In the wake of the overturn of Roe v. Wade, the media has amplified pro-abortion stories, sharing many from women who claim that they needed abortion in order to have a successful life. These tales seem to suggest that most women feel empowered after aborting their preborn children and that it’s really no big deal.
The reality for many, however, is a very different story, though stories of women who regret their abortions are seldom seen in mainstream media. Stories of regret do not paint abortion in a purely positive light, and therefore, abortion-friendly media tend to dismiss and even suppress them.
While some women seem to be happy about their abortions, many others suffer silently from the trauma of killing their preborn children. The pain can manifest itself psychologically, emotionally, and even physically, and it can last a lifetime.
Here are just a small sampling of stories of abortion regret featured on Live Action News in the past:
“I still feel the guilt”
In an interview with Live Action News, Doreen Reese (not her real name) described how she felt pressured to have an abortion after a doctor suspected her preborn child might not be healthy. Reluctantly, she caved to the pressure — and lived to regret it.
“Even though the abortion was so many years ago, the day is etched forever on my mind,” she said, noting that later she experienced regret, guilt, and shame. “I missed having my baby to hold and to love.” Now in her 70s, Reese has never forgotten her abortion. “I pray every morning, but I still feel the guilt. I wonder what my baby would have looked like, where he or she would be right now. I will always pine for my child.”
“Abortion was a dark cloud over my life”
After graduating high school, Angela Lantzy found herself unexpectedly pregnant. She got an abortion after feeling like it was her only option, but the negative effects stayed with her. “I wanted to get on with my life, but it was something that was always there, like a dark cloud over my life,” she said. Lantzy said that though she tried to suppress her memories of the abortion, it affected her life profoundly and caused anger and depression. Only much later was she able to find healing after attending a pro-life prayer breakfast.
“The biggest regret of my entire life”
The website AbortionChangesYou.com features stories of women who have experienced abortion regret. On the platform, one 71-year-old woman shared that her abortion 35 years prior was “the biggest regret” of her entire life. She recounted remembering that her child would have been born in July, and each year when that time came she would cry for the child who was never born. She goes on to describe that she will never get over her regret.
“If I could only go back to that instant lying there on the gurney, when I thought, ‘I could change my mind!’ It was all possible at that moment, a future with a child to love, a child who would love me… but instead, my own precious baby was thrown away like garbage. And I will never, ever recover from what I’ve done.”
“There will always be a hole in my heart”
A woman named Michaelene wrote a book to describe the intense physical and emotional turmoil she experienced after agreeing to a coerced abortion. “I was completely unprepared for the emotional fallout after the abortion. I thought the abortion would erase the pregnancy. I thought I could move on with my life. I was wrong,” she said. She further described how she experienced a period of self-destructive behavior and fell into a deep depression following the abortion. “The downward spiral continued until suicidal thoughts began to scare me,” she said.
Finally, a therapist helped her realize that the trauma and guilt of the abortion were at the root cause of it all. While she was eventually able to embark on the healing process, Michaelene has never forgotten her child. “There will always be a hole in my heart – a hole in the fabric of our family and our community,” she said.
“I wanted to die”
In another book compiling abortion regret stories, Yanette described the pain and trauma she experienced after taking the abortion pill. “Once it was all over, I wanted to die,” she said. “I struggled to overcome the grief, shame, and condemnation I felt for years… I did not believe that anyone could really love me, especially if they knew what I had done. So, I didn’t talk about it,” she said. As her pain intensified, she sought out ways to numb the pain. “I became even more of an alcoholic, I smoked weed more than I had ever before. I did all sorts of stupid things with stupid people. There is a pain so deep, so profound, that comes from losing a child – a pain that only intensifies when it is by your own hands.”
As these, and so many other women show, grief following an abortion is real. Sadly, many women suffer from abortion trauma, and it can manifest itself in depression, alcohol and drug use, and suicidal thoughts. If you are looking for post-abortive help, contact the International Helpline for Abortion Recovery.
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