This latest study shows that women have an 81% increased risk of serious mental health problems if they've had an abortion. Who is reporting this? Nobody. The study was published in a UK journal, and at the same time in the UK we hear that the politicians are up in arms over a very modest amendment to a health services bill that will stipulate that women who are seeking an abortion should receive counseling from an independent source. Christina Odone writes very effectively and movingly here about the abortion issue in the UK.
Notice that the amendment is not even proposing that the independent counselor be pro life. They are simply saying that counseling by an abortion provider is not independent--there is a conflict of interest. What abortion provider (who stands to make money out of the abortion) is going to advise against abortion? Still the amendment is likely to fail because the pro aborts are so terrified that some woman somewhere might actually receive advice to keep her baby or choose adoption. And what tack is David Cameron taking? He's actually saying the amendment should fail because it threatens to influence women wrongly and inhibit true choice. So choice is more enabled by having fewer facts and only one viewpoint? Geesh, the double think of these diabolical propagandists is mind boggling!
Meanwhile, my friend Valerie, who is our local pro life organizer tells me that the largest breast cancer charity--the ones with the pink ribbons everywhere-- contributes millions to Planned Parenthood. How crazy is that? Study after study indicates a link between abortion and breast cancer, and the largest charity trying to cure breast cancer donates millions to abortion providers. It's like the National Organization for Preventing Tooth Decay donating millions to the makers of candy and soft drinks--except that of course in the abortion debate we're not talking about tooth decay but killing babies.
The Devil just loves lying like this. He's so happy to confuse people and get them in situations where one ideology prohibits them from encouraging another truth and getting them to double contradict themselves and never see the inconsistency of the deception.
Perhaps I am seriously cynical in my old age, but I often wonder if charities selling pink ribbons for breast cancer are actually FOR breast cancer. You see if a cure was found, one that really works and if many women stopped taking the Pill and having abortions, then breast cancer dx would drop considerably.
ReplyDeleteThen what would happen to those charities and their nicely paid workers?
The more I look at medical "research" the less like acutal research it ever looks.
In interest of the truth, however, I think it is only fair to point out that the study clearly states that only 10% of that increased risk is due the variable of whether the individual had an abortion. The other 71% is due to a variety of other variables. The point of this is that women who are more likely to have an abortion are also women who are in other circumstances that lead to mental problems: poverty, multiple sexual partners, abuse from parents and/or boyfriends, entering sexual activities before they are fully ready, social and economic instability, and so forth.
ReplyDeleteI point this out not to counter your argument, but to point out the real tragedy: the women who seek abortions are often themselves victims, and pro-life advocates typically do not focus enough attention on the underlying social patterns and inequalities that lead to a high abortion culture. I also point it out as a reminder that all sociological statistics need to be carefully understood before we draw our conclusions.
That being said, I think that we pro-lifers need to focus our pro-life campaign across a much larger front than we typically have: anti-abortion, anti-death penalty, anti-war, anti-poverty, anti-discrimination, anti-euthanasia. Typically, we have focused exclusively on anti-abortion, when we should also be focused on helping mothers and children from birth to natural death.
S.Ellis,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Abortion is a temporary solution that does not touch the roots of the problem.
The thing is the church already has answers to these problems.
Stop de-valuing people and sex.
Machines are used, people are loved.
@ Savia, your post made me laugh out loud.
ReplyDelete"Stop de-valuing people and sex.
Machines are used, people are loved."
People are loved, not used? Hahahahahahahaha! Stop, you're killing me! So the girl in my college suite who staggered in drunk out of her mind, collapsed in her ex-boyfriend's bed, and was used in turn by all the suite's inhabitants AND some of their friends from across the hall was wrong, when she didn't feel particularly loved afterwards, well I guess she just suffered from distorted perceptions, or was just ungrateful and impossible to please. Some people...!
Or the gay friend of mine who's had hundreds of half-hour trysts in public bathrooms, man, is he spreading the love, and being just slathered in love. Or something.
Or the online dating women I read every day, whose profiles read "not interested in a one-night stand" and then post nude pictures of themselves with a guitar or scarf to cover their business bits---man, they are just FEELING the love from all the men out in cyberspace.
You should be a commedian!
Steve T.- I think maybe what Savia meant was machines are made to be used and people are made to be loved. Obviously the situations you described are ones which highlight ways in which people are used, not loved.
ReplyDeleteSteve, you might want to re-read Savia's comment a bit more charitably.
ReplyDeletePeople are devalued when they become mere sex objects; sex is devalued when it turns in to a sort of mutual masturbation rather than the procreative act of a married man and woman.
The hook-up culture is about using people, just as you point out, not loving them.
S. Ellis is correct as well, we should make a better case for the sanctity of life at all stages. We should also make an a better case to show that chastity outside marriage, and faithfulness within it, are keys to a healthier, fuller life.
Karen and Will, thank you for your comments.
ReplyDeleteI am a mental health professional and I can tell you firsthand that the problem of women who aceess counseling for such issues as depression is that the underlying cause is often unaddressed.
ReplyDeleteSeldom when women go for counseling will the following questions be asked:
#1. Have you ever been pregnant
#2 If yes, how have those pregnancies ended: miscarriage, abortion or live birth?
You can be certain that with over 50,000,000 (yes, that's fifty million) abortions having been done - in many cases multiple abortions for the same woman - there are many women running around being treated for every mental health problem EXCEPT the impact that the abortion has taken on their emotional well-being. Because most therapists are pro-abortion, they would never think to ask the question about how a woman's mental health might be connected to a prior abortion.
I find it funny that abortion is so widespread and seemingly so accepted in society, yet you will never hear a woman talking about her abortion(s). I am certain that guilt and shame are lurking behind the surface veneer.
Can anyone guess what the summative effect of all these abortions has had on individuals and society as a whole? Little you say? But let's not bring up such unpleasantries.
@S. Ellis,
ReplyDeleteSurely you're aware by now that (in the US at least) privately funded, non-profit pro-life crisis pregnancy centers outnumber abortion centers by about 3:1? This is all the more astonishing when you consider the huge profits that PPFA reports annually.
It is hardly that we do not focus on the difficulties of women facing crisis pregnancies; it is rather that all of our efforts in this area are completely ignored by the main stream media. It doesn't bleed, so it doesn't lead. Odds are that pro-choice journalists never even ask themselves, "Just how much do these pro-lifers do for women in crisis pregnancies?" because they already "know" that the answer is "none."
As for where we have to focus our pro-life campaigning efforts -- you stop short. We have to also end contraception and embryonic stem cell research. Contraception is the foundational act on which all sexual use of people stands.
@SteveT,
your examples demonstrate PERFECTLY the nature of sin: to take a person and make a thing out of him or her (and it remains sin even though those poor people did it to themselves).
Perhaps we should all make an effort to teach our children to respect themselves and others as they grow up and learn about life. Then the situation that Steve T describes wouldn't happen. Sorry - just a dream
ReplyDeleteArkanabar:
ReplyDeleteYou will note that my concern is not merely on pro-life support for those in the womb. Unfortunately, many pro-life advocates do all they can to protect life until birth while either ignoring or even opposing social institutions which provide care after birth. Many conservatives who are anti abortion are also anti-medicaid, are to some extent anti-welfare, and otherwise oppose government care programs which aid the poor in caring for their children after birth. Furthermore in my own state, Texas, pro-lifers are often also pro death penalty and often pro-war, which I believe undermines a broad pro-life stance.
My point, then, is simply that a consistent pro-life ethic will not simply focus on countering the work of abortion clinics. The circumstances in which women find themselves drawn towards abortion often involve exploitation, poverty, and other unfortunate social relationships; we should focus on the whole problem, rather than on one particular, undoubtedly tragic part.
Elle Magazine has just posted the most diabolical pro-abortion essay imaginable. It is sickening evil and absolutely shocking. go here: www.elle.com
ReplyDelete'And what tack is David Cameron taking?'
ReplyDeleteThe unborn and babies do not vote
Do you know where to find good information -- not SOLELY from a pro-life group -- linking abortion to breast cancer? I find it difficult to get people to consider something that comes from pro-life groups; they are suspicious that it is inflated or invented.
ReplyDeleteAnd on a similar subject, does anyone know if birth control pills have been linked to obesity? It is just a thought, but I wonder if pills that make your body think it is pregnant might also make it eat as if it is pregnant. For decades, if you know what I'm saying...
Well, I checked PubMed (a good public source for medical articles) and wasn't able to find many articles saying abortion increased risk of breast cancer. If there is a link, it is tenuous at best and not well studied. I think the link between breast cancer and the pill is stronger. This should be concerning since PP is also big on promoting contraception. Granted contraception and abortion are wrong even if they didn't have any negative health effects.
ReplyDeleteConvenience is something to consider more than personality when looking for a therapist. Although you of course want a therapist who is at ease to talk to and friendly, you should also take into consideration how many patients he or she sees, because this will determine the amount of time available to be spent on you. Also look at the location from his or her office to your home and consider a therapist who is willing to meet your specific needs.
ReplyDeleteirvine marriage counselor