When women consider abortion, it’s important that they’re aware of the hard stuff, too – not just the easy things that abortion clinic counselors often tell them. There are always two sides to every story, and it’s vital that women hear this other side.
Abortion is not just an easy procedure that takes care of all their problems. Abortion doesn’t just wipe the slate clean. Sure, there are a few women out there who will stick to that claim. But for the vast majority of women and girls, abortion is a difficult, heart-rending tragedy. From an article on the Huffington Post:
Abortion is a tragedy in and of itself, regardless of whether or not we, as individuals or as a society, feel that it is so.
It’s not an easy thing to end the life of a child, especially your own. It’s not an easy thing to pretend you were never a mother when you know, deep in your heart, that you still are. And abortion is even harder and more tragic for women when they are uninformed and when they’ve never been presented with the real truth and the real risks. I’m going to be blunt and to the point, so here goes.
1) You may lose your life or be permanently injured.
While the majority of women do not die from their abortions, it is definitely a risk that abortion clinics rarely admit. Abortion is not just a safe, simple procedure. Some abortionists are more concerned with efficiency and money than the lives of women, and it shows in the deaths of women under their care. The Real Choice blog tells the stories of hundreds of women and teens who died or were severely injured from their abortions – from causes such as cardiac arrest, bleeding, choking to death on vomit, and embolism. Ladies, abortion is not a walk in the park. You need to realize that you may die from this procedure.
There are many risks involved with teen abortion. To begin with death can occur because of teen abortion. It is reported that legal abortion is the fifth leading cause of maternal death in the United States. These deaths are caused by infection, embolism, hemorrhage, anesthesia, and undiagnosed ectopic pregnancies. The actual figure of deaths caused by legal abortion is probably much higher than reported since many of the maternal deaths reported are not recorded as being caused by legal abortion.
RU-486, an abortion drug (a medical abortion rather than a surgical abortion) also risks women’s lives. In 2009, it was reported that 29 women had died from the use of RU-486, nine more had had their lives endangered, and 120 had received blood transfusions, while over 200 were hospitalized. Despite FDA approval, this is not a safe drug for women, especially when abortion clinics continue to disregard the standard procedure for giving the drug to women and thus endanger their lives.
One of the most concerning things that women need to realize is that injuries and deaths at abortion clinics across the country are on the rise.
2) You may lose your motherhood entirely.
Some women believe that their abortions will allow them to postpone motherhood until they believe they are ready. However, all too often, these women never get another chance. In yet another example of nondisclosure by abortion clinics, women are rarely properly informed that an abortion – and especially multiple abortions – may cost them their fertility.
While this article first seems to almost deny the claim that women can lose their fertility in abortion, the end section admits the risks that are present and which all women should be aware of:
The most serious problems occur in those rare instances when a post-operative infection develops. But if a woman has had a significant number of abortions, scar tissue might develop at the top of the cervix or inside the uterus. If this interferes with later attempts to get pregnant, it is often possible to repair this medically. A woman who has had more than one abortion may also have a weakened cervix, due to repeated dilations during the earlier procedures; this could cause difficulty sustaining a pregnancy later on, as the cervix could dilate (open) prematurely. In many cases a weakened or incompetent cervix can be sutured closed for the duration of a pregnancy.
Additionally, an abortion can be an emotionally challenging experience for a woman, and this in turn might have an indirect effect on fertility, if she retreats from sexual contact out of feelings of guilt or conflict.
Women should not only be advised of risks that are common or widespread. They ought to be told all of the risks so that they are fully informed. No one can guarantee a woman or a girl that her abortion will not come at the price of her future fertility. Her abortion may take the life of her first, last, and only child.
Miscarriage is also a risk after an abortion. One expert explains the risks:
Yes, having an abortion during the first trimester does increase the chances of a miscarriage later, by about 400%. The literature is not telling you the truth. But in your case, since you had an abortion so late, it would be even higher. When they force open the cervix in order to do an abortion, they damage it. There will be many tiny tears in the flesh, and this weakens it so that it can’t hold the weight of a full term baby. And yes, this damage also happens in abortions done during the first trimester. Scarring on the surface of the uterus can also be a problem, because if the placenta is trying to grow over scars, it won’t be able to grow there, so this could restrict the size and effectiveness of the placenta. Placenta previa is also a risk. This is due to scarring as well. When they do a surgical abortion, they have to cut away the placenta, and they scrape the surface. This is why scars form.
3) You may pay – both literally and emotionally – to end the life of your child.
After abortion, many women experience post-traumatic stress disorder. (There is help for you if you’re in a spot like this.) Many realize, all too late, that their unborn children were unique, helpless individuals who needed a chance at life that only their mothers could have given them. Abortion clinics specialize in giving women inaccurate information about an unborn child’s development, often leaving out the true facts about when a baby’s heart begins to beat (22 days), when brain waves can be measured (about six weeks), and when a baby’s organs are present and functioning (eight weeks for all but the lungs; they follow at 11-12 weeks). At five weeks, all four heart chambers are functioning. At eight to ten weeks, a baby can suck her thumb.
One of the most surprising things about fetal development is that nothing significantly new happens after 12 weeks after conception – the child simply gets bigger and matures. Nearly 90 percent of abortions are done before the twelfth week, when the child is supposedly ‘blood clots’ (Mifeprex [mifepristone] pamphlet) or ‘pregnancy tissue’ (Planned Parenthood document).
There is evidence that a mother’s connection to her child begins almost immediately and is basically beyond her control. Almost as soon as a child begins to exist, a psychological and biological relationship begins like no other. Multiple studies “demonstrate that a mother’s bond with her child (and the child’s attachment to her) begins during pregnancy and even at its early stages.” Experts conclude:
[T]he attachment between mother and child begins almost immediately after conception and the basis of maternal attachment is both psychological and physical, and this process, and the natural protective urges of maternal attachment, often form irrespective of whether the pregnancy was intended or wanted.
Simply put, abortion hurts a woman and takes the life of her defenseless child. Listen to the stories of other women, realize the risks, and please, choose life.
Want more info on abortion, the risks, and the realities? Check out this article, this site, and this awesome paper.
