The forgotten one left behind.
Posted by Rev. K.H. Marple on March 14, 2009
Post traumatic stress disorder is defined as an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to one or more traumatic events that threatened or caused grave physical harm; profound psychological and emotional trauma, apart from any actual physical harm – usually, but not always, to those that have been in the military.
This is Post-Abortion Stress:
Abortion hurts an entire lifetime. There is alcohol and drug abuse, sexual promiscuity. It even affects what should be normal maternal warmth. With repression and denial, the problem is avoided for years – five years is common, ten or twenty years is not unusual.
Mental disorders among women who had abortions were 17 percent higher than among women who did not have abortions. When researchers looked at specific disorders, the increased rate among women who had abortions ranged from 44 percent higher for panic attacks and 167 percent higher for bipolar disorder.
Previous research has linked abortion to an increase in mental health problems such as suicide, depression, substance abuse, anxiety, sleep disorders, symptoms of post-traumatic stress and other problems. But now there are links between abortion and agoraphobia and panic disorders.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Some women can’t trust men, stay married, keep a job, deal with being a mother (after the abortion), and stays away from friends and family. And more often than not, these women have no idea why they can’t cope.
Guttmacher has this to say about Post-Abortion Stress:
Most antiabortion activists oppose abortion for moral and religious reasons. In their effort to win broader public support and legitimacy, however, antiabortion leaders frequently assert that abortion is not only wrong, but that it harms women physically and psychologically. Such charges have been made repeatedly for years, but repetition and even acceptance by members of Congress and other high-ranking political officials do not make them true.
Likely because the science attesting to the physical safety of the abortion procedure is so clear, abortion foes have long focused on what they allege are its negative mental health consequences. For decades, they have charged that having an abortion causes mental instability and even may lead to suicide, and despite consistent repudiations from the major professional mental health associations, they remain undeterred. For example, the “postabortion traumatic stress syndrome” that they say is widespread is not recognized by either the American Psychological Association (APA) or the American Psychiatric Association.
Don’t believe the lie – abortion hurts for an entire lifetime. A child died. The mother allowed it to happen. But the good news is that she can be forgiven. Look to Jesus, He is the One that died for me and YOU. There are millions of hurting women right now suffering a loss that is hard for them to understand.
