Page 30 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 18

Health & Healing

happy to have survived. also often trigger flashbacks, feelings one involved. The true extent of
of guilt, and other symptoms of the devastation abortion causes for
Attempting to describe how siblings PTSD, further interfering with mothers, couples, children, and soci-
of aborted children felt, one patient maternal bonding. In some cases, ety is difficult even to guess because
said: parents even neglect or mistreat of how far-reaching the effects are.
How could you (my parents) be their children.
loving to me and yet have killed According to many studies, abortion But it doesn’t have to be this way.
one of my siblings? You still is linked to increased child abuse, in- The destruction caused by abortion
might do something to me. I do cluding emotional and mental abuse may not be going away anytime
not trust you. I do not trust the as well as slapping, hitting, kicking, soon, but we can help. Women need
anger I feel towards you. I some- biting, and beating. Such violence to be aware that abortion offers
likely both stems from deteriorating
no solutions to their struggles and
times want to kill you. Yet I need parent-child relations resulting from will only make their troubles worse.
you. It is safer if I can see and abortion and contributes to further Unplanned pregnancies can be ter-
observe you all the time. I will do deterioration of the relationship. rifying, and abortion can seem to be
that until I am old enough to run Additionally, the psychological the only good choice. But there are
impacts of abortion on the mother
always other options.
away. likely play a role in damaging the
mother-child bond. Around the world, there are count-
The effect of abortion on children less support groups caring for
has been referred to as Post-Abor- The harm that abortion does to mothers struggling with unplanned
tion Survivor’s Syndrome. While a mother’s relationship with her pregnancies (find a pregnancy center
feeling undeserving of life, chil- children is tragic. Everyone involved here!). Through our love and sup-
dren with Post-Abortion Survivor’s has experienced trauma in some port, we can show pregnant women
Syndrome frequently struggle with way, and trauma can interfere with that they do have other options.
anger, mistrust of parents, and a healthy relationships. Often, neither By showing compassion to those
desire to escape. They don’t feel the children nor the mother know who have suffered the trauma of
valued and fear that the people close how to cope with post-abortive abortions, we can help minimize
to them don’t truly want to care for feelings. the damage of the abortion to the
them. mother and those around her.
Abortion Is Devastating, But It
The Mother-Child Bond after Doesn’t Have To Be The End But we cannot let the atrocity of
Abortion Abortion does not fix strained rela- abortion continue to destroy rela-
Women who have abortions often tionships or bring partners together. tionships, families, and lives forever.
suffer from many psychological dif- It harms more than just the unborn
ficulties that make positive relation- child. It damages the lives of every-
ships with their children difficult to
form. These women tend to experi-
ence increased anxiety and depres-
sion in future pregnancies. Indeed,
studies have found that some 25%
of American women who had abor-
tions later had difficulty just being
around babies.

Moreover, women who abort be-
come far more likely to have poor
relations with future children. Moth-
ers find themselves unable to bond
with infants, are enraged by their
needs, and feel anxious or helpless
in caring for them. The children can

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