The effects of abortion ...

Some experience strong negative emotions after abortion. Sometimes this occurs within days and sometimes it happens after many years. This psychological response is known as Post-Abortion Syndrome (PAS). PAS is characterized by the chronic or delayed development of symptoms resulting from impacted emotional reaction to the perceived physical and emotional trauma of abortion. There are four basic components of PAS:

• Exposure to or participation in an abortion
• Uncontrolled negative re-experiencing of abortion event (i.e., flashbacks, nightmares, grief and anniversary reactions)
• Unsuccessful attempts to avoid or deny abortion recollections and emotional pain which result in reduced responsiveness with others and one's environment.
• Experiencing associated symptoms not present before the abortion, including guilt about surviving.

After an abortion, some deny the negative feelings. Denial is the refusal to acknowledge or accept an action or event in an effort to avoid the responsibility or consequences. According to Nancy Michels in Helping Women Recover from Abortion, it can take on many forms.

Occluded - no conscious awareness of the pain or loss

Phantom Pregnancy - believing and acting as though still pregnant, which produces physical symptoms of pregnancy

Obliteration - attempting to erase all memory of the pregnancy and abortion. Any feeling of depression is not associated with the abortion.

Periodic - blocking the abortion trauma only when reminded of its occurrence/existence

Compensatory - creating a distraction and new emotional attachments in efforts to express the anxiety of abortion without attributing the anxiety to the abortion directly

Segmented - acknowledges the abortion, but ignores the grieving and the emotional consequences. This is the most common form of denial.

Purposive - acknowledges the abortion and its associated emotional baggage, but to others, the emotions and grief of the experience are rejected and withheld.

Women and men psychologically process abortion experiences differently. The level and depth of people experiencing PAS varies. Some have no symptoms, while others experience significant difficulties.

Women

Several factors impact the likelihood of Post-Abortion Stress including: age, the abortion circumstances, the stage of pregnancy at which the abortion occurs, and religious beliefs. A few questions you can ask to assess the likelihood that you are experiencing PAS are:

Are you resentful and unforgiving toward anyone for their involvement in your abortion?

Have you felt a vague sort of emptiness leading to a deep sense of loss?

Do you conceal your abortion from certain people in your life?

When abortion is mentioned in public do you react physically (i.e., tightening your stomach, clenching your jaw, or holding your breath?)

If you do not have children, are you afraid you will never have them?

Some possible manifestations of PAS in women are:

Low Self-Esteem - You feel as if no one could ever really love you. If they knew what you had done they would not love you; neither can God forgive you. These feelings of inadequacies often lead to other destructive behaviors.

Promiscuity - You do not care about yourself and are willing to give yourself to anyone so that you can feel loved, if only for a moment. You believe that no one cares about you, so you continue to give yourself to different men hoping you will find one who will love you.

Drug and Alcohol Abuse - You want to escape the constant emptiness and pain so you abuse drugs or alcohol. This is the only way you can cope with reality.

Guilt - You have a strong sense of guilt because you are alive and your child is not. The guilt you feel manifests itself in low self-esteem and destructive behaviors.

Anger - You are angry at the people involved in your abortion or those that did not support you because that made you feel as if abortion was your only choice. You may still have a relationship with these people, but there is an emotional wall that you are unable to break through.

Depression - You have an overwhelming sense of sadness. Some women are unaware of the reason for their sadness, but they cannot escape it.

Suicidal Thoughts - There is a sense of hopelessness that you feel will only go away through death. Things that made you happy at one time, no longer do. You can find nothing that makes you happy for any extended time.

Sexual Dysfunction - You no longer have an interest in sex. Some women begin to view sex as a necessary evil. You do not like it, but have sex to satisfy your partner's desire, which can lead to feelings of resentment.

Men

A man may suffer from PAS if he wanted the child, but the mother overruled his wishes. Some men may feel emasculated because their innate characteristic of protector has been violated. According to Fatherhood Aborted, men suffering from PAS may experience any of the following relationship difficulties:

Difficulty with Commitment - You recognize what's important and what deserves commitment, but commitment means someone is going to count on you if you step forward and offer yourself, and this makes you uncomfortable. Or you may become enthusiastic and make a commitment, only to get cold feet.

Dodge Authority - Many postabortive men hate being held accountable to someone else's standard. They seem to hold special contempt for anyone who might contradict or correct them.

Have No Solid Sense of Identity - Long after other men have settled into their identity, you may still experience a deep unsettledness in your personality or in your life's direction. Sometimes you feel like a chameleon, shifting identities to suit the crowd you're with. You dream about unrealized possibilities. Or you rationalize present sad realities and disappointments, often blaming others.

Work to Impress Moral Leaders - …men who have taken part in abortion can feel that they've been branded as moral failures - almost as lesser forms of life. This can lead you into a host of religious hypocrisies such as legalism or spouting party lines - not because you believe those lines but because you're "supposed" to. Feeling like moral failures creates religious workaholics. What matters to you is that the spiritual leader thinks you're one of the most upright, decent guys he knows. [But you think], you don't deserve any praise.

Keep Women at Bay - Many postabortive men harbor a deep-down conviction that they don't deserve the company of a "good" woman. As a result, they instinctively keep their distance from women who have it together. Some guys gravitate to women who are needy. If a postabortive man marries a more healthy, stable, capable woman, he may maintain an emotional barrier to keep her out of certain rooms in his soul.

Have Trouble Bonding - We all need bonds of trust, affection, honesty, and shared values… in order to grow as whole people. You may give off confusing signals - sometimes letting others feel that you want them close, then suddenly growing cool in a way that tells them to back off. This leaves you distant and ineffective in the lives of people you truly love.

Fear Impending Tragedy - … many men who carry the shame and guilt of abortion live under the nagging fear that something terrible is about to fall upon them. Judgment day, in one form or another, is near. As a result, postabortive men tend to live in a constant, subliminal state of anxiety. For some this leads to chronic, mild depression.

Don't Own Your Mistakes - When you're carrying guilt, you wonder how you could handle any more. So you've become a master at finding ways to off-load your faults on everyone else. It's not that you failed to get the project done on deadline - the client wanted too much. All the while, your life is marked by struggle, unhappiness, and lack of fulfillment. By blaming other people, you've given up the inner peace and power that result from taking personal responsibility.

Feel Inadequate as a Leader - As a postabortive man, you may experience a sense of powerlessness over evil and wrongdoing. An unclear conscience closes the door to vision and interrupts your ability to complete tasks that are before you. You may imagine that you can never gain a place of moral leadership again, because to stand for what's good and right now would only make you a hypocrite.

In addition to these struggles, men suffering from PAS may also exhibit these characteristics:

Relationship Struggles - Things may go great at first - then you hit a snag. Quite likely, it's the same issue that derails the relationship with the woman in your life every time.

Inability to Trust Friends - Your critical eye spots their flaws in a heartbeat, and you can find a list of reasons not to seek or trust their advice. You may push friends away because, in some way, they let you down just about every time. Or, on the other hand, they may be too friendly and then discover your secret.

Rage - In fact, you don't have to be an explosive tyrant for rage to control you. You may be Mister Nice Guy most of the time - just as surprised by your sudden nuclear attacks as the people you crush.

Addictions - You don't master the crummy parts of reality, you mostly escape them. Alcohol, drugs… these are ways you avoid facing the fears and deficits you meet in yourself when life slams you into its tougher realities.

Sexual Compulsions - Many postabortive men find themselves trapped in patterns that make them feel degraded. They may become involved in an illicit relationship, which they later have to betray… and then quickly move on. Or they may compartmentalize their promiscuity, indulging in pornography or "renting sex" only when they're out of town on business. These compulsions make them feel reduced, like weak and silly adolescents.

Socioeconomic Consequences

As a result of our shrinking numbers, we are beginning to lose ground that was diligently fought for and obtained by our predecessors. Now politicians are no longer courting our vote. This loss of political influence will eventually affect our socioeconomics.