Any study of the effects of abortion must take into account that human beings are psychosomatic – that is, body-soul units. The fact that levels of grief or unhappiness are difficult to measure does not mean that these emotions do not exist. It does mean that emotions must be studied in different ways from infections, excessive bleeding or surgical scars.

Supporters of abortion continue to deny that women are harmed psychologically by abortion. They try to prove their point by quoting the results of surveys and questionnaires. These, however, question only the initial reaction. There is virtually no long-term follow-up. The results of any survey depend on who is selected. Answers can be manipulated by the wording of the questions. The whole factor of denial of abortion is ignored.

Sources worldwide provide overwhelming evidence of the disastrous results of abortion. Such evidence comes from psychiatrists, family counseling services, and groups such as the Pregnancy Aftermath Helpline and Women Exploited by Abortion, which are mostly run by women who themselves have had abortions. In my own experience of years of speaking to women (and men) about abortion, I have heard many testimonies which give support to these findings.

Even the book Sex, Abortion and the Unmarried Woman, written by a pro-abortion author, acknowledges that there is suffering after an abortion. It is seen, however, as a lesser evil.

Post-abortion syndrome (PAS) is now a specialized branch of psychiatry. It is a form of traumatic stress disorder, similar to post-Vietnam syndrome.

Types of Psychological Damage⤒🔗

An increasing number of patients are pursuing therapy for the symptoms associated with an abortion experience. They may suffer many immediate and long term emotional effects, including:

• unresolved guilt feelings

• broken relationships (one study showed that 70 % of couples eventually break up)

• hallucinations (23 %)

• nightmares and sleep disorders (54 %)

• increased alcohol and drug use (61 %)

• sexual disfunctions (69 %)

• suicidal thoughts and actions

• frequent crying spells (81 %)

• abuse of subsequent children

• low self-esteem

Newsweek (January 1992) printed the results of a poll, in which the question was asked: “Which situations would make you feel bad about yourself?” Sixty per cent of respondents answered, “Having an abortion.”

Why such Emotional Turmoil?←⤒🔗

Let us have an honest look at what abortion really is. It is the murder of an innocent person and God forbids it. It is a sin against the Creator Himself and a crime against humanity. In this fallen world, crimes are committed all the time. The government has a mandate to punish evildoers. When it comes to abortion, however, we are dealing with a crime, which is considered to be morally justified, and is even promoted as a good! It is no longer deemed wrong, nor is it considered to need repentance or forgiveness. This act of violence and the resulting state in which it leaves the sinner are absolutely detrimental and damaging to one's psychological health. Abortion not only drains the life out of the child, but also out of the mother, the father, family members and eventually out of our society as a whole.

The Victims←⤒🔗

The first victim of an abortion is the child. Death by abortion is painful. In 1984, US President Ronald Reagan addressed a convention of religious broadcasters. He made the statement, “When the lives of the unborn are snuffed out, they often feel pain, pain which is long and agonizing.” These words caused an instant media uproar.

Later that year President Reagan received a letter, signed by 26 leading experts in the field of fetology and the control of pain. It stated: “Mr. President, in drawing attention to the capability of the human fetus to feel pain, you stand on firmly established ground.”

That same year, Dr. Bernard Nathanson found a way to show the world what abortion is like from the point of view of the baby, when the film The Silent Scream was released. (A must to see.) In it he chronicles the suffering of the unborn child, pulling away from the abortion instruments being introduced into the uterus.

The Mother as Victim←⤒🔗

When I started to work in the pro-life movement, my zeal and concern were mostly directed toward the child whose life is taken, and the injustice our society does to it. But the more I witnessed the effects of abortion on the mothers, the more I became convinced that the main victim is the child's mother. After all, she is the one who will have to keep on living.

The book Will I cry tomorrow? by Dr. Susan Stanford is an eloquent testimony of the desolation, grief, despair and human disintegration that is the aftermath of abortion, and which drove her to the brink of suicide.

Other Victims of Abortion←⤒🔗

Although the mother is the primary person who suffers because of an abortion, she is not the only one. Biological fathers, husbands, parents, grandparents, friends, existing and future children and medical and support personnel are all victims.

For some men, abortion is the neat and easy disposal of a problem. For others, it is a nightmare. Under the present law (or lack of it) the wishes of a father, husband or parent are ignored. Who can doubt the psychological damage to the husband who finds out that the courts say that he has no power to prevent his pre-born son or daughter from being killed?

There is ample evidence of the devastating effect of abortion on family and friends. “That was my grandchild.” “I might have prevented it, if I had really tried.” The survivor syndrome may be experienced by the child who discovers that her mother has had an abortion: “My mother killed my sister; it might have been me.”

Abortion also takes a toll on medical personnel, for example on doctors and nurses who oppose the killing, but feel they cannot do anything to stop it. Members of the medical profession who do or assist in the killing are also affected. After all, their roles as health givers and life takers are in conflict. In the video The Abortion Providers, several ex-abortion providers give their testimony about the cost of doing abortions, as it relates to their personal self-esteem as doctors.

Denial←⤒🔗

It is a well-established fact that women tend to hide their abortions from friends, family, physicians and even from themselves. Research by Dr. A. Speckhard shows that around 89 per cent of those in her sample study tried to hide the fact of the abortion or minimize it.

In my booklet Sidewalk counseling saves babies, I divide these people into four categories:

• Those who regret their decision greatly. They are visibly upset, even crying.

• Those who regret, but manage. They justify their action, but want to talk.

• Those who say it was the right decision and want you to agree:

• Those who turn to activism in the pro-abortion movement. They are angry!

As Christians we have to be sensitive to the cries for help and healing from the many who have experienced abortion. We must minister to all who are hurting, even those in our church community, who sadly seldom hear an invitation for healing for abortion from the pulpit. Or do we really think that among us such a thing is not possible? The parents of aborted children often search for understanding, peace and forgiveness, gifts which only God can give. God's forgiveness is more powerful than sin, inasmuch as love is stronger than death.

It is Jesus, the Healer, who proclaims that abortion is not the last word; it will lose out to life. It is Jesus, the Forgiver, who proclaims that those broken by sin can be made whole again.