Women considering abortion often believe that they are aborting to "save" their child from being born into a relationship where he/she will be unwanted and unloved. This may not seem very realistic to those who are truly pro-life, but it is important to understand how compelling this belief can be to many women today. And particularly to those who come from broken family backgrounds.
"Every child a wanted child" goes the pro-abortion slogan. It seems logical enough; if women can be freed from being forced to have an unplanned, unwanted child surely they will be much more likely to love the children they do choose to have.
Yet, as the following excerpt from an article by Theresa Karminski Burke and David C. Reardon entitled "Abortion Trauma and Child Abuse" shows, the exact opposite seems to be the truth. Written in 1988, this article still needs public recognition and remains an excellent explanation of the dangers of abortion to the welfare of women and their families.
"Experts agree that during the past 25 years the rate of child abuse has increased dramatically. Between 1976 and 1987 alone, there was a 330% increase in reported cases of child abuse.
...Statistical and clinical research support not only an association, but a causal connection between abortion and child abuse.
...The ordinary response to trauma is to banish the experience from one's mind...In conflict with this avoidance reaction, however, is the equally powerful human need to understand our experiences and find meaning in them...In order to be conquered, the horror of their traumatic event must be exposed, proclaimed, and understood...This tension between the need to hide a trauma and the need to expose it is at the heart of many of the psychological symptoms of post-abortion trauma. Symbollic reenactment is one of the ways that the subconscious seeks to simultaneously satisfy both of these needs: the need to expose trauma and the need to hide it...
For women who have been traumatized by abortion, acts of child abuse are a natural symbol for reenactment of unresolved abortion issues."
The authors go on to give examples of several women who have killed or hurt children in response to their abortion experiences and others who were tormented by intrusive thoughts and temptations to do likewise to their own children. Sometimes the particular temptations are related specifically to the abortion method used on them, hence the woman whose baby was killed through salt-poisoning (saline abortion) continually thought about poisoning her other children. While being repulsed by the idea and struggling against it, she also suffered great self-disgust that she could think such a thing. Others, who had Suction and D&C abortions, which involved cutting the child to pieces, thought frequently about stabbing their other children.
If you try to explain to our secular society that abortion itself increases the risk of child abuse most people will think you are crazy. But as this excellent article shows, there are millions of women out there, suffering silently, who will know exactly what you are talking about. There are also numerous children out there suffering as a result of abortion in their families.
Why not have a read of this excellent article yourself. You can also find more articles by both of the authors at http://www.afterabortion.org/ and http://www.rachelsvineyard.org/
Clare McCullough
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