 Abortion anguish reported in BBC News, 12 December 2005.
Researchers at the University of Oslo surveyed 40 women who had suffered a miscarriage and 80 women who chose to have an abortion and compared the amount of mental stress suffered by each group. The results were (as quoted from the BBC article): “The Oslo team found that, after 10 days, 47.5% of women who had miscarried suffered from some degree of mental distress compared with 30% of the abortion group. The proportion of women who had a miscarriage suffering distress decreased during the study period, to 22.5% at six months and to just 2.6% at two years and five years. But among the abortion group 25.7% were still experiencing distress after six months, and 20% at five years.”
The researchers concluded that the responses to a miscarriage were similar those that occur after other traumas, but the response to an abortion was much more complex. The women who had abortions also had to make a greater effort not to think about the experience. Richard Warren, from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: “It has always been considered, and this study also shows, that the decision to terminate may bring with it long-standing feelings of anxiety and guilt. While most women are able to manage and cope with these feelings, when necessary, the need for ongoing support and counselling should be recognised and appropriate help given.”
Pro-abortion groups were not impressed. A spokeswoman for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, UK’s leading abortion providers, claimed: “We don’t see many women for post-abortion counselling” and the Family Planning association claimed: “There was no evidence to suggest that abortion directly causes psychological trauma.”
However, Anna Pringle, from the anti-abortion charity Life, said: “This confirms years of experience with women who come to us for counselling after abortion. The emotional suffering can be massive.”
Editorial Comment: The Family Planning and other pro-abortion organisations are deluding themselves if they think that women who have come to the conclusion they have done something wrong by having an abortion would go back to them for help. The study described above confirms longstanding evidence from many counselling services that minister to women who have had abortions. The emotional anguish occurs because they realise that by having an abortion they have chosen to deliberately destroy a human life, i.e. they have murdered a person. This is a terrible burden for anyone to bear, and the only real solution is to admit it was wrong, then seek forgiveness from the Creator of life, the Lord Jesus Christ who died on the cross to take away our burden of wrongdoings, and rose again to give us new life. Then turn away from abortion and counsel other women not to have one, because it is wrong.
Were you helped by this item? If so, consider making a donation so we can keep adding more items. For USA tax deductible donations click here. For UK tax deductible donations click here. For Australia and rest of world click here.