Alabama rocked the news cycle with its near-total abortion ban signed by Gov. Kay Ivey last week, and to hear the mainstream media tell it, the law is human trafficking in disguise; it echoes communist-era Albania; and miscarriages will land women behind bars.
What none of these stories mention is the life-crippling abortion regret that thousands of women may be spared. As a woman who has experienced abortion, I’d like to share some insights about the impact that “choice” has had on me and millions of other women.
Abortion hurt me, and I am not alone.
According to afterabortion.org, women who aborted their pregnancies were 31% more likely to suffer health complications, visit doctors 80% more often than women who did not abort, and sought mental health care 180% more often.
The proliferation of after-abortion recovery programs, both faith-based and secular, speaks to the fact that women are suffering unanticipated after-effects of abortion for years, or even decades.
I had three abortions, and I’m not alone in this either. Statistics have shown that 45% of women who have an abortion will have had one or more prior abortions. Ten years ago, a woman named Irene Vilar wrote a book about her 15 abortions, and even some abortion supporters found themselves speechless.