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After
abortion emotions can feel like waves crashing down on your
heart, mind, body and spirit.
Your
soul is drowning, and you don't know what to
do!
Since the early 1980's an
increasing number of women have sought treatment for emotional
struggles resulting from a past abortion (Reardon). As stated by Dr.
David Reardon, "Abortion is not some magical surgery which turns
back time to make a woman 'unpregnant'. Instead, it s a real-life
event which is always very stressful and often traumatic".
This trauma cannot always be solved by the women herself. She
may feel as if she's lost at sea or caught in the riptide of
life.
Emotions
surface after the abortion experience, due to unresolved
psychological, physical and spiritual aspects. Symptoms
are similar to those in any post traumatic stress disorder.
Basically it is the personal struggle to work through thoughts,
feelings about the abortion and previous pregnancy, and the goal to
come to peace with those involved in the decision making process and
ultimate loss of life. Granted some men/women are better
equipped to deal with the aftermath of an abortion, but EVERYONE is
changed by it! As one woman quoted: "Once I laid on that
table, I was never the same!"
Emotions may not appear
all together. Nor will each woman possess all of them. If
you find that you experience between 5-7 of the following emotions,
following an abortion, you might consider seeking help for post
abortion stress/trauma. Note these symptoms may not surface
for 5-20 years following the procedure.
Some of the most
common feelings and emotional symptoms are
listed below:
- anger/rage
- anguish
- anxiety
- betrayal
- bitterness
- confusion
- depression
- despair
- distrust
- eating disorders
- emotionally numb
- fears/dreams about
losing a child
- fears God's punishment
- fears another
pregnancy
- fears inferior
- fears infertility
- fears failure
- feels degraded
- feels exploited
- feels inferior
- feels isolated /
alienated
- feel rejection
- flashbacks, nightmares
or sleep disorders
- frustration
- grief
- guilt
- helplessness
- hopelessness
- horror
- loneliness
- lowered self-esteem
- panic
- preoccupation with
anniversary date or due date
- remorse
- regret
- resentment
- self-condemnation
- self-destructive
behaviors
- self-hatred
- sexual dysfunction
- shame
- sorrow
- unable to forgive
self
- uncontrollable crying
- unworthiness
Women/men may
also notice behavior changes in their day to day
life. Some are listed below:
- abusive behavior
- alcohol and / or drug
use
- avoids baby reminders
(like baby showers, baby stores, etc.)
- changes in
relationship / marriage (70% of relationships/marriages
break up within 1 year of an abortion, 90% within 5
years)
- control issues
- crying spells
- difficulty in all
types of intimacy
- divides time into
"before" and "after" the abortion
- eating disorders
- fails to bond with
subsequent children
- loss of interest in
sex
- loss of normal sources
of pleasure
- marital stress
- need of
financial success
- over-protective of
living children
- promiscuity or
frigidity
- reduced motivation
- secretive
- self-punishing and /
or self-degrading behavior
- sleep disturbances
- strained relationship
with living children
- suicidal impulses
- tolerates abusive
relationships
- wants atonement /
replacement child
- withdrawn
Physical complications which can
occur:
- Breast
Cancer - According to the Coalition on Abortion/Breast
Cancer (www.abortionbreastcancer.com) 16 of 17 statistically significant studies report
increased risk of breast cancer among women choosing an abortion.
Seven studies report a more than twofold increased risk. We
believe this is important information to share with
you.
- Ectopic
Pregnancy - There is evidence that abortion increases the
risk of ectopic pregnancies. About 1 in every 200
pregnancies is ectopic, and most are discovered in the first few
months. This type of pregnancy is life-threatening to the mother.
If you have personally
experienced some of these behaviors and symptoms, you may be a
candidate for an abortion recovery program. You can make
these negative feelings part of your past, by simply acknowledging
the emotions and working through them with a qualified facilitator.
If you choose not
to acknowledge the emotions, believing that they don't exist, you
might THINK you don't have to deal with them. But human
emotional development freezes at the level when the trauma
took/takes place! Don't get "stuck"... get help! That's
why we're here! We'll do all we can to help you in your
recovery process. Email us now for further information:
help@abortionrecoverycounseling.com
Read more
information about the psychological and
physical
issues associated with abortion by clicking on our pages to the
left.
You can
also review our trauma checklist here:
http://www.abortionrecovery.org/afterabortion/traumachecklist/tabid/212/Default.aspx
To
find an abortion recovery center / program or support
group in your area...
Email
us, call us or find your city and state here:
www.abortionrecovery.org
Post-Abortion
Conditions
On November 6,
2001, the U.S. Senate passed an amendment to an appropriations bill
(H.R. 3061, Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2002). Section
227 of that amendment acknowledges the existence of Post-Abortion
Stress Syndrome.
Here is the
text of that section: (from Thomas
Register)
(1)
the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the
Director of NIH and the Director of the National Institute of
Mental Health (in this section referred to as the `Institute'),
should expand and intensify research and related activities of
the Institute with respect to post-abortion depression and
post-abortion psychosis (in this section referred to as
`post-abortion conditions');
(4)(A)
the Director of the Institute should conduct a national
longitudinal study to determine the incidence and prevalence of
cases of post-abortion conditions, and the symptoms, severity,
and duration of such cases, toward the goal of more fully
identifying the characteristics of such cases and developing
diagnostic techniques; and
(B)
beginning not later than 3 years after the date of the enactment
of this Act, and periodically thereafter for the duration of the
study under subparagraph (A), the Director of the Institute
should prepare and submit to the Congress reports on the
findings of the study.
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