I would like to recommend the following website : http://www.canadasilentnomore.com/. In particular, I would like to point out the large-spanning, comprehensive review that Canada Silent No More has put together regarding the mental and physical effects related to legal abortion. The ‘Facts and Stats’ section of the website, at first glance, is daunting and discouraging. However, it is important to note that these discomforting figures represent the truth about the terrible effects abortion can have on women. Given that many people base their decisions on ‘what the research shows’, it is impressive to see that an organization has devoted the time and energy to sift through a massive pile of research studies in order to inform women on various mental and physical effects of abortion.

When it comes to counseling women who are debating an abortion, I believe the best approach is to offer love, support, understanding, and resources (both emotional and financial, whenever possible). Nonetheless, attention also must be drawn to the scientific evidence that warns against abortion. The medical community cannot continue to shun its eye from the negative impacts of abortion. Many pro-choicers claim that pro-lifers are inventing the idea of a “post-abortion syndrome”…but if that’s really the case, why do numerous scientific studies show us otherwise? If the risk of breast cancer doubles after one abortion, and a 1997 government study from Finland showed that “women who abort are approximately four times more likely to die in the following year than women who carry their pregnancies to term”, shouldn’t women considering abortion be at least notified of these disastrous health consequences?

Let me re-iterate: the abortion debate is fundamentally about the life of the fetus. What we are defending, here at Quebec Life Coalition, is the unborn child’s right to life and protection. In addition to killing the lives of children, abortion also destroys the lives of many women (and men). In sharing the cited studies on http://www.canadasilentnomore.com/, what I seek is to spread greater awareness of the evils of abortion- but the primary wrong of abortion is that it kills a new human life- the fact that it hurts so many women too reveals the aftermath of actions that go against God’s love for all of us.

After reading a letter submitted by a woman who had an abortion on LifeSiteNews.com, I could not help but think to myself, how many other women have a similar story to share? How many other women have come through the deep end and struggle to live in peace after a decision that tore their lives (and that of their child)?

I wish the platform for post-abortive issues were more open to public conversation. I feel that interaction with women who themselves made the ‘choice’ of aborting would help prevent struggling women from making the same devastating decision. Unfortunately, as it stands, the crime of abortion is only spoken of using so-called “politically-correct” (and morally fraudulent!) jargon: “freedom of choice”, “women’s rights” (and what about children’s rights?), “my body, my choice”...but how many women, men, and families have suffered from the killing of their unborn child?

Notice I say men and women- because yes, men are also hurt by the horrors of abortion, for when they conceive a new being with a woman, they willingly partake in God’s act of life- and when they neglect the existence of that tiny being and fail to support the woman they have physically committed to, they also suffer the guilt, frustration, and sadness that follows. 

A recent meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Psychiatry revealed that women having abortions experience an 81% increased risk of mental health problems. If anyone is wondering why Post-Abortion Syndrome is not spoken of or acknowledged by the medical community, one must also wonder what political motivations exist to hide the truth on the physical and psychological impacts of abortion.

A final point of interest: If the whole abortion industry really has in mind the best interest of women, why don’t they perform a regular post-abortive check-up to ensure that women are really free of mental and physical agony post-abortion? As far as emotional reactions are concerned, the The Montreal Morgentaler facility website simply states that if psychological persists after one week or so, you may need a referral for “post-abortion counselling”- so really, do they honestly believe that women resume life normally after aborting their child?