We Had Abortions

LadyT

LadyT

JPP Modarater
Contributor
I thought this was interesting:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15119353/wid/11915773?GT1=8618

"Findling strongly supports the Ms. petition, and believes women who have had abortions need to be more open about their decisions. She has written an essay about her own experience, and plans to include it in an anthology she hopes to publish next year."

I think openess like this is helpful. I think these women should be armed with all the information that's out there.
 
I think that choosing an abortion should be a private matter, unless the woman chooses otherwise. These women obviously did. And as long as nobody is "outed" by protesters or anything like that, I think it is a good thing.
 
I think things like this can help people cope with the psychological trauma that can accompany abortions.
 
Damocles said:
Which are very real. I've personal experience with them, as you know LadyT.
Click to expand...


I think that they're real. If the woman does not really, or completely, want the abortion.

But if she does, then the effects are different. I know a woman who got pregnant at change of life. She had already raised three children and did not think she could any longer become pregnant. That change of life period is a tricky one. She had an abortion, and has not suffered so much as a second thought over it. Only relief, and she speaks very openly about it, no shame at all. She's far from the only woman who feels that way.

One of the woman at this link here, describes how she felt after aborting a Down's Syndrome baby, which she originally wanted. That is it's own circumstance, very tragic, and certainly understandable why she was and is so conflicted. Many would not even make that decision.

My point is, every story is different and one can't say that abortion causes trauma. It sometimes causes trauma, it sometimes causes nothing but overwhelming relief. It all depends.
 
Darla said:
My point is, every story is different and one can't say that abortion causes trauma. It sometimes causes trauma, it sometimes causes nothing but overwhelming relief. It all depends.
Click to expand...

Ditto. I know people in both boats too. I didn't mean to imply that abortions always cause psychological trauma. It can though. I think talking openly with people helps to avoid that, whether the person decides they want to go ahead with the pregnancy or if it solidifies their decision to terminate the pregnancy.
 
Darla said:
I think that they're real. If the woman does not really, or completely, want the abortion.

But if she does, then the effects are different. I know a woman who got pregnant at change of life. She had already raised three children and did not think she could any longer become pregnant. That change of life period is a tricky one. She had an abortion, and has not suffered so much as a second thought over it. Only relief, and she speaks very openly about it, no shame at all. She's far from the only woman who feels that way.

One of the woman at this link here, describes how she felt after aborting a Down's Syndrome baby, which she originally wanted. That is it's own circumstance, very tragic, and certainly understandable why she was and is so conflicted. Many would not even make that decision.

My point is, every story is different and one can't say that abortion causes trauma. It sometimes causes trauma, it sometimes causes nothing but overwhelming relief. It all depends.
Click to expand...
It was never my contention that all abortions cause trauma. It was my contention that trauma does exist from abortion and that I have had personal experience with it.
 
Many abortions cause trauma even when the woman fully and truely wanted them!

So do unwanted pregnancies.

Hell, even birthing babies can cause trauma.
 
Jarod said:
Many abortions cause trauma even when the woman fully and truely wanted them!

So do unwanted pregnancies.

Hell, even birthing babies can cause trauma.
Click to expand...
Usually with birthing babies one knows what may have caused the trauma. Often with abortion it is hidden and quietly suffered alone.
 
There's definitely a stigma attached to terminating pregnancies. I hope this will inspire support groups pre and post operative.
 
LadyT said:
Ditto. I know people in both boats too. I didn't mean to imply that abortions always cause psychological trauma. It can though. I think talking openly with people helps to avoid that, whether the person decides they want to go ahead with the pregnancy or if it solidifies their decision to terminate the pregnancy.
Click to expand...

I agree.
 
LadyT said:
There's definitely a stigma attached to terminating pregnancies. I hope this will inspire support groups pre and post operative.
Click to expand...
There's more than just the "stigma" of it. Like my sister's guilt that came later, that was over that great "relief" she felt after the abortion. Sometimes the negatives are not immediately apparent, and sometimes, as with my sister, they are "unable" (or for whatever reason believe themselves unable) to inform the people who care and will help the most. How many parents have lost a child to depression they never knew the cause of?
 
Damocles said:
It was never my contention that all abortions cause trauma. It was my contention that trauma does exist from abortion and that I have had personal experience with it.
Click to expand...

I didn't necessarily think you were contending that, nor did I necessarily think you weren't. It was more that I wanted to be clear about my own opinion, that's all
 
Damocles said:
There's more than just the "stigma" of it. Like my sister's guilt that came later, that was over that great "relief" she felt after the abortion. Sometimes the negatives are not immediately apparent, and sometimes, as with my sister, they are "unable" (or for whatever reason believe themselves unable) to inform the people who care and will help the most.
Click to expand...

Yeah, probably the majority of cases are somewhat conflicted, neither soley relief nor soley guilt and second-guessing yourself. It's just a tough situation no matter how you cut it I think, but as Jarod pointed out the same can happen with giving birth. I had a cousin whose wife gave birth to their first, and as it turned out, only child and went into such a depression that my aunt went and stayed there. They were afraid to leave her alone with the baby. She refused to ever even consider having another one.
 
Darla said:
Yeah, probably the majority of cases are somewhat conflicted, neither soley relief nor soley guilt and second-guessing yourself. It's just a tough situation no matter how you cut it I think, but as Jarod pointed out the same can happen with giving birth. I had a cousin whose wife gave birth to their first, and as it turned out, only child and went into such a depression that my aunt went and stayed there. They were afraid to leave her alone with the baby. She refused to ever even consider having another one.
Click to expand...
Post-partum depression is very real and is a danger to both a mother and a child, it should be considered and watched for. Just as, I believe, such depressions with abortion should also be watched for.

However, when such an action is kept secret from those who care the most who is watching for this? When, as I read on their site, the abortion providers state that it is a positive thing, who is watching for this?

In the case of my sister it effected her so much that she never considered having an abortion after a child was conceived of rape. She put the child up for adoption, I adopted him...

After, just over three, years she was able to forgive myself and the child and has long since taken care of the child herself... He has, just recently, joined the Army... I'm proud of that kid, and of my sister...
 
Looking at this thread, can you not see, Damo, why I resist any attempt to stereotype women who choose to have abortions? Generalizations about why someone chooses to have an abortion are extremely hard to make and rarely useful. That's especially true of the grotesque, hateful, misogynistic travesties trotted out by some anti-abortion types.

There are probably as many different sets of reasons for choosing abortion as there are women who have them. That, in turn, is the reason I think it must remain a matter of individual conscience.
 
I can't describe how refreshing it has been to read this thread, and all the comments made in such a rational, reasonable, well-thought manner. I've always felt that because I don't live someone else's life it simply isn't my business to consider interfering in their decisions about how to conduct it, and that includes decisions about pregnancy and abortion. Each is such an individual decision, and I can't accept that a woman's decision to abort, except in a very few cases, isn't achieved without long and painfully serious thought and soul-searching.
 
OrnotBitwise said:
Looking at this thread, can you not see, Damo, why I resist any attempt to stereotype women who choose to have abortions? Generalizations about why someone chooses to have an abortion are extremely hard to make and rarely useful. That's especially true of the grotesque, hateful, misogynistic travesties trotted out by some anti-abortion types.

There are probably as many different sets of reasons for choosing abortion as there are women who have them. That, in turn, is the reason I think it must remain a matter of individual conscience.
Click to expand...

How much guilt and trauma does the anti abortion extremeists cause those who choose to have an abortion ?
I think this is added onto any natural regrets and such for those who choose to have an abortion.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top