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dcheryl51@yahoo.com
SPANISH???? Ayuda Postaborto If you or someone you know is hurting from a past abortion, please know there is hope and healing available. Here is a poem by my online friend---- Inside me you lived, Life was a gift Talking to you, Now you are living The Angel up there, I'll see you one day, The pain I remember, In Memory of Aaron Joseph Poem by Kathy--after her abortion experience-- A child is crying, no one hears.
Links for Post-Abortion Help:
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Archives from Post Abortion Healing Support Stories and Poems about Abortion What is Post-Abortion Syndrome?--------------------------------------------------------------------- Post-Abortion Syndrome (PAS) is a form of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD). PTSD is the result of having suffered an event so stressful and so traumatic that the person is taken beyond his/her ability to cope in a normal manner. Victims of PTSD are unable to simply resume their lives where they left off before the traumatic event. Instead they experience a variety of reactions that do not go away merely with the passage of time. Although the symptoms of PTSD (and PAS) are varied, and although they may not surface for years after the trauma, they are nonetheless real and should be dealt with. Although abortion is legal in the United States (and other countries), the events leading up to and including the abortion itself are often of such a traumatic nature that PTSD is often the result. Following are some of the symptoms of Post-Abortion Syndrome: •Depression and Thoughts of Suicide If three or more of the symptoms listed above describe what you have recently experienced in relation to an abortion, it is likely that you are experiencing Post-Abortion Syndrome. For more information see "Help for the Post-abortion Woman" by Teri Reisser, M.S., and Paul Reisser, M.D.
POST-ABORTION TRAUMA... CAN YOU RELATE?-------------------------------------------------------------------------- No term can adequately express the heartbreak that abortion causes, but for the purposes of identification we will call it Post-Abortion Trauma. Common feelings associated with Post-Abortion Trauma include guilt, grief, anger and regret. These feelings frequently manifest themselves through anti-social, self-destructive, and other abnormal behaviors. Many who suffer from Post-Abortion Trauma experience flashbacks, nightmares, and varying degrees of depression. Another aspect of Post-Abortion Trauma is that it doesn't always hit right away. Because the reality of abortion has a way of catching up with everyone, Post-Abortion Trauma acts like an emotional time-bomb waiting to go off in an individual's life. It can go off anywhere and at any time...it knows no statute of limitations. We know that many people who say they have no regrets speak prematurely. Amy's own words best convey her eventual change of heart. “For the first six years after my abortion I could have taken a pro-choice sign and marched with it, if I was a more vocal, public person...Finally I became aware of what abortion as a 'procedure' does to both people. I saw the studies on fetal development and reality set in. At first I was angry at not being told, I couldn't figure why I had to ask to be informed... So now, seven years later... I know my life will go on, but I will never be able to forget what I selfishly did to my own child." When the emotional time bomb does go off, it can be a cold, frightening, and lonely experience. For many individuals, their pain surfaces with an incredible need to talk about their feelings and share their stories, hurts, and sorrows. It is at this time many recognize they need help and seek out someone to confide in...a trusted friend, counselor, or someone with a common experience. Others suffer silently, afraid to confess their involvement with abortion to anyone for fear of being judged, shunned, or rejected. If we can help you, please contact us or any of the links listed. We care... From Healing Hearts Ministries, P.O. Box 7890, Bonney Lake, WA 98390 ______________________________________________________________________ Article by Jilly on www.afterabortion.com First of all, I want to dispel the myth that 'Post Abortion Stress Syndrome' does not exist. Some people say "It is a myth made up by pro-lifers, in an attempt to scare women, and to help in their fight to make abortion illegal". FALSE! Of course, any woman who's experienced Post Abortion Stress Syndrome doesn't need me or anyone else to convice them it's real. We know, from what we have felt! Here's the Webster's Dictionary definition of a "syndrome" Main Entry: syn drome Women who have experienced it will tell you it is real. Much of the mainstream world still does not acknowledge its existence. However, let's remember that abortion has only been legal and widely practiced for twenty-some years. There is no long history of how women react to abortion, for people to really know. As recently as fifty years ago, intelligent, educated and experienced professional mental health clinicians were teaching that schizophrenia was caused by poor parenting. Usually they blamed mothers! Today, we know that schizophrenia is caused by a brain chemical disorder, and daily we are discovering that some of the other mental health problems that have been blamed on "bad parenting" are also caused by aberrant brain chemical reactions or other physiological problems. At one time, people with clinical depression were only said to have "poor coping skills"! Now today depression as well as other mental illnesses are treated successfully with medication. Note that I am NOT equating Post Abortion Stress Syndrome with these illnesses, or saying that it is caused by a brain chemical disorder, I am just saying that one day researchers and doctors tell you that a certain illness is 'just in people's mind's' then later they change their tune, and say "Well, we were wrong, it is an illness, after all". So I say stay tuned for more future news about PASS. It should be noted that the doctors/researchers of the day were going by what was 'commonly accepted' at the time. However, we will probably never know how many family and individual lives have been damaged (even ruined) by assumptive diagnoses that blamed people for things that were actual illnesses. So I want people to know that just because mainstream society or doctors may not 'recognize' Post Abortion Stress Syndrome, this does not mean it isn't real. Scientists are people who make judgements based on what they see and as a result of tests conducted. If they drop a glass of milk 100 times and it spills out to the left every time, then they are convinced that when you spill a glass of milk, it will "always" spill to the left. That is, until someone spills one to the right. Then all kinds of controversy breaks out, chaos rules, what they "know" to be real has been changed, and some change their mind about the way milk spills. Still others do not believe the findings of the "Right Spill" experiment. And on and on the scientists will go. Scientists at one time said that: It was impossible to break the sound barrier. They also said it was impossible for a man to walk on the moon. They also said at one time, that the world was flat. They also said cloning of complex animals was impossible. They laughed at the idea that mold could somehow kill bacteria-until Penicillin. Let me tell you a little more on my opinion on "studies and research' in general. As you probably know, the way they are conducted is that subjects get a phone call or postcard, and if they CHOOSE to respond, their opinion on how well they assimilated the experience. And when I was called for one such study, a few years ago, I said "NO!!", because it was an upsetting topic to me, and I did not want to think or discuss it at all. Even getting that phone call gave me stomachaches for a week afterwards! I was in no way ready to deal with my feelings surrounding abortion yet. Also women who are in psych hospitals (usually temporarily) because of their abortions, or regular hospitals, or ones who have left their partner, you won't find those women either to participate in the surveys. On the same subject, you wouldn't believe how many women tell me they lie to their doctors, their families, and their psychiatrists, saying either they 'never had an abortion', or saying 'they had a miscarriage'. The actual amount of women who tell the truth is apparently very small. Shoot, I had five abortions, and I never told any of my doctors until after the fifth one! So you only get the responses of women who are "doing good" and "feel good with their decision", or you get the ones who are still in denial about their feelings, and will say vehemently that it was a wonderful thing. There are some women who have an abortion, and for them it works exactly as it's 'supposed' to, and they never have regrets, or complications, or any other problems, and for them it was a good thing. That's fine. But for many more, their abortion was a coerced experience, forced by parents, forced by partners, forced by circumstances or finances, and these women usually have many more problems with PASS afterwards. The REAL studies are not being done, the REAL numbers are not known. That's why I started my site --Post Abortion Stress Syndrome Research Page--listed on left column-- (http://www.afterabortion.com) because I couldn't believe that I was the only one feeling the way I did- and all that research and APA proclamations sounded so directly contrary to what I had experienced in my own life! (from Jilly's page with her permission.) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This webpage updated on January 22, 2003. If you would like a free copy of the booklet "How to Survive Your Abortion-- A Guide to Rebuilding Your Life", please email me at dcheryl51@yahoo.com Remember, there is hope, help and healing available for you. Just ask. 
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