Abortion

+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
13 Apr 2008

Sometimes light begins to shine into corners where there has been darkness for a long time, perhaps generations.  Today in Australia the public is being offered much more information on the causes, side-effects and consequences of abortion.

Surveys have brought us more information on the role of fathers, on the reluctance of most mothers who abort, and the almost contradictory views of the majority, who simultaneously support the right of a woman to abortion but are deeply uneasy about the extent of the practice.

Pregnancy is not a disease or illness, but a natural event.  A women’s body is programmed to nurture and sustain life and her whole psychology changes with her body during the nine months of pregnancy.

She can feel drawn in different directions, marveling at the mystery of new life but overwhelmed by the prospect of so much responsibility; worried by concerns about health or finance but excited by the prospect of a new human being to be loved.

Abortion is another matter altogether, when a mother is violently disconnected from her child.  This is a genuine trauma, an unnatural death event, where the mother has often violated her natural instincts as well as her moral sense.

Occasionally we hear of tragic situations where a father is unable to stop the abortion of his child by the mother.  This is rare as the boot is often on the other foot.

Statistics indicate that there is a high level of coercion driving women into unwanted abortions and that the male partner plays a central role in 95% of all abortion decisions.  The July 2005 Post Abortion Review of the Elliott Institute in U.S.A. claimed that 80% of women would give birth if given support.

An abortion clinic security guard testified that women were threatened or abused by the men who took them to the clinic and in the U.S.A. murder is the number one cause of death among pregnant women.

In the past the psychological and spiritual agony experienced after abortion by many mothers was ignored by the media, denied by the mental health professionals and scorned by the women’s movement.

Women were told that abortion would bring them relief, but often found only depression and grief, whose causes they did not recognize.  Often the woman’s loss is secret, preventing help from family and friends and, in any case, society generally does not want to know.

For some years now there has been evidence published in top level journals, such as the British Medical Journal, about post-abortion traumas in the U.S.A., Britain and Finland.  This complements the research from Professor Fergusson in New Zealand about increased suicide risks, more depressive psychoses, nightmares, flashbacks and emotional numbness.

In 1989 a panel from the American Psychological Association concluded unanimously that legal abortion “does not create psychological hazards for most women undergoing the procedure”.

Such a claim is no longer valid.