The mooring:  Abortion’s terrible side effects

Editor, The Anchor, Fall River Diocese, May 19, 2000, at 4

Much of the media simply ignores developing data concerning the effect of abortion. Our secular society has become impervious to abortion and the fallout such a procedure has in the lives of so many people. The story of abortion’s other side is really not being told. And it should be, not simply from a spiritual point of view but also from proven psychological and physical implications.

A recent research study on this subject revealed some very interesting data. Women who have had abortions are at a greater risk of suffering emotional trauma, which on a psychological plane would reduce their ability to cope with work and sleep. It was also noted that postabortion women are more likely to engage in drugs and alcohol abuse. This of course would limit their ability to function in the workplace. Active behavior also is known to limit the possibilities of meaningful and healthy relationships.

It should be noted that repeat abortions are on the rise. There are 1.6 million abortions a year; 56 percent are first abortions; 44 percent are second or more. Studies have shown that some women undergo repeat abortions as an act of "self-punishment" often with grave negative implications. An increasing number are developing real physical health problems, especially with, breast cancer. Women who carry their first baby to term cut their chances of this disease almost in half. Women who abort their first pregnancy almost double their chance of breast cancer. With two or more abortions there is a corresponding increase. More studies in this area confirm the correlation between the increase risk of breast cancer and abortions. In our efforts to eliminate this disease should we not also attempt to negate abortions?

Postabortion women have greater difficulty in establishing a healthy relationship with a male partner. Multiabortions by one person are solid indications that she simply will continue to go through many self-destructive affairs. Emotional and psychological problems increase at an alarming rate. Concept of self-respect becomes vague and often irrational.

Our Internet social order is not addressing this issue. Money is the name of the game. Life js not our central concern. Our electronic world is becoming dehumanizing.  The value of the person means very little in the world of robots. Abortions and the corresponding consequences have been set aside as a given; it’s part of our culture. Well, it is not.

The Church has taught staunchly, much to the chagrin of others, that it’s the human being that counts and the individual right to life in all its multifaceted stages must be protected.  The inalienable right to life of every human person is a constitutional element of civil society from the moment of conception to natural death.   Those who oppose this fact fail to recognize that these human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents, they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person. When this is denied, then the consequences are dire. Too many babies have been murdered and too many women are suffering grievous ramifications in the name of personal choice.

As a nation, we are pursuing so many areas of life with cancer prevention and mental health programs. If we are honest about these endeavors’ we must take time and review the many studies that indicate a correlation between abortion, breast cancer and mental illness. People must be educated in this regard. Scare tactics have little effect. Abortion does not eliminate problems, it simply eliminates people.  The problematic aftereffects of abortion, must surface if we believe in preventive medicine.  It is not just a matter of law and right; it is a concern for the survival and wellbeing of people.  Human life is a precious gift. To view it otherwise serves only to encourage the even greater evils which ultimately lead to self-destructivism.