Abortion Quotes

In Their Own Words

Women Talk About Their Abortions

In an article defending abortion, feminist Joyce Arthur said the following:

"I... believe abortion is a positive moral good and a blessing for women. It's an act that empowers them, literally saves their lives, saves their existing or future children's lives, protects and improves their health and that of their families, gives women back their chosen lives, enables them to pursue their career and educational aspirations, improves their economic prospects, allows them to better themselves, gives them a level playing field in the public sphere with men, and enables them to truly attain and exercise liberty and other constitutional freedoms." (1)

Is this an accurate portrayal of abortion? Do the women choosing it feel blessed, and does the experience enrich their lives? Is abortion good for women?

Many pro-choice groups seem to think so. Planned Parenthood discusses the possibility of women suffering after abortions on its website:

Q. My friend and I were arguing about abortion, and she said she heard that millions of women who have had abortions suffer from something called "post-abortion syndrome," which she says is just like post-traumatic stress syndrome. Is that true?

A. No, it's not true.  Despite overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary, anti-choice organizations continue to spread the false idea that it is common for abortion to have severe, emotionally negative effects...The anti-choice studies that claim to prove its existence are very flawed." (2)

Planned Parenthood dismisses the studies that have shown abortion's link to psychological problems (see Psychological Risks and New Research on Abortion for some of these studies and statistics)

An overview of two:

In one five-year study, 25% of women who had abortion sought out psychiatric care later, as opposed to only 3% of women who did not have abortions.(3)

Another study determined that psychiatric disorders were 40% more common among aborting women than those who had not had an abortion.(4)

Do women regret their abortions? Many women who have come out in public saying that they do have  become involved in pro-life groups or activities.

Faced with these studies, pro-choice groups conduct studies of their own which show that women feel mostly relief after abortions. Randy Alcorn, author of Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments (Mulnomah Publishers: Oregon, 2000) cites two experts:

David Reardon, author of Aborted Women: Silent No More:

"A woman that a six-month post-abortion survey declares "well-adjusted" may experience severe trauma on the anniversary of the abortion date, or even many years later. This fact is attested to in psychiatric textbooks which affirm that..."the psychiatrist frequently hears expressions of remorse and guilt concerning abortions that occurred twenty or more years earlier." In one study, the number of women who expressed "serious self-reproach" increased fivefold over the period of time covered by the study."(5)

Former Attorney-General C. Everett Koop:

"A woman had a pregnancy at about 38 or 39. Her kids were teenagers. And without letting either her family or her husband know, she had an abortion. At that moment, she said, "[the abortion was] the best thing that ever happened to me- clean slate, no one knows, I am fine." Ten years later, she had a psychiatric break when one of those teenage daughters who had grown up, got married,  gotten pregnant, delivered a baby, and presented it to her grandmother...Unless you studied that one for ten years, you would say "perfectly fine result of an abortion." (6)

Click here for stories from women who have had abortions

Notes

1. Joyce Arthur, Pro-Choice feminist, Open Letter to William Saletan. "Your's is a "War" We Cannot Support" January 29, 2006. See http://www.prochoiceactionnetwork-canada.org/articles/arthur-saletan.shtml

2. "Ask Dr Cullins" Planned Parenthood's Website, updated 7/25/07 at http://ppmnj.com/health-topics/ask-dr-cullins/ask-dr-cullins-abortion-5519.htm

3. Cited in "Report on the Committee on the Operation of the Abortion Law" Ottawa, Canada, 1977, p 20-1

4. Ibid.

5. David Reardon Aborted Women: Silent No More Westchester, Ill.:Crossway Books, 1987) 116

6. "Exclusive Interview: C. Everett Koop," 31

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