"Hope After Abortion"

From the website of 'Project Rachel', serving women who are victims of an abortion:

Understanding Abortion's Aftermath

It's normal to grieve a pregnancy loss, including the loss of a child by abortion. It can form a hole in one's heart, a hole so deep that sometimes it seems nothing can fill the emptiness.

Since 1973, there have been more than 36 million abortions in the United States. While some women report relatively little trauma following abortion, for many, the experience is devastating, causing severe and long-lasting emotional, psychological and spiritual trauma.

Evidence of post-abortion trauma is increasingly attested to by psychologists, counselors and those involved in post-abortion ministry. We now know, for example, that women hurt by abortion may have some or many of the following symptoms:

* Low self-esteem
* Grief (mild to profound)
* Depression (sometimes to the point of suicidal thoughts and attempts)
* A sense of alienation from family and friends
* A feeling of being 'numb,' not able to feel joy from activities that used to be pleasurable
* Isolating self from others to avoid discussing the abortion experience with them
* Guilt and shame
* Difficulty concentrating
* Anger toward self, or the child's father, or others involved in the abortion decision
* Sleep disorders
* Abortion-related nightmares, flashbacks or even sounds of a baby crying
* Alcohol and drug problems, to dull the sorrow
* Desire for a 'replacement' baby
* Anniversary reactions of grief or depression on the date of the abortion or the baby's expected due date
* Problems bonding with her other children (being over-protective but emotionally distant)
* Fear that God will punish her, or is punishing her

Some, especially young girls, experience symptoms soon after the abortion. Counselors tell us, however, that it is more common for the symptoms to occur over the course of five to twelve years after the abortion before a woman seeks help.

In Ramah is heard the sound of moaning,
of bitter weeping!
Rachel mourns her children,
she refuses to be consoled
because her children are no more.

Thus says the LORD:
Cease your cries of mourning,
wipe the tears from your eyes.
The sorrow you have shown shall have its reward...
There is hope for your future.

Jeremiah 31:15-1