• Some women have abortions and are pleased with their decisions. They support and advocate for pro-choice groups.
• Some argue that having an unwanted child is more traumatic than an abortion
• Other women who have had abortions because it seemed the best solution at the time - are traumatized by the experience. What they had thought would be a quick 10-minute procedure to alleviate a problem was not the end of a problem,  but the beginning of a living nightmare from which one could not awaken..

Statistics Vary:

Barnard writes in "The Long-Term Psychological Effects of Abortion" that  at least 19 percent of post abortive women stuffer from post-traumatic stress.

As many as 91% of all abortions cause severe psychological problems, both immediate and long-term, according to reports of the Department of Education and the Alan Guttmacher Institute.  (from
91% Suffer from Post-abortion Trauma, Studies Show   © 1992 Diane S. Dew in The Standard

The Healing Choice reports, "One would be hard pressed to find a post -abortion woman who has not felt some degree of guilt. It is normal.' (page 87).

2.  Symptoms

• abortions: desire for repeat abortions
• aches: headaches, stomachaches
• addictive behaviors (overeating and anorexia, drinking, drugs, workaholic, sex...)
• amnesia
• anger, rage, irritability
• anxiety and panic attacks
• avoidance of newspaper, magazine  and television programs with abortion-related stories
• bouts of crying
• children
  • strong desire to be around children
  • strong desire to avoid children
  • desire to avoid baby showers
• conception -
  • fear of being unable to conceive
  • unexplained depression when conception occurs and after the delivery
  • feat of being unable to carry baby to term because of weakened cervix
• depression - especially on celebratory days, such as mother's day, father's day, child's anticipated birthday,
  Halloween, Christmas, and of course, on the date of the abortion
• desire to become pregnant again -
  • Nearly half of women get pregnant within a year of their abortions.  (Burke 72)
  •  Elliot Institute Survey: 29% of women attempted replacement pregnancy
• difficulty with relationships
• diminished interest in activities which you to give one pleasure
• discomfort in response to some religious organizations
• drug and alcohol abuse
• eating disorders
• emotional numbness
• fear of spiritual retribution
• feelings of loss, loneliness, despair, isolation, abandonment
• flashbacks
• grief - grief triggered by  items related to babies - showers, diaper commercials, and the aborted fetus
• guilt
• hatred of husband and/or men
• heartache
• inability to deal
• inability to forgive oneself
• intense grief and sadness
• involvement in pro-life or    pro-choice activities
• lowered self-esteem
• marriage problems
• men - an anger and resentment towards them -
• mood swings
• nightmares, sleep disturbance
• oversleeping
• rage
• repression - this is the blocking of a bad memory, like a car accident
• resistance to attending baby showers or visiting friends with babies
• self-destructive behaviors; self-punishment
• sexual symptoms
  • sexual dysfunction
  • sexual promiscuity
  • sexual frigidity
• shame
• stress over sexual intimacy
• suicidal urges
• tension when asked, "Do you want children?" or "Do you have children?"
• withdrawal
  • Avoiding uncomfortable relationships and pain - can be done by silence, with alcohol or with drugs
  • withdrawal from those involved in the abortion decision
• Wondering - always wondering how you would have enjoyed your baby & what your baby would looks like, and be like

Sources: Healing Choice; Door to Hope; Dr. David Reardon, Post Abortive Syndrome ; Forbidden Grief; online book, Post Abortion Syndrome:  Abortionfacts.com;

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Additional symptoms as described by various sources

The "Shadow Child" Symptom:  "In the aftermath of abortion, some women find themselves living with regret as a constant companion. These women may have identified at some level with the aborted child and become preoccupied with it: they live with a "shadow child." They wonder what it might have looked like, especially when they see a boy or girl of the approximate age theirs could have been" (from Living in the shadow: in the aftermath of abortion, some women find themselves living with regret as a constant companion. Sabine Gordon. Vibrant Life, July-August 1989 v5 n5 p18(3)  

There is "disenfranchised grief" experienced my women who have had abortions. This grief is one where  women "believe that they cannot discuss the abortion or loss of their fetus with anyone because it needs to be kept a deep dark secret. Also women may believe that they do not have permission to grieve for the loss of their fetus with anyone and therefore they experience deep sorrow. "     (Butts and Rich, Nursing Ethics, 2004, page 78)

 Psychotic Breaks: Mark E. Chopko cites the American Psychological Association in his article entitled, The price of abortion sixteen years later:
"Cases have been reported of women's experiencing psychotic breaks following abortion despite the absence of preexisting psychological problems. In light of statistics showing
that suicide is the third leading cause of death among adolescents, one needs to be alert to this risk ... Compared with adults, adolescents appear to have somewhat more negative responses on average following abortion.
(See Report of the Interdivisional Committee on Adolescent Abortion, American Psychological Association, Adolescent Abortion: Psychological and Legal Issues 84 [1986]
(From The price of abortion sixteen years later. Mark E. Chopko National Forum, Fall 1989 v69 n4 p18(3) )

Breast Cancer
Dr. Angela Lanfranchi reports, "breast cancer is the only major cancer that has continued rising."  She relates this to abortion: "Thirty percent of my breast cancer patients who are in their thirties do not have a family history of breast cancer, but have had an induced abortion."    Quoted from, "The Cost of Choice: Women Evaluate the Impact of Abortion" edited by Erika Bachiochi, Encounter Books, 2004 ISBN 15940305

Unworthiness & nightmares
"Millions of women have suffered over their decisions to have abortions...Many women have believed that they were irretrievably  bad and unworthy of love from the wonderful men in their lives who didn't know their dark secret. Some women have told me about their nightmares and flashbacks, which are sometimes so severe that they find it difficult to relax or get any pleasure out of life."  Dr. Laura C. Schlessinger, (forward to Forbidden Grief)

Understanding Anorexia
One anorexic, Lydia, describes anorexia as follows:
"The really said part is that anorexia made me feel better about myself and very safe because without a period I couldn't get pregnant." (Healing Choices, page 59)

Far-Reaching & Unspecified
"The effects of the abortion are much more far-reaching than the effects of the rape in my life."  —"Patricia Ryan"   From Victims and Victors Speaking Out About Their Pregnancies, Abortions, and Children Resulting from Sexual Assault  edited by David C. Reardon, Julie Makimaa and Amy Sobie

Reaction Formation

• This is a displacement of an emotion - for example, taking out one's anger on a baby instead of a powerful boyfriend.
  • Lorena Bobbit,  severing her husband's penis near the anniversary of her abortion
  • Susan Smith drowning her two children in a car in 1994

Personal Idiosyncrasies:

• One of my friends hates the sound of a vacuum since her abortion as it reminds her of the suction machine used during her abortion. She does not want wall to wall rugs in her home.   Another idiosyncrasy may be clothing - no longer wearing the item of clothing worn at the abortion  - yet other victims  save that item as one of the few souvenirs of their baby.

A Variety of Self-Destructive Suicidal  Behaviors

• An online book, Post Abortion Syndrome   speaks of Carol Carter's suicide: "On April 20, 1996, Carol Carter finally succeeded in taking her own life. It was on the anniversary of one of her abortions. .."  "Methods used to commit suicide are extremely varied. Some die of anorexia, others by overdoses of drugs, both legal and illegal. One woman chose to drive directly into an oncoming truck. Others have driven into light poles, bridge abutments, drowned themselves,  "  Post Abortion Syndrome     Abortionfacts.com reports: "The suicide rate after an abortion was three times the general suicide rate"

Four  Narratives of symptoms taken from Forbidden Grief:: 

1. Eating Disorders
   • "I am never hungry when I binge...I eat because I am full. Full of anger, hurt, sadness, and loneliness. I throw up because that is the way I empty myself of those feelings. " )(Sarah, Forbidden Grief  , Introduction XVII)
2. Loneliness
   • "My abortion didn't end my pain.... it began it,,,When I tried to confide in friends about my anguish, they shook their heads with disapproving looks. It made me feel so alone, so weird. Sometimes I felt like I was going crazy" (page 31)
3. Nightmares
   • I would wake up because I heard a child crying, 'Mommy, mommy.' I would sit up in bed and the voices would continue. I would cry for hours" (127).
4. Reminders/Triggers
   • Whenever I was enjoying something...like a colorful sunset, or the beauty of the ocean, I would see what I believe to be the face of my aborted child...up in the clouds or in the waves of the ocean. I would break down with grief and feel an incredible pain and sense of loss. It became hard to enjoy anything" (126).

Two Narratives from Post Abortion Syndrome :

• Robin's Story - difficulty parenting
  "At one point in my life I was so determined that my children would not turn out like me, that I was so strict on them that they were not sure if mommy loved them, or hated them. My daughters could not do anything well enough to suit me, while my son could do no wrong. You see he was a replacement baby. He came along after the abortion. I never spanked him, never punished him, and as a result my daughters thought that I loved him more than them. Not to mention I was creating a little monster. That child was so bad at one time that no one could stand to be around him.
  I now know that no child can be replaced. God made each child uniquely different from any other. One day I will meet my twins face to face * - what a day that will be."

• Leroy's Story Dreams
  "For ten years my little boy came to me in my dreams, so tiny that he could fit in my hand, I knew him, I named him, I knew the color of his hair and his eyes, the torment was horrible. I never told anyone about those dreams, not even Connie." [Connie is his wife]

Narrative from  The Report Newsmagazine, The heart of healing; One of the most common sources of female depression has been a taboo subject. (Terry O'Neil Dec 2, 2002 pNA )

• The emotional effects started soon after. "I became bulimic. I became severely depressed, angry. I became withdrawn. and then on another side, I became promiscuous." A short-lived marriage produced one miscarriage and two girls. "But what was interesting, when I had my first daughter in 1980, I could not connect with her. I could hardly hold her. Her father did most of the care. I couldn't cuddle her. I couldn't console her. I had trouble breast-feeding. I had trouble feeling love for her. I ended up bottle-feeding her, and I couldn't wait to get back to work." 

Narrative from It gets easier with practice. by Celeste McGovern (from Alberta Report, August 14, 2000 v27 i7 p19)

• Murder and Hormone Imbalance
  "Sandi Nieves' life had been unravelling for some time before she murdered her four little girls in the early morning of July 1, 1998. Then 34 years old, the mother of five was reaching the breaking point. T... And five days earlier she'd had an abortion that, she later testified, 'was against everything inside me' and she described as feeling like "the insides of me were ripped out."  ....
  In court, Dr.  Ney presented jury physiological evidence of post-abortion trauma: 'Coursing the veins of a pregnant woman are levels of the hormone cortisol 10 times the level of a typical male, he says. The abrupt and unnatural halt of those powerful hormones by abortion puts a woman 'in a state of biochemical imbalance.'"

Advice  for overcoming post abortion stress syndrome has some similarities to advice given for overcoming a variety of addictions and traumas: facing the symptoms, admitting to them, deciding to do something about it (either by oneself  or in a workshop) forgiving yourself & others, moving on with purpose

Forgiveness  is the big issue. Rhonda Chervin claims people often seethe with anger  because the world is not a perfect place - because we and our friends have made mistakes. We cannot live happily if  we  continually relive our less-than-perfect decisions. We must release ourselves of  the burden of carrying this anger by forgiving others and forgiving ourselves.  Some women who have had abortions felt it was the best decision at the time, yet years later, they wish they had kept their baby. People must face this fact, accept the decisions that were made in the past, forgive themselves, and then move forward with a purposeful life.

What is the first step towards overcoming post abortion stress syndrome?

Healing Choices recommends unburying your emotions:

"Unlocking your buried emotions is the first step  in healing them. In order to do this work, you must be able to identify your emotions. This can be a difficult task; (The  Healing Choice: Your Guide to Emotional Recovery After an Abortion by Candace De Puy and Dana Dovitch  page 31)

• Realistic expectations. Face and admit to your situation. Healing and recovery may not be instantaneous. It often takes time. It's like a physical wound or surgery  We may bleed, apply pressure, and stop the injury; but there is still a scab that lingers for a while.  It is not completely healed instantaneously.  Be realistic in expectations. Know it can take time and don't get discouraged
• Personalize the Experience: "Part of the recovery process is to personalize the aborted child, so that its loss can truly be grieved. 'It was a son,' she says of her aborted child. As part of the therapy, "I named him Cameron. He would be 28 now." (From The Heart of Healing - The Report Newsmagazine,  Terry O'Neil)
• Spend time alone with yourself: " Separation is positive as long as it resonates with your desire to carve out a private emotional apace in which to sort through your feelings and gain insight" (Healing Choice page 67). In solitude you can discover yourself, it is a time reflect upon and set your personal goals , it is a time to meet yourself and plan your journey together. 
• Attend a workshop:  There are workshops wherein women can sort out their grief in a non-judgmental way.
• Tell your story: - at a workshop, high school group, at a club. There is truth to the adage "A problem told is a problem half solved."  However, many women find it difficult to find someone to talk to. They saw few want to be bothered, and some judge, chastise, and look down upon an abortive woman.
• Join a post-abortion support group: Know that you're not alone. Know that someone is ready to listen to you.
• Forgive yourself and forgive others. Realize we don't live in a perfect world.
  Without forgiveness there is anger. With forgiveness there is peace.
• Re-create yourself.  Begin anew. Rediscover your purpose/meaning in life. Pursue worthwhile activities and causes. Make time for recreation with those you love. 
  • Similar strategies are offered at Post Abortion Trauma Healing Services   and Victims and Choice

Further Tips

• Find someone to talk to
  For women looking for someone to talk with, it is suggested that they present a general abortion problem to their friends. Judging by the answer, it can then be decided which friend would be the most supportive.

• Grieve

  • Does grieving serve a purpose?
    Grieving enables you to heal the losses born out of your pregnancy  and abortion so that, in time you can move toward a place of emotional peace.  As you face and mourn your losses you are able to resolve pain left over from these experiences, but if you dismiss or deny any losses you are apt to prolong your grief. (healing Choices159)

  • What role does sharing grief play?
    Psychiatrist and author Charles Whitfield reminds us, "When we allow ourselves to feel these painful feelings, and when we share the grief with safe and supportive others, we are able to complete your grief work and thus be free of it."  (Healing Choices 161)

   

• Rebuild your self-confidence

  • When a woman is in pain, she can easily forget all her talents and positive qualities. Psychotherapist Leslie Eichenbaum recommends a simple exercise that can give you perspective and help rebuild your confidence....

    • Make a list of ten personal achievements

    • Make a list of ten personal abilities

    • Make a list of ten positive personal qualities

    •  Imagine that a good friend is introducing you to a third party in an extremely positive way. Write out that that person would say about you, and when you finish, read the introduction aloud. (Healing Choices 187)

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Additional Statistics regarding Post Abortion trauma

The Elliott Institute reports over 60% of women feel no trauma for the first 5 years. It is a delayed reaction.

Abortionfacts. com suggests ten years: "This type of problem was first seen in large numbers in Vietnam veterans, but did not manifest it-self until a decade after they returned. The same ten-year delay has been evident with abortion." T. Keane, Vietnam Vets Trauma disorder level at 15%, Am. Med. News, L. Abraham, Dec. 2, 1988, p. 2

The Healing Choice Reports the following statistics:

•  12 percent of abortions are performed on females who are minors.

• Abortion rates are highest in eighteen-nineteen-year-olds

• 60 percent of abortion women are under twenty-five years of age

• More than 77%  of abortion women express a desire for children in the future

• 82% of abortion women are not married

• 48 percent of abortion women already have children

"However, women often fail to remember the objective facts of biological productivity and womanhood. With thirty to forty years of fertility in a woman's lifetime, possibly 520 ovulation cycles and a compelling sex drive, an enormous number of pregnancies result - some wanted and others not. It is ,therefore, no wonder that 46 out of 100 women in the United States experience an abortion in their lifetime" (Healing Choice, page  103)

Miscellaneous

Some women feel pressured & pressed for time

A pre-abortion woman rarely has the luxury of time to thoroughly assess the meaning of her pregnancy before heading into plans for termination. In her state of pregnancy and emotional turmoil, it can be difficult to systematically reason through all the details, weighing the pros and cons, to real a plan of action. So, if she believes that abortion is her best option, she usually does it as soon as possible. (Healing Choice 41)

Links

CDC Abortion Statistics http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/unmarry.htm

Abortion Facts.com - Post abortion Syndrome - includes excellent resources

After effects of abortion

Alan Guttmacher Institute birth statistics

Elliott Institute - Afterabortion.org

http://www.abortionfacts.com/PAS/PAS.asp

Steps toward healing - further information

http://www.abort73.com/HTML/index.html

Lorena Bobbitt suffered PTSD - had had an abortion - castrated her husband
Lorena's abortion was on June 15, 1990. On June 18, 1993, she went to her doctor complaining of hyperventilation, cramping, and anxiety attacks. "These psychosomatic symptoms are all typical of a post-abortion anniversary reaction," said Reardon. "The cutting incident occurred five days later, only minutes after she experienced flashbacks to the abortion, another common post-abortion reaction."

Post Abortion Stress by Eleanor Ramsey - an online book of many persons (male and female) that have suffered Post Abortion Stress