Pro-lifers need to express compassion for women in crisis pregnancies or who have had abortions as much as we express our commitment to the right to life of the child in the womb, said Dr. David Reardon of the Elliott Institute to the 2010 Alliance For Life Ontario conference.

That was the essence of his talk, entitled “Ending abortion with compassion.” He did not suggest that pro-lifers lack compassion for the women in crisis pregnancies, but by concentrating on the rights of the baby in the womb, we sometimes fail to express sufficiently our concern for and sensitivity towards women in difficulty. 

He presented his talk in four themes:

1. The pressure women feel to abort
2. The effect of abortion on women
3. The need for healing
4. The pro-life agenda

 The pressure to abort

 According to research and experience at crisis pregnancy centres, Dr. Reardon stated that 70 to 80 per cent of women seeking abortions would keep their babies if they had the support of their loved ones. This correlates to the consistent findings of opinion polls that 70 per cent of Americans believe abortion is immoral (63 per cent of Canadians want legal protection for the child in the womb (Reference 1 below)).

 ”A woman who wants an abortion is like an animal caught in a trap wanting to gnaw its leg off,” Dr. Reardon said, echoing a sentiment expressed by Halton Pro-Life president Tom Bartlett in his Thoughts from the President column, “Lie to Me,” in the Summer 2010 edition of our LifeLines newsletter.

The biggest pressure for a woman to abort generally comes from other people, Dr. Reardon said, who utter statements such as:

• “Choose my love or your love for your baby,” or
• “You’re on your own if you have the baby.”

 The American Psychological Association (APA) admits that 20 to 60 per cent of abortions are coerced to some degree (2)

At abortion clinics, when a woman changes her mind and becomes reluctant to have an abortion, the abortion staff will not build up her confidence but instead will discourage her from keeping her child with phrases such as:

• “It’s expensive to bring up a child.”
• “You’re not ready to have a baby.”
• “The baby won’t have a good life.”

 By contrast the ideal is that “women are created to have loving husbands and extended families who will rejoice when they become pregnant,” Dr. Reardon said.

The effect of abortion on women

The welfare of mother and child are intertwined, Dr. Reardon said. Her body is designed to protect the baby.

• “You can’t help one without helping the other.
• “You can’t hurt one without hurting the other.”

 Her mind and spirit are designed to bond with the baby. If she has had an abortion, it takes a lot of emotional energy to suppress thoughts of it. Many women avoid the issue for fear of breaking down.

A reaction many women have is an unspoken or unacknowledged desire to replace the baby. More than half abortions in the U.S. are repeat abortions, according to the APA. Each time, the woman finds it a little easier to abort.

A result of this, Dr. Reardon said, is that the women are becoming more and more emotionally dead.

There is considerable evidence that abortion has a harmful psychological effect (confirmed not only by the research published by the Elliott Institute but also by the deVeber Institute here in Canada).

Studies have shown there is a much higher rate of death among women within a year after an abortion than among the general population of women. One such study, called STAKES, was conducted in Finland (3). It found that:

• The death rate of women who had born children was half that of women who had never been pregnant.
• The death rate of women who had suffered miscarriages was about 85 per cent that of women who had never been pregnant.
• The death rate of women who had had abortions was about 1.75 times that of women who had never been pregnant, and 3.6 times that of women who had brought their babies to term.

 For death by suicide:

• The suicide rate of women who had born children was slightly more than half that of women who had never been pregnant.
• The suicide rate of women who had suffered miscarriages was slightly less than one and a half times that of women who had never been pregnant.
• The suicide rate of women who had had abortions was more than three and a half times that of women who had never been pregnant, and more than seven times that of women who had brought their babies to term.

 As an example of how the psychological effects are being downplayed or even denied, Dr. Reardon referred to the report of an APA Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion. The APA summarized its findings in a press release that claimed there is “no credible evidence that a single elective abortion of an unwanted pregnancy in and of itself causes mental health problems for women”.

Dr. Reardon criticized this on the following points:

• The word “credible” implies an opinion rather than a fact.
• The claim refers only to “a single” abortion, but the APA acknowledges that “the evidence regarding the relative mental health risks associated with multiple abortions is more equivocal.” In the U.S., according to the APA, half of abortive women have had multiple abortions. (In Canada, according to Statistics Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the figure is nearly two out of five (4).)
• The claim refers to a “single elective abortion,” yet research shows that 20 to 60 per cent of abortions are coerced.
• The APA states that 15 to 30 per cent of abortions are performed on minors (17 per cent in Canada according to Statistics Canada quoted by www.abortion in Canada). Teenagers are much more likely to be influenced by parents and others than are older women.
• 20 to 50 per cent of women who have abortions have pre-existing social, emotional or psychological conditions that predispose them to mental health problems associated with abortions, states the APA Task force. Yet Dr. Reardon lamented the lack of counselling of women in the abortion clinics. (Henry Morgentaler assumed that women who came to his clinics already had received counselling so gave them none, according to the biography of him by Catherine Dunphy, Morgentaler: A Difficult Hero.)

 The worse the circumstances surrounding the abortion, the greater the risk of post “traumatic stress disorder,” Dr. Reardon said.

Among the worst of circumstances is pregnancy from rape or incest, when there is likely to be considerable pressure to abort. However, “70 per cent of rape victims being their babies to term,” Dr. Reardon said, quoting research by Dr. Sandra Mahkorn (5) “Those who keep their babies don’t want to victimize their babies the way they were - it (the abortion) adds to the trauma.”

Pressure to abort babies conceived by incest often comes as attempts to conceal the incest. Women who keep their babies do so, Dr. Reardon said, as a way to find real love, a common sentiment being: “my baby will be loved.”

There’s no prior screening or counselling in abortion clinics. The clinic doctors do not diagnose their clients’ health conditions. Nor do they advise about the risks factors of abortion. There’s not one study they can refer to showing benefits of abortion.

“It’s not like a woman going into a doctor’s office with a lump on a breast,” Dr. Reardon said. “The doctor doesn’t say ‘I’ll take it off right now’.”

Obstacles to healing

In spiritual terms, Dr. Reardon said, the tempter who urged a woman to abortion becomes the accuser afterwards.

Post abortive women feel trapped with no-one to whom they can safely and reliably reveal their grief, Dr. Reardon said. They believe that:

• Pro-choice people won’t acknowledge their pain;
• Pro-lifers will condemn them.

 They experience a spectrum of reactions:

• Self blame
• Fear of people knowing
• Defensiveness
• Blame of others
• Resentment
• Anger
• Hatred.

 Pro-life agenda

In the midst of these reactions, it can hurt for post-abortive women to see our pro-life signs, Dr. Reardon said. They often hear things said by pro-lifers that they take to be condemnation. Many pro-lifers don’t know how to talk to people who have had abortions.

A pro-life woman might say “I never know how someone could have an abortion.” A woman who has had an abortion might hear a judgement when all the other pro-life woman might mean is “I don’t understand how someone could have an abortion.”

Instead, as pro-lifers, we would do better to ask: “How much pressure would it take for me to have an abortion?”

Acceptance of the woman who has had an abortion can help to remove her feelings shame.

Dr. Reardon sees that acceptance as being part of a spiritual battle for the women’s souls. He quoted Mgr Philip Reilly, of the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants, who has said: “God loves these women so much that he will allow them to kill their own children to save their souls.”

“Before a child is born, the mother is the lifeline,” Dr. Reardon said. “Afterwards, the child is the lifeline to bring the woman back to God.”

If we show pictures of aborted babies, we should add a caption reading, “God can forgive even this.”

“We have to show that abortion harms women,” he concluded. “We need to expose the truth.”\

“We need to let people know we understand the pressures a person is under when they choose abortion, and we have to be able to let people know help is available. We have to wear our compassion on our sleeves.”

References:

1. Canadians’ Attitudes Towards Abortion, Environics Research conducted for LifeCanada November 2009.
2. Rue VM, Coleman PK, Rue JJ, Reardon DC. Induced abortion and traumatic stress: A preliminary comparison of American and Russian women. Medical Science Monitor, 2004 10(10): SR5-16.
3. References: M Gissler et. al., “Pregnancy Associated Deaths in Finland 1987-1994 — definition problems and benefits of record linkage,” Acta Obsetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica 76:651-657 (1997); and M. Gissler, “Injury deaths, suicides and homicides associated with pregnancy, Finland 1987-2000,” European J. Public Health 15(5):459-63 (2005).
4. Therapeutic Abortion Survey, 2003-A Health Statistics Canada Source: Therapeutic Abortion Survey, 2003 Canadian Institute for Health Information.
5. Mahkorn, “Pregnancy and Sexual Assault,” The Psychological Aspects of Abortion, eds. Mall & Watts, (Washington, D.C., University Publications of America, 1979) 55-69. 

Links

Alliance for Life Ontario: http://www.allianceforlife.org

The Elliott Instiutute: http://www.afterabortion.org/

deVeber Institute for Bioethics and Social Research: www.deveber.org 

Life Canada: http://www.lifecanada.org/

Abortion in Canada: http://www.abortionioncanada.ca

Helpers of God’s Precious Infants: http://www.helpersny.org

American Psychological Association: http://www.apa.org