offer and that only those who turn to Jesus can receive.

 

God Bless You,

David A. Brown





David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
 
 
From:  David (DavidABrown)    9/17/2001 10:22 am  
To:  ALL    
 
    
 
 The Post-Abortion Coverup

By Jenny Tyree

 

[Jenny Tyree is a freelance writer in Colorado Springs, Colorado]

 

There are some who claim that most women who abort their children do not

suffer. Ms. magazine makes such a claim in its September issue saying that

post-abortion stress (PAS) is a "made-up term" and a "bogus infliction

invented by the religious right." Planned Parenthood liked the article so

much that it appeared on the main page of the group's Web site.

 

To whom are abortion advocates listening?

 

Not to Carrie Gordon Earll, bioethics analyst for Focus on the Family.

"Having an abortion is not like having your tonsils removed," Earll said.

"A woman is forever changed by pregnancy regardless of how that pregnancy

ends."

 

Not to Teri Reisser, author of A Solitary Sorrow: Finding Healing and

Wholeness After Abortion, and a therapist who, with her husband, has

counseled hundreds of post-abortive women.

 

Not to Julie Parton, manager of Focus on the Family's Crisis Pregnancy

ministry. "PAS affects women regardless of cultural setting and religious

background," Parton said. "Abortion violates the natural maternal instinct

of a mother wanting to protect her offspring."

 

And not, apparently, to many women who have experienced abortion.

Although the Ms.article gives statistics and cites studies to support

their theory, the greater evidence says that abortion not only kills an

unborn child, but also hurts the women those advocates seek to help.

 

Abortion advocates point to the fact that neither the American

Psychological Association (APA) nor the American Psychiatric Association

identify PAS as a diagnosis. They also cite the independent studies of

Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and the APA in the late 1980s, and the

conclusion of both that abortion did not contribute to psychological

problems in women.

 

Another study conducted by Brenda Major at the University of California at

Santa Barbara in August 2000 is singled out as further research supporting

this theory. The Major study found that only one percent of post-abortive

women suffered extreme psychological distress. This study also reported

that the greatest emotion women experienced after abortion was relief.

 

There is, however, information that has been overlooked by the Ms. article

and abortion advocates. Reisser said the process by which the American

Psychiatric Association adds a diagnosis to the body of disorders is

notoriously slow. The process is even slower when an issue is politically

charged.

 

In addition, the reports made by the Surgeon General and the American

Psychological Association both acknowledged the fact that most of the

studies used to draw their conclusions were flawed scientifically.

Furthermore, while many pro-life authorities agree that relief is the

strongest emotion experienced immediately following an abortion, Earll

said the Major study also found that as time passed the women surveyed had

an increased dissatisfaction with their abortion decision, and an increase

in negative emotions.

 

More recent statistics reflect troubling information for abortion

advocates who would champion the cause of women's emotional and physical

health.

 

In Finland, researchers identified suicide rates among aborted women were

higher (35 percent) than women who gave birth (six percent).

 

According to research in The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse,

women who abort their first pregnancy are five times more likely to report

subsequent substance abuse than women who gave birth, and four times more

likely than women whose pregnancies ended through miscarriage or

stillbirth.

 

In the United States, 13 out of 14 studies found more breast cancer among

American women who had chosen abortion. The link between the two is so

strong that The New England Journal of Medicine listed abortion as a risk

factor for breast cancer.

 

The Ms. article does relate the testimony of some women, but once again

seems to neglect the whole truth. Words such as "sadness," "grief, "

"regret," "loss," and "guilt" are listed as emotions experienced by women

after abortion, but they are not attributed to the death of a child.

Instead, abortion advocates say women are recovering from making the

abortion decision, grieving the loss of another relationship, or perhaps

suffering from the stress induced by "antiabortion movement" protesters.

 

"You would think that abortion advocates who claim to be pro-woman would

want women who were hurt or injured by abortion to have access to

information to help them," Earll said. "With this article, the

pro-abortion extremists show their true colors: they're more committed to

a political agenda than to women."

 

Women who have experienced the pain of an abortion can find a friend to

talk to at http://www.pregnancycenters.org Click on "Help After

Abortion."

 

From:  The Pro-Life Infonet http://www.prolifeinfo.org

Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt infonet@prolifeinfo.org

Subject:   The Post-Abortion Coverup

Source:   Focus on the Family Citizen; September 2001

 





David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
 
From:  David (DavidABrown)    9/19/2001 10:41 am  
To:  ALL   (3 of 11)  
 
  200.3 in reply to 200.2  
 
From:  The Pro-Life Infonet http://www.proLifeInfo.org 
Reply-To:  Steven Ertelt <infonet@prolifeinfo.org>
Subject:   Law Center Files Brief in Forced Abortion Case
Source:   Thomas More Law Center Press Release; September 17, 2001

Law Center Files Brief in Forced Abortion Case

Ann Arbor, MI -- The Thomas More Law Center, a national, public interest
law firm specializing in pro-life litigation and based in Ann Arbor,
Michigan, has requested the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in
New Jersey to accept for filing its "friend of the court" brief in a case
seeking to protect a woman's fundamental interest in her relationship with
her child, born or unborn.

The case, Donna Santa Marie v. Christine T. Whitman, arose out of New
Jersey and challenges various laws of that State that permit and promote
abortion without properly protecting a mother's fundamental rights.

Three of the plaintiffs in this lawsuit are women who were harmed by
abortion.  Donna Santa Marie, the fictitious name of a sixteen-year old,
was forced by her parents to have an abortion.  Donna viewed abortion as
"murdering [her] baby."  Nevertheless, she was hurried off to a room where
the doctor would perform the abortion, never getting an opportunity to
explain her predicament.

Plaintiff Jane Jones, the fictitious name of another sixteen year-old, was
misinformed about the true nature of abortion. Moreover, the doctor
scheduled Jane's abortion without informing her parents or legal
guardians.  Had Jane known the true nature of abortion, she never would
have consented to the procedure to "terminate her pregnancy," as the
abortion doctor called it.

Plaintiff Mary Doe, also a fictitious name, asked her doctor whether her
abortion would be terminating the life of a human being.  Mary believed
this was a critical fact for her decision.  The doctor told her "no" and
advised her that there was nothing but tissue and blood.  Furthermore, the
doctor told Mary that the very idea that the child was a human being was
"stupid."

In its brief, the Thomas More Law Center argued that our constitutional
jurisprudence in the area of equal protection remains incomplete so long
as the courts of this country continue to disregard a woman's fundamental
interest in her relationship with her unborn child and the humanity of her
unborn child.  The brief relies on case law that mandated equal protection
in this country for all regardless of race and argues that these cases
repudiate the notion that our Constitution permits a State to create a
sub-class of human beings not worthy of similar treatment by the law.

The Thomas More Law Center argued that various New Jersey laws violate the
equal protection rights of mothers of unborn children.  Specifically, in
New Jersey a mother is not permitted to bring a cause of action for
wrongful death if the negligence of another causes the death of her
preborn child. Moreover, New Jersey law does not require a knowing and
voluntary waiver of a woman's fundamental right to the relationship with
her child prior to the irreversible termination of this right when it
involves the abortion of her child.

According to Robert Muise, associate counsel for the Thomas More Law
Center, "Our democratic struggle for the equal protection of the laws is
incomplete so long as New Jersey is permitted to carve out exceptions to
the protection of its laws for a certain class of women-mothers of unborn
children-and affirmatively endorse and promote activity that directly
impinges on the fundamental rights and interests of these women."

--
The Pro-Life Infonet is a daily compilation of pro-life news and
information. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe" to:
infonet-request@prolifeinfo.org. Infonet is sponsored by Women and
Children First (http://www.womenandchildrenfirst.org). For more pro-life
info visit http://www.prolifeinfo.org and for questions or additional
information email ertelt@prolifeinfo.org




David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
 
  
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  From:  David (DavidABrown)    11/27/2001 7:49 am  
To:  ALL   (4 of 11)  
 
  200.4 in reply to 200.3  
 
British Mom Compensated When Twin Survives Abortion

London, England -- A Midlands, England mother who had an incomplete
abortion and gave birth to a surviving twin has received a five figure sum
in compensation.

However, Kim Nicholls, from Staffordshire, says she does not know how she
is going to explain to her surviving daughter that she might have had a
brother or sister.

She was advised to have an abortion on medical grounds in 1999 after
suffering serious health problems during the Caesarean births of her
previous three children. The 36-year-old reluctantly went ahead with the
abortion in March 1999 but three months later she felt a baby kicking
inside her, and went on to give birth to a healthy baby girl, Darcy, now
aged two.

The doctor who treated her privately, Dr. Sen Gupta, has agreed to pay her
the five-figure sum after she sued him for criminal negligence.

But, Mrs. Nicholls says the compensation is not enough. She told BBC Radio
WM: "I am not coping at all. I feel angry, as though the decision was
taken away from me."

Nicholls was advised to have the abortion after experiencing fluid on the
brain following the birth of her third child Kiefer, now aged nine. At
first she was reluctant but decided to go ahead so that her health would
not be at risk. Nicholls said that after the abortion, which was carried
out privately, Gupta told her that a baby had been taken away.

She was surprised three months later when she felt a baby kicking inside
her.

"I just thought I was imagining it. Because I didn't want to have the
abortion in the first place, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me.
When I found out I was still pregnant I was hysterical to be honest. But
all the maternal instincts came back again."

However she now has to tell her daughter when she's older that she may
have had a twin brother or sister.

Nicholls said: "I didn't know for definite before the termination that I
was expecting twins and it was Dr Gupta who put the idea into or
possibility of a twin into everyone's mind.

"I personally think that Darcy was a twin, but until I get it clear in my
mind, which I don't know if I ever will, I don't know how I am going to
tell her."

Nicholls' solicitor Louise Hunt, head of clinical negligence at Russell
Walker & Jones in Birmingham, said: "Any case of medical negligence is bad
for the people involved but in this particular case, Kim has to live with
the possibility that there may have been a twin.

"That is a very difficult thing to live with."

You can see a picture of Darcy by pointing your web browser to:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1670000/images/_1670127_darcy150.jpg




David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
 
  
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  From:  David (DavidABrown)    1/21/2002 8:29 pm  
To:  ALL   (5 of 11)  
 
  200.5 in reply to 200.4  
 
Subject:  Father Frank Pavone:  Forbidden Grief After Abortion
Source:   Priests for Life; December 3, 2001

Forbidden Grief
by Father Frank Pavone

[Pro-Life Infonet Note:  Father Frank Pavone is the co-founder of Priests
for Life.]

In her book to be released in 2002, my friend Dr. Theresa Burke writes,

"There is no social norm for dealing with an abortion. There are no
Hallmark cards for friends who have had an abortion, declaring either
sympathy or congratulations. We don't send flowers. We don't have any
ceremonies, either joyous or mournful. We have no social customs or rules
of etiquette governing acknowledgment of an abortion. Instead, we all try
to ignore it."

The book, "Forbidden Grief," with which Dr. David Reardon also
collaborated, demonstrates that grief after abortion is neither expected
nor permitted in our society. Drawing from their vast experience of
post-abortion counseling, the authors illustrate some of the ways that
this "disenfranchised grief" eats away at the personality, and results in
harmful and bizarre behavior.

As a graduate student, Theresa Burke led a weekly support group for women
with eating disorders. The meeting exploded out of control one night when,
unexpectedly, the topic of abortion arose. Six of the eight participants
had had abortions. This led Theresa to begin exploring the connections.
One woman explained, "I am never hungry when I bingeI eat because I am
full. Full of anger, hurt, sadness, and loneliness. I throw up because
that is the way I empty myself of those feelings."

Every thought and emotion we have is connected to other thoughts,
emotions, and memories. Connections to the negative memories associated
with abortion are often overlooked, even by professional therapists.

Forbidden Grief reveals many of the connections. For example, those who
undergo a trauma often re-enact that trauma, in a subconscious effort to
articulate, understand, and master it. One client became obsessed with
pregnancy after her abortion. She explains, "I used to go to the maternity
section in department storesI usually had a towel stuffed in my pantyhose
to make it look like I was pregnantbut as soon as I'd get in my car I
would cry my head offI'd rip the towel out of my belly to dry my tears.
I'd tell myself, you're not pregnantthis is just a stupid towel."

Another rode horseback regularly without padded pants, until she bled
profusely, hence re-enacting the abortion.

One way or another, we ritualize our grief.

We also sometimes try to trivialize it when we know it's too much to bear.
Dr. Burke describes a dorm party in which the students, many
post-abortive, played "Baby Soccer." The broken heads of dolls were kicked
around the room gleefully, their eyes gouged out with darts, their cheeks
burned with cigarette butts.

Other post-abortive individuals increase their risk-taking behavior,
hoping they will get caught or hurt. After all, they know they are guilty,
and may seek an experience to confirm that.

When society trivializes abortion, people suffering from it will, cry out
by their actions, "I'm not OK! I'm in tremendous pain! Can anyone help
me?" We need to tell them we know that pain, and that it makes sense to
grieve. Only then can healing begin.

--
When using items from the Pro-Life Infonet in your newsletter, please
include our web site (www.prolifeinfo.org) or email address
(infonet@prolifeinfo.org). Thanks!




David A. Brown
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  From:  Danestress   2/5/2002 11:56 am  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (6 of 11)  
 
  200.6 in reply to 200.5  
 
Hi David. I don't want to do anything to distract from the point being made about abortion, but I do want to mention that many of the same things can be said about spontaneous miscarrage. There is no ritual, you get no cards or flowers, family and friends might know about it, but precious few will be comfortable calling, and everyone hope you will just move on and hopefully not mention it, but it haunts many women for years and years. Women who have had an abortion have made a choice - a paintful one. Women who have spontaneous miscarriages did not get a choice, but apparently some of the same feelings exist afterwards. Interesting.  
  
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  From:  karen (karen10051)   2/5/2002 12:04 pm  
To:  Danestress   (7 of 11)  
 
  200.7 in reply to 200.6  
 
I agree completely, and we have to deal with people saying things like "well, it wasnt really a person" or "its God's will" and such. 
For myself, we filled out a baby book anyway, and had a little goodbye. Others i know have had rings or necklaces made in remembrance. 




  
  
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  From:  David (DavidABrown)    2/5/2002 2:52 pm  
To:  Danestress   (8 of 11)  
 
  200.8 in reply to 200.6  
 
Hi,

 

Thank you for making a very good and a very valid point about miscarriage being a loss to the family.

 

Lets face it we are an incompetent Nation when it comes to offering comfort and support for anyone in grief. We are now such a plastic, disposable society that people now think life is of little value.

 

I really hope that the Christians that read this will feel motivated to reach out and to comfort one another and to talk about the pains and hurts and worries and to also include God into this dialogue and to really look for healing from God.

 

We are taught by society to stuff, hide and suppress our emotions and to not to let them out, this is actually very harmful physically, emotionally, and spiritually to us as people and the Bible teaches the opposite that we are to talk about things and to bring them out both with man and with God.

 

Thanks Again,

Excellent Comment!!

God Bless You,

David



David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum



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Edited 2/5/2002 6:16:10 PM ET by David  
  
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  From:  R/C Floats (RachelsChild)   2/12/2002 2:12 pm  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (9 of 11)  
 
  200.9 in reply to 200.5  
 
Hi David... 

For a women to loose a child (baby) is traumatic however it occurs...including loss of a child through adoption. 

Regards, 
R/C 

 
  
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  From:  David (DavidABrown)    2/12/2002 5:28 pm  
To:  R/C Floats (RachelsChild)   (10 of 11)  
 
  200.10 in reply to 200.9  
 
Hi Rachelschild,

 

Excellent Point!

 

It is always nice to read your comments.

 

If you or anyone else has any good links to healing, comforting and supporting forums or web sites please feel free to post them and share them with others on this forum.

 

God Bless You,

David



David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
 
  
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   From:  R/C Floats (RachelsChild)   2/12/2002 5:38 pm  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (11 of 11)  
 
  200.11 in reply to 200.10  
 

Thank you David. 
Off hand I do not know of any real good public sites for adoption related healing. But I do know of a private email group for Christian women who surrendered children to adoption. Any mother touched by adoption may privately email me. Unfortunatly, many women from the 50's 60's were shamefully treated and still publically hide from disclosing they were an unwed mother, they fear the very real threat of judgemental and punitve reactions of others. 
.. 
Regards, 
R/C 



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Edited 2/12/02 8:41:28 PM ET by RACHELSCHILD 
  
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