Post-Abortive Women Suffer Physically and Spiritually, According to a New Study

A new study published by the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons reveals that post-abortion ministries are seeing their efforts bear spiritual fruit in the lives and hearts of hurting women.

A little over a year ago, I heard Frederica Mathewes-Green explain how many women who get an abortion do so because they were encouraged by other people in their life to get it. A new baby would inconvenience the people around the woman. In fact, according to Green, many of the post-abortive women that she’s interviewed and counseled over the years confessed that if someone, anyone, had said, “I’ll help you raise the baby,” they wouldn’t have had an abortion. In other words, and regardless of Planned Parenthood’s marketing and branding efforts, for many women, abortion wasn’t really their choice.

Mathewes-Green’s words rang in my ears as I read the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons study titled, “Women Who Suffered Emotionally from Abortion: A Qualitative Synthesis of Their Experience.” The study’s abstract states:

Women’s adjustment to life after abortion involves numerous factors interacting in complex ways, and qualitative studies are uniquely suited to enhance our understanding of the breadth and depth of individuals’ experiences. Respondents to a survey of women who had contacted crisis pregnancy centers for post-abortion care were asked to describe the most significant positive and negative aspects of their abortion histories in an online anonymous survey. …  A thematic analysis showed that commonly voiced positives included spiritual growth, involvement in pro-life efforts, and reaching out to other women who were considering the procedure or had obtained an abortion. Negatives included deep feelings of loss, existential concerns, and declines in quality of life. More specifically, common negatives included feelings about termination of a life, regret, shame, guilt, depression, anxiety, compromised self-appraisals, and self-destructive behaviors.

Pro-life crisis pregnancy centers are facing attacks from pro-abortion advocates. The U.S. Supreme Court is considering the constitutionality of a California law that requires pro-life centers to provide information and contact information about abortion clinics. This newly published study is a reminder that the case before the Supreme Court isn’t just a legal fight but is also a spiritual battle.

God is using crisis pregnancy centers to help hurting women who’ve been abused by the abortion industry heal not only physically but spiritually, too. Progressives would love to see women continue to spiral into physical and spiritual defeat. The study reveals the tragic consequences that post-abortive women suffer:

For many women, the abortion experience became a pivotal point in their lives, impacting their self-image, their personality, and their connectivity to others. Specific commonly experienced negatives included living with having ended a life, regret, shame, guilt, depression, anxiety, negative self-appraisals, and self-destructive behaviors. … The vast majority of women did not cite only one or two negative outcomes, but instead described a complex constellation of adverse consequences, often centered on the life lost. Many women wrote about pressure from others and feeling as if they had no choice at the time.

As noted above, many post-abortive women have found healing through the forgiveness offered through repentance of sin and faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. As one participant wrote, “The one positive is that [my abortion] has brought me to my end and brought me to my knees before God. He has drawn me to him through His endless forgiveness, mercy, and grace. I think He could have shown me those same things had I chosen another path, but this is how I came to Him, not as a Christian, because I already was one, but as one who really knows Him now.”