Post-Abortion Syndrome and The APA. 2008.

Report of The APA Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion

"The TFMHA evaluated all empirical studies published in English in peer-reviewed journals post-1989 that compared the mental health of women who had an induced abortion to the mental health of comparison groups of women (N=50) or that examined factors that predict mental health among women who have had an elective abortion in the United States (N=23). This literature was reviewed and evaluated with respect to its ability to address four primary questions: (1) Does abortion cause harm to women’s mental health? (2) How prevalent are mental health problems among women in the United States who have had an abortion? (3) What is the relative risk of mental health problems associated with abortion compared to its alternatives (other courses of action that might be taken by a pregnant woman in similar circumstances)? And, (4) What predicts individual variation in women’s psychological experiences following abortion?"

Spoiler:

"Nonetheless, it is clear that some women do experience sadness, grief, and feelings of loss following termination of a pregnancy, and some experience clinically significant disorders, including depression and anxiety. However, the TFMHA reviewed no evidence sufficient to support the claim that an observed association between abortion history and mental health was caused by the abortion per se, as opposed to other factors."

Fun Activity:

Print this off and leave it on the table of your local CPC!

How "Pro-Life" is "Pro-Life"?

From The New York Times:

Abortion Battle Shifts to Clinic in Nebraska

The national battle over abortion, for decades firmly planted outside the Kansas clinic of Dr. George R. Tiller, has erupted here in suburban Omaha, where a longtime colleague has taken up the cause of late-term abortions.

Since Dr. Tiller was shot to death in May, his colleague, Dr. LeRoy H. Carhart, has hired two people who worked at Dr. Tiller’s clinic and has trained his own staff members in the technical intricacies of performing late-term abortions.

Dr. Carhart has also begun performing some abortions “past 24 weeks,” he said in an interview, and is prepared to perform them still later if they meet legal requirements and if he considers them medically necessary.

“There is a need, and I feel deeply about it,” said Dr. Carhart, visibly weary after a day when eight patients had appointments at his clinic here.

The late-term abortions, coming after the earliest point when a fetus might survive outside the womb, are the most controversial, even among some who favor abortion rights. A few of Dr. Carhart’s employees quit when he told them of his plans to expand the clinic’s work.

Opponents of abortion, who had devoted decades to trying to stop Dr. Tiller’s business with protests and calls for investigations, are now turning their efforts to stopping Dr. Carhart. Troy Newman, the president of Operation Rescue, an anti-abortion group, said he had traveled from the group’s headquarters in Wichita, Kan., to Nebraska six times in recent months, portraying this suburb of fewer than 50,000 as a new battlefield in the abortion fight.

“We’re trying to get criminal charges against him, to get his license revoked, and to get legislators there to look at the law,” Mr. Newman said of Dr. Carhart.

State law in Nebraska bans abortions in cases when a fetus clearly appears to have reached viability, except to “preserve the life or health of the mother.”

Abortion-rights advocates say the need exists for late-term abortions, in cases of extraordinary genetic defects and other dire health circumstances, and some had worried that only a few physicians would be willing to provide such care after Dr. Tiller’s killing, an act prosecutors say was carried out by an abortion foe.

“He’s standing up, and so are some others,” Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation, said of Dr. Carhart.

A few other doctors have long performed late-term abortions, and some said both the threats against them and their efforts at security had increased since Dr. Tiller’s death.

Dr. Carhart, 68, knew Dr. Tiller for years, and would make regular trips to his clinic in Wichita to perform abortions there, as other physicians did. Though Dr. Tiller’s clinic was not the only one in the country performing late-term abortions, it was a focal point for controversy. Operation Rescue even moved its headquarters to Wichita because of Dr. Tiller’s practice.

Dr. Carhart, who has been performing abortions since the 1970s, is no stranger to the debate; he has been a litigant in two abortion-related cases decided by the United States Supreme Courtover a particular method of abortion referred to by critics as “partial-birth abortion.” And immediately after Dr. Tiller’s killing, Dr. Carhart offered to continue operating his clinic, but the Tiller family decided to close it.

Still, in the months since the killing, Dr. Carhart has made changes at his clinic and to his lifestyle as he has openly moved to take up Dr. Tiller’s cause.

Visitors to the clinic here must pass through a metal detector, new security cameras scan outside the building and a security consultant is employed full time. Dr. Carhart says he goes out publicly only on short, unscheduled trips and rarely eats out (and when he does, he says he stays less than 30 minutes). Dr. Carhart, an Air Force veteran, said his daughter was wed this fall on a nearby military base, mainly for security and privacy.

“We do everything differently now,” he said.

Dr. Carhart declined to provide specifics on how late in a pregnancy he would be willing to perform an abortion. Dr. Tiller performed them, in some cases, as late as in the third trimester of pregnancy. Dr. Carhart’s fee schedule lists prices for abortions up to 22 weeks and 6 days (at that point, $2,100 in cash or $2,163 on a credit card), but notes that abortions after 23 weeks are available “after consultation with our doctor,” and that abortions after the 27th week may take four days.

At his clinic in the past, Dr. Carhart said, he had performed abortions up to about 22 weeks into gestation — considered by some to be near the earliest point at which a fetus can survive outside the womb, a notion known as viability and one that is cited in many laws related to abortion.

Dr. Carhart’s opponents insist that late-term procedures violate state and federal statutes as well as professional rules. They have approached officials in Nebraska seeking an investigation. Mr. Newman, who had regularly called for investigations into Dr. Tiller’s work but strongly denounced his killing, has submitted a complaint about Dr. Carhart to Jon Bruning, Nebraska’s attorney general. In it, Mr. Newman accuses Dr. Carhart of using improper operating procedures under shoddy conditions.

Representatives of Mr. Bruning would not comment on whether an investigation was taking place. Marla Augustine, a spokeswoman for the State Department of Health and Human Services, which regulates physicians, said Dr. Carhart had no formal disciplinary actions on his record.

(In 1993, she said, he signed an assurance of compliance with the state, promising not to do certain things, like talk on the phone during surgical procedures, but the agreement says it did not mean he had admitted committing any violations and was not considered a disciplinary action.)

Dr. Carhart, meanwhile, said he had heard nothing lately from state officials. “Anybody can file a claim,” he said.

A brochure for his clinic shows a photograph of Dr. Carhart beside Dr. Tiller, and says that the clinic dedicates “our services to women in honor of” Dr. Tiller. Asked whether he feared a similar fate as Dr. Tiller’s, Dr. Carhart said he had signed up for this life.

“They have never targeted me more,” he said of abortion opponents. “But to me, the most dangerous response would be for me to stop what I am doing. The thought that killing Tiller might also succeed in closing another clinic — that’s my main reason for keeping open.”

Emphasis mine.
One of the pictures in the article show protesters at Dr. Tiller's funeral holding signs that say "Abortion is Bloody Murder" and "God Sent The Killer".
Anyone else see something wrong with this?

An Unexpected Comment...

So this was unexpected…

The woman I’ve been debating on Blogspot for sometime not only posted my quote from the New York Oby/Gyn but she included a comment:

1. There is some logic to this and nobody has said that these providers are all heartless and evil. Though the commercial interest already mentioned must be taken into account.

2. Yet, what you write should not incite you against Back Porch or Pregnancy Care Centers?

3. It’s not all about money. People find money for what they find money for.

4. The ease of “under-the-counter”, where available, would be a problem, just like the abortion booked over the inter-net the night before. Or paying out of empty government coffers. The ease is a problem. Removing obstacles and stigma of abortion does not in the long run serve women.

5. Women “needing” these abortions, via pharmacy or clinic, is a symptom of other problems that should not be ignored: usually a history of poor choices involving males, relationships, schooling, sex and STD’s. Having an abortion or a series of them does not often wake them up to that. You have to have support and make some right choices before something will really help. The abortion is only a band-aid on a big gash of a wound.

6. Women coming out of the local abortion clinic are also needing emergency medical care and are transported off by ambulance.

7. Why are these pharmacy abortions available under the counter?

8. I sympathize with your ob-gyn friend. It is nearly impossible to do much in a busy practice beyond getting things done for the patient.

But obviously the patient needs also other care, which is social, psychological, spiritual. This care, however, involves the patient understanding where she has gone wrong. Saying that pro-lifers want to “punish” people for having sex, is a hysterical reaction.

When I counseled, a big opportunity always arose, when someone came in scared and it turned out they were not pregnant, at all. Then you have a huge opportunity to take time and explore where she’s been, wants to be going, what she’s learned from this scare, what this all means for her. It’s a big wake-up time. Ask them lots of questions and help them figure themselves out. Women need and deserve more than quick fixes. Men need to be men, too, and provide what they are supposed to provide. Ignoring the gravity of the situation (we are talking about your baby, a new person; you have got yourself into a big mess; you need to look your life and philosophy over very carefully) and not helping her with this, is doing her a disservice. There is a good chance she will continue to spiral, end up angry and yea, maybe with PAS or major disorders. And, yes, frequently, with more abortions. It will not have helped except dealt with a perceived “emergency”.

Making a good choice now, will set her up for more good choices down the road—such as making a choice, now, to give up that rotten “boy-friend”, that abusive “spouse”; talk to your parents, a pastor, a counsellor; place the baby with a family and visit the child; you can feel good about it and yourself, the rest of your life; they will love you and respect you. Or what else can happen—maybe even turning, or turning back, to God, whose love is the foundation for all profound love, your best friend. You have to realize you will not value yourself highly enough until you realize that the living God went to the cross for you, to bear the weight of your sins so you could have fellowship with him; and he did the same for your child. You should value the child just as highly, because Christ died for that person,too. Everyone is wanted.

(I’m not sure if it’s my ego here, but does anyone else see a wee bit of bottled-issues here?)

Here’s my reply:

I must admit I’m very confused here…
I posted a comment that was relevant to this discussion. It had nothing to do with CPCs, punishing people for having sex or anything like that.

I think your reaction is unreasonable.
That aside I’d like to clarify a few points:

1. Doctors make more if a woman remains pregnant. Many more visits and hospital stays.

2. I do not understand this point, please clarify it.

3. Your post was about de-funding abortion. This ob/gyn was explaining why that will actually cost the health care system money.

4. As I’ve stated before abortions are not drop-in procedures, there are waiting periods up to and over three weeks.

5. You don’t get to tell people what they can do with their life. Don’t go saying you know what’s best for everyone.

6.I suppose that’s true of a small minority. Most get in their cars and go on with their day.

7. You’ll note he says “medication to induce an abortion”. There are a wide variety of over-the-counter medications that have been shown to potentially induce abortions. Whether the medication he’s referring to is an abortificant by design or not is something I don’t know. However it shows that these women are desperate, they will do anything, including dangerous overdoses of everything from herbal tea to alcohol, to try and get an abortion. These unsafe methods kill 70,000 women every year.

9. Where did the woman “go wrong”?

10. There’s no such thing as PAS.
Fetuses are not persons.
Adoption is painful for women too, usually more so than abortion. Not all adoptions are open adoptions.
Stop mentioning your faith, your faith is not right for everyone.

I hope I’ve addressed some of your points, as unexpected as they were.

Love,

Rabble

Why Illegalizing Abortion Will Not Save Any Money.

I practice ob-gyn in new york, and estimate that about 80% of the abortions we do at my hospital are covered by Medicaid - probably similiar stats in the other 16 states where medicaid will cover it. With [the Stupak-Pitts Amendment], that coverage might disappear, if medicaid gets pulled into the exchange. Most of my patients will not have the money for an abortion. They will go to the pharmacy and buy medication to induce an abortion under the counter (widely available in our latino neighborhood).

They will come to the hospital with bleeding, probably denying that they took anything, but stuck somewhere in the process of the abortion, what we call “incomplete”. Most will be perfectly stable. But even those who are fine will require follow up ultrasounds, clinic visits and possibly a d&c to complete the process, as well as many expensive lab draws if the fetus is passed by the time they come to the hospital, because then we have to make sure it isn’t an ectopic pregnancy which requires weeks of follow up.

So, your not wanting to have your dollars go to pay for a $500 abortion has now turned into you paying $1500-$2000 in medicaid hospital bills for management of an “incomplete miscarriage” or “rule out ectopic.” You have saved yourself exactly NO tax dollars. Congratulations.

How do I know this exact sequence? Because we already do this exact thing between 3-5 times a week for women who already do this, because they don’t know abortion is legal, they don’t know medicaid will pay here, they have a friend who did it that way. If they take away the medicaid option, I’ll just be running my ass down to the ER to see these ladies about 200 times more often, and all you abortion-hating taxpayers will still be footing the bill.

Via: 1

Dear Brigette,

Rabble's Comments are In Italics

To be honest, when people posting anonymously accusing others posting anonymously, the conversation has a way of descending that irks me a lot.

Especially, when this turns into "YOU PEOPLE" and then a bunch of atrocities follow that the other "you people" supposedly committed.

The fire-bombings? Those aren’t ‘supposedly’. Those are facts, just like the 20 attempted murders. Those actually happened.
And when I say ‘you people’ I’m using it as a replacement for ‘Members of the movement to which you are aligning yourself’. It’s a bit of a mouthful and I didn’t think anyone would think I was personally accusing anyone.

I don't know anyone who firebombs or murders people or punishes people for having sex.

Is this a conversation you frequently have with people? I don’t know any people like that either.
However it is a fact that Members of the movement to which you are aligning yourself have firebombed, vandalized and bombed clinics 2400 times since abortion was made legal. It is also a fact that Members of the movement to which you are aligning yourself have killed 9 doctors. It is also a fact that the legislation that Members of the movement to which you are aligning yourself try to get passed would force women into maternity for having sex (sometimes even nonconsensual sex) regardless of whether they want the child. This is, effectively, punishing women for having sex.
Note that I’m not claiming all children are unwanted. For the women who want them, children are wonderful. For the women who don’t though, it would be horrific to force them to go through a pregnancy which could severely harm them, mentally and physically.

I do know people who have had abortions and feel that they have murdered people.

Good for you? I know people who have had abortions and don’t feel that. Heck, 1 in 4 women will have an abortion by age 30, I’ll bet even you know a few women who have had abortions and don’t feel like they killed someone.

They have been punishing themselves, not been punished by someone. It is some of those individuals who now feel compelled to afford other women who are rushing into an abortion a time to reconsider.

That last sentence could use a few commas, but I think I understand you.
You are making a strange assumption, no woman is even able to go to an abortion clinic right after she gets a positive pregnancy test. There’s a process the woman must go through. This usually means she has to make an appointment and then wait for that appointment. I highly doubt that women are spending that time between a positive test and the appointment completely ignoring the fact that they’re pregnant and not giving it another thought. That’s completely unreasonable. Who are Members of the movement to which you are aligning yourself to demand that a woman take more time? Do you not trust her to make her own decisions? I do.

When a young woman has sex and is not ready for the responsibility, and this is usually because her boyfriend/husband or parents don't support her other than driving her to the abortion clinic, or she wants no one to know, that she is in a position where there are NO MORE EASY CHOICES. All of it can feel like "punishment" and maybe it is. (See Genesis).

…did you just bring the Bible into this? Please, never do that again. Your faith is not mine and it is not the faith of everyone. I am not saying you can’t have your faith, go ahead. But you may not attempt to have your faith legislated.
That aside, you cannot know the situation of every woman. You can’t make broad generalizations about women and their relationships. So stop trying.

The pregnancy is hard, the birth is hard, the abortion is hard, placing for adoption is hard, the single parenting is hard, heck, all of parenting even under the best circumstances is hard. All of it is hard and none of it is the fault of any pro-lifers. It is the nature of the situation. That is just HOW it is. Nobody to blame.

I never said either option was easy.
But of the options you listed abortion is the least likely to kill women.

If a man becomes violent in any way, it is a terrible thing and he should be punished appropriately by the authorities. Nobody condones it. You might realize, however, that some of them feel that their own child/children have been "murdered" without their consent. Which is no excuse. If they are Christians they will remember the Lord's command not to take revenge.

Why don’t you take that up with them? It has nothing to do with me.

Nobody here has claimed to be more "compassionate" than anyone else. Pro-choicers and pro-lifers are "sinners" all alike. The complaint we are making here is that many women rush into abortion without proper time to think or counsel about it or find better support. The internet we are told furthers this problem by the ease in which appointments can be made.

I have told you before that abortions are not really drop-in procedures. I have also told you that you aren’t psychic. You do not know the situation of every woman walking into that clinic now stop acting like you do.

And, of course, we do believe that abortion is the worst of the choices because it is irreversible, final, and yes against God' ideas and most people's conscience in the long run.

Again, stop bringing your morality into this. Your personal faith is irrelevant to this argument.
And yet again, stop claiming you know how every woman feels after her abortion.

But we cannot force anyone not to do it. There will always be a way. Even the ancient Greeks had abortions. That is why the Hippocratic oath forbids it. We can only hope that people think about it more and that any measure that will help a women think and cope that can be put into place be put into place.

Every society ever has had abortions. It is only now, in the days of modern medicine, that abortions do not result in death. Except in countries where abortion is still illegal. In those countries women still suffer and die, leaving 42,000 children motherless every year.
Also, the Hippocratic oath says a lot of things, among them “if [my teacher] is in need of money to give him a share of mine” and “Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice…in particular of sexual relations”.
Doctors these days hardly even know the people who taught them and certainly aren’t giving away their money to them. They are also certainly visiting houses for reasons other than to heal the sick, like dinner parties. The oath is also to “all the gods, and goddesses” implying a pantheon that your monotheistic religion does not support.

Most of all, we need men and women to believe in committed relationships.

Excuse me? Why are you brining up relationships? That is completely irrelevant.

The other issue is that many, many times the boyfriends are the ones, who want this problem solved as soon as possible and are very "sweet" about helping the mother of their child to get to the abortion clinic as soon as possible. They will be very "supportive" for that one day and then the relationship usually comes to a natural conclusion.

That’s it. I’m sick of this. You need to get off your high horse and realize that you don’t know everything. You need to understand that you cannot know the mind, relationship status, future and/or situation of all women in the world.

Don't tell me that this is not a problem.

The problem I see here is you seeming to think you’re a psychic.

Bridgette's Second Comment:

Rabble, what is supposed to be a PAS advocate?

Terribly sorry, allow me to explain:
A PAS Advocate is anyone who argues (Advocates) for, spreads the myth of, or generally supports the existence of the false condition referred to as Post-Abortion Syndrome.

We are talking here about people who speak and cry with people who are suffering after their abortions. That does not make them advocates of anything. It makes them human beings with real human experiences.

I never said that being an advocate does not make someone human. That’s ridiculous.

Both Amanda and Pastor Erickson are young and I bet they have not seen anything, yet, that there will be much more from where their experiences have come from so far.

So?

Somehow "firebombers" are not a random sample, everyone who does not agree with you is accused of atrocity.

I never accused any one of that. Don’t put words in my mouth.

But when people talk about talking with aborted women you can just write that off as a skewered sample? Sorry, Rabble, they have not conducted a scientific study, they only have talked with people who have sought them out. That does not make it any less real. You can't just dismiss that because you don't like it.

Again, I never have and never will state that no women feel grief after abortions. Find me a moment where I said that. But it is not a psychological condition. The women who you hear about are not the women who feel relief after the abortion. Those women are much more common than those who feel grief. You can’t dismiss the majority just because you don’t like it.

Yes, I agree, studies form 30 years ago, are ridiculous to cite.

Where are you getting 30 from? I said 21. 21 is closer to 13 than it is to 30. And the APA didn’t magically disappear after that study. They’re still around and they review studies all the time. There has been no change in their stance. The reason I’m citing the APA is because they are the authority on psychology and psychiatry. I trust their stance far beyond any individual study.

If it is left out of manuals now, there could be a number of reasons for that. It might include people like yourself standing up accusing them of all kinds of things including: "firebombing", "murdering", "feeding cookies to unwitting victims", "punishing people for having sex", being "stupid", having a "fucking God", faking "compassion", "depriving women of necessary surgeries", and what else.

Just so you’re aware, the DSM doesn’t bend easily to public will. It took years to have homosexuality removed. Removing something from the DSM is very difficult, however they have a penchant for adding new conditions, phobias and increasing they symptoms of diseases. Also, if you’re going to quote me like that, make sure you’re using terms I actually used.

Just a half a minutes worth of googleing produces links such as this one:

http://www.abortionclinics.ca/recent-research.pdf

And less than half a minute of looking at that pdf reveals the REAL source: http://www.theunchoice.com/
Propaganda is not a proper source.

It does make one wonder whose research is more up-to-date and more correct. And it does make one wonder why you ignore it.

I ignore it because it is taken out of context and misquoted.
Allow me to present you with a link to an article about Abortion and Mental Health. This is from the Guttemacher Institute, a reproductive-health think tank that collect good studies about these issues:
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/gpr/09/3/gpr090308.html
Here too, is an article they mention, done in 2006: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/summaries/2006/05/04/AiWL_exec_summ.pdf
I hope you’ll find this research up-to-date.
Love,
Rabble

Via: 1, 2

Reasons Why A Fetus Can Never Be Considered A Person

Note: This is not mine, it's taken from this lady on tumblr.

“Now, if you think any fertilized egg is a “person,” deserving of all the same legal protections as a “post-birth” person, then there are a number of other things you’ve got to do besides make abortion illegal:

* You’ve got to count pregnancies in the census. This requires census workers to force all pubescent girls to take pregnancy tests.

* You’ve got to allow people to take tax deductions for pregnancies, even those fleeting, naturally terminating pregnancies that the mothers don’t even know about.

* You’ve got to make it illegal for a woman to smoke, drink, ride roller coasters, etc. while pregnant, even if she doesn’t know she’s pregnant.

* If a girl gets pregnant, doesn’t know it, goes water skiing and terminates the pregnancy, you’ve got to arrest her for negligent homicide. Basically, all fertile women will be required to undergo regular pregnancy tests and other gynecological exams to find out of they’re “murdering babies.”

* If a woman is on prescription medication that would harm a fetus, you must do one of the following things: make it illegal for her to have sex, remove her uterus, or regularly test her and require her to stop taking her medication - possibly putting her at risk - the moment she becomes pregnant.

* If a man impregnates a woman and she continues to drink, eat poorly, take medication, jump on trampolines, etc. - anything that endangers the “person” within her - the man should be able to sue the woman for full custody of their child.”

Can’t you see how absolutely ridiculous that is to consider a zygote alive?

She didn't want to start a debate, but I'll field any debates for her.

Dear People,

Okay, wow. I am apparently such a huge disturbance that it requires four different people to try and refute me.

That’s fine, but I’m a busy girl, please understand that I won’t be able to reply right away and I’ll have to give you guys single-comment replies. I can’t respond to all of you individually as much as I’d like to.

Let’s start with Bror, who keeps mixing up your and you’re. Here’s a tip, if what you mean to say is ‘you are’ then you turn the ‘a’ into an apostrophe and make it you’re.

I think that the Back Porch, with its insistence on women getting outside counseling (only the people there are not actually counselors) should at the very least make sure that the women they’re offering cookies to know that this will make it so they can’t have their surgery that day.

You claim “these women eat a cookie and have another day to think about the whole thing” but you’re ignoring the fact that Options does not only cater to local women. Women from poor communities in the North have to find a way to Options if they want an abortion. When The Back Porch feeds these women they are often taking away the only chance a poor woman has for a safe abortion. This usually means that those women are going to have unsafe abortions, which kill women.

I’m not the one denying PAS. The governing body of psychological and psychiatric research denies PAS. It simply doesn’t exist. Your experience as a pastor is biased because you are only encountering women who feel guilt afterwards. You are not talking to the women who feel relieved afterwards. Odds are the women you’re talking to had some sort of condition before the abortion (like say an abusive partner). You’re also not talking to the women who were forcibly impregnated by an abusive partner and the abortion was a welcome relief.

And your comment about murder is ridiculous. Abortion is not murder.

Now Bridgette,

Please find me one doctor who has a degree in abortion giving. No such thing exists. As for the doctors who perform abortions at that clinic, why do you care how old they are? My grandfather is over 80 and he still works on his farm. Is he too old to be working? You can’t state that just because someone is working at a particular age that they haven’t been doing their job right.

The Planned Parenthood article is mostly irrelevant to this argument. As I’ve stated the woman’s story is full of holes. She’d been caught removing patient files not long before she had ‘a change of heart’. It’s also questionable how she became the director of Planned Parenthood if she was apparently unaware of how abortions were performed. And I really don’t care how long the government expects you to keep receipts. The point is that abortions have never been a large part of Planned Parenthood. The cost of birth control over two years is way higher than that of an abortion. And Birth control takes far fewer staff members to hand out. It simply doesn’t make sense for abortions to be a large part of Planned Parenthood.

Any yes, Bridgette I am pro-choice and against the Back Porch. I think the Back Porch has a place, no doubt. But by refusing to give simple directions and by not warning the women in advance about the consequences of the cookies and lastly by spread false, fear-mongering, information they are far over-stepping their boundaries.

And Steve,

A six month old cannot survive alone, true, but it can be cared for by a myriad of other people. It is also separate from its mother, it is no longer inside the mother and it is no longer dependant on the mother and the mother alone. That’s why abortion is a choice a woman can make.

And lastly Amanda,

Again and again you insist that your only purpose is to educate women. But your actions have made it clear that you do not actually want women to make an informed decision. You want women to not have an abortion, period. You will do whatever it takes to make a woman ‘choose’ to keep the child.

You refuse to give any information on the risks of childbirth and the mental trauma of adoption. The CDC has shown that bearing a child is 13 times more likely to kill a woman than having an abortion. Let’s also not forget Post Partum Depression, do you have any pamphlets on that?

And once again I will state that I am not the one denying PAS. The governing body of psychology and psychiatry is the one denying PAS. The APA and countless per-reviewed, scientific and statistically sound studies after it, have shown that while some women do experience grief, those numbers are vastly outweighed by the women who feel relief. I’m not saying that there are not women who experience grief. But while you mention three women who had an abortion(s) and regretted it, I know three who have had abortions and did not regret it. And I don’t even run a clinic/ministry.

The women you see are not a proper sample. A quick statistics lesson for you; the women coming into your ministry are not a random sample. Without a random sample no correlation can be claimed.

So just because you see women who are unhappy with the counseling at WHO and just because you see women who feel grief does not mean that all women who have abortions are grieving and are unhappy with their choice.

You don’t want women to make an informed decision, this I know because you don’t address the risks of both options, only one. This is ironic, because you’re focusing on the procedure that is the safer of the two.

You are anti-choice, I know this because you spread false information and it breaks your heart every time a woman makes an informed choice.

I am pro-informed-consent-on-all-options, not just abortion. By only portraying the risks of one procedure you are fear-mongering. If you were at all interested in women making an informed choice you would be educating just as fiercely about the (much more common and deadlier) compilations of pregnancy.

Love,

Rabble

Via: 1, 2, 3