Wednesday, October 26, 2005

"That sadness and guilt after your abortion, it's just hormones"

That seems to be the norm on how pro-choice people respond to women (often pro-choice women) who've had an abortion and are feeling guilt or regret.

Example #1

I am having a difficult time dealing with the abortion. I feel irrationally guilty, blue and melancholy and havent been able to "snap out of it". I know I made the right decision, absolutely, which is why I cant explain these feelings. Before this whole thing, I was content being alone [I live alone], but now? I need to be around people 24/7.


Look at the responses from pro-choice people. According to them, her hormones seem to be main cause for her guilt.

Or look in the comments section to see how pro-choice blogger Eyelid responds to this post:

I had been ok with the abortion since I talked to someone at my (now ex) boyfriend's church, but now it's eating at me again,,,

It's almost as if the pro-choicers can't accept that some women who have abortion realize that they did something wrong and are having trouble dealing with what they did. "Come on, we all know that there's nothing wrong with abortion. There must be some other cause for pro-choice women feeling guilty after an abortion. It's probably just hormones."

Imagine these same women attacking any male who questions their emotions based on the hormones of their monthly cycle.

Or read this - I don't even know how to start this. I had an abortion this past Tuesday, and have pretty much hated myself since...

...my friends that know about it tell me i did the right thing and stuff....but it doesn't help. some even tell stories about how they were pregnant once and miscarried....and they just don't seem to understand that its not the same... they didn't CHOOSE to do that to themself. i cry a lot still. it seems with every cramp my subconscious screams at me reminding me of the mistake i've made. i want/need someone who knows how this feels.... who can tell me that eventually the hurt will go away. eventually i won't feel so bad...


Look at how Eyelid responds - "It will go away. You won't feel so bad :) Time heals all wounds. You only just had the abortion last week... give yourself some time! There are still lots of pregnancy hormones in your body, making you even more emotional than you would be normally. On top of that, your ex is there making everything worse. It'll probably take about a month for the hormones to settle down all the way so you can balance out emotionally again."

Another post-abortive young woman writes, "I feel crazy. I feel so empty. I got used to the idea of having a baby in me. Now it's gone and I feel empty and alone."

Eyelid's response? "Pregnancy hormones make you crazy. It'll go away, just give it some time."

Is it just me or does it seem like Eyelid's main objective is to convince these women that they didn't do anything wrong even though their emotions and feelings are telling them differently.

How many women have gone through these same emotions after an abortion and instead of having their friends recognize the possibility of truth behind these emotions, they're told, "It's ok, it's just hormones. You'll be better in a few days."

Maybe that's seems like the "nice" and "positive" thing to say at the time. You know they just had an abortion, let's "perk them up" and get them to focus the future and the happy times ahead. But is it healthy to bury emotions based on the assumption that they are caused by hormones without honestly asking what you're feeling and why you're feeling that way? Maybe, just maybe something else is involved.

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:06 PM

    The fact remains, that if a child is unwanted, bringing it into the world when there are not enough financial and emotional resources to do it justice is just plain wrong and I submit is actually child abuse.

    If the mother has the courage to actually put the child up for adoption so a family can provide a healthy environment for the kid. Then do that.

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  2. It'd be interesting to know what she thinks about women that continue to have those feeling or develop those feelings after years of relief. Must be stress in general?

    I love this quote from her: "long-term bad reactions to abortion are pretty rare" Keep living the lie Eyelid.

    This certainly isn't supportive of what these women are going through. I don't doubt that some women feel honest relief and happiness after their abortion, but if they were to say the same thing in reverse? That wouldn't keep them in denial I guess.

    Interesting.

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  3. Anonymous,
    First, your argument assumes that the child isn't already in "the world" when the child in fact already exists and is in the world .

    Second, if it is wrong to not to kill a child before they are born because there aren't enough financial and emotional resources, then wouldn't it also be wrong not to kill children after they are born who also lack financial and emotional resources?

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  4. PWPL,
    Yeah, it's almost as if Eyelid is an evangelical post-abortive woman. The more women that have abortions and don't have any emotional problems then the easier it is for her to not admit what she's feeling.

    What happens to these women when in 10-15 down the road, these feelings keep creeping into their lives? Can we blame those feelings on pregnancy hormones too?

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  5. Anonymous12:42 PM

    qqAnonymous,
    I agree with a PP. You fail to see that once a woman is pregnant, she is already a mother. She can choose to nuture and love that child, or she can choose to give the child up. There are no unwanted children, only unplanned children who need a good home. "Unwanted" is a negative label which hurts a child and degrades the child to the level of an inconvience or commodity, rather than a human child needing love and a good home.
    I have heard many a time that a woman doesn't feel like she had a choice due to lack of emotionally and financial support. And so let us focus on providing positive solutions to the circumstances surrounding her pregnancy so that she actually has a choice.

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  6. OK...hormones... how does that explain a man's grief when it comes to this issue? It's not something many men talk about, but for every woman involved in an abortion decision, there is a man that had a part in the pregnancy.

    I suffered with guilt and shame for many years following my and my girlfriend's 'choice' of abortion. How I wish I could go back now and reverse the decision. I have no idea what I've missed out on these last 25 years.

    I wrote about this today, but I have a feeling after this weekend I'll be writing a lot more on the subject.

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  7. Anonymous9:50 AM

    I think a pro-choice person might have a hard time understanding post-abortion grief, unless they've experienced it. But looking at it from the pro-choice prespective, perhaps they believe that because safe, legal abortion is inherently good, it can't have a negative impact or consequences. But regardless of your personal beliefs, it's not conductive to supporting a person to minimize their feelings as "just hormones" or to try to bring out the positive of the abortion. This only encourages her to suppress her feelings and doesn't help her identify what she is feeling so she can begin to heal.
    See http://afterabortion.com/do_dont.html
    for more on this

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