Is There a Post-Abortion Syndrome?

[apricot_yogurt]

Many women immediately after an abortion, do, it would seem feel relief. If a survey was to be done straight away, I think the results would be biased to this extent. For many women the grief comes later-perhaps after missing the child’s birthday, perhaps having another child or emerging from their denial one day.
I also think society does not allow aborted women to grieve-it was their choice after all.

 

[Rosalinda]

I watched an interview by Fr. Pacwa with Theresa Burke, PhD., author of “Forbidden Grief” and the founder of Rachel’s Vineyard Ministries, on EWTN Live last night. The N.Y. journalist had interviewed her for one hour yet not a single line of her information or experience was quoted. She was merely identified as one of those anti-choice groups.

Theresa Burke said 60,000 men and women have already been treated for post abortive trauma in the seven years since Rachel’s Vineyard began. The ministry is now in 17 countries. Interesting to note, some of these were repentant health care professionals who had participated in abortion and were in need of healing. With 48 million abortions in U.S. alone since Roe vs. Wade the destruction is beyond the grasp of any human mind. As Fr. Pacwa said we will only understand the consequences at the final judgement when God will show us how our actions affected the course of human history either for good or for bad.

As for finding a longterm control group of women who haven’t had an abortion or will not have an abortion that may prove difficult. The statistics are astounding: 43% of women under the age of forty-five have suffered at least one abortion.

From chapter 2 of Forbidden Grief a victim writes:[sign]I am angry. I am angry at Gloria Steinem and every woman who ever had an abortion and didn’t tell me about this kind of pain. There is a conspiracy among the sisterhood not to tell each other about guilt and self-hatred and terror. Having an abortion is not like having a wart removed or your nails done or your hair cut, and anyone who tells you [otherwise] is a liar or worse.[/sign]
lifeissues.net/writers/bur/bur_05chap2hidingtruth1.html

 

[estesbob]

Read this article Sunday and found it disgustingly sneering in tone, concentrating on the supposedly bizarre fixation of women on their dead unborn children. The author’s thesis seemed to be that if anyone is sad about or traumatized by her abortion, it’s because she just wants to blame all of her problems and poor life choices on abortion, or she has an underlying mental illness, or both.

Even if it is accurate that women are equally likely to suffer depression after having an abortion as after carrying an unwanted pregnancy to term, this doesn’t square with the marketing of abortion. Abortion is sold as the answer, after which life will be fine and normal - not that it will leave one just as unhappy as having let the baby live.

That is the official Planned Parenthood Stajnce on PAS. The way they put it is those who suffer from it had severe emotional problems already .