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Cause and Effect

April 14th, 2007

Just had Anderson Cooper on, covering something called “Post-Abortion Syndrome.” The idea is that women feel something similar to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder due to the experience of abortion. The existence of such a disorder is denied by both the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association.

Naturally, I cannot speak towards the existence or non-existence of such a disorder. Many women say they do feel traumatized, and it is difficult to claim that they did not feel trauma. However, here’s an alternate explanation: what is causing the trauma is not the abortion itself, but the barrage of accusation and guilt aimed at them by the religion the believe in.

If I believe in a religion that preaches just as vehemently that drinking Coca-Cola is a horrendous sin, and I drank Coke, I would probably feel traumatized by the experience. That would not mean that drinking Coke itself is traumatic, however.

This is not to trivialize the process of abortion or the effects it may have. But it would be foolish not to explore that side of the issue. After all, it would not be the first time that religion traumatized people as a result of making a “moral” point.

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  1. K. Engels
    April 14th, 2007 at 14:51 | #1

    Are we talking cane sugar Coca-Cola or high fructose corn syrup Coca-Cola? Cause if it’s the corn syrup kind you’re talking about, drinking that is highly traumatic.

  2. Tim Kane
    April 14th, 2007 at 19:50 | #2

    I am not surprised that abortions produce post traumatic syndrome. What maybe missing is the pre-traum stress. The anti-abortionist want to portray abortion as if its is something done as a form of birth control by serial abortionist. That could hardly be the truth.

    The nations with the lowest abortion rates, are also nations where it is largely free, and largely available: Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The rates are low because those nations engage in a whole host of preventitive measures, from fact based sex education from an early age, availability of various sound birth control techniques, and day care and other maternity support so that the decision to have a child is not overly burdonsome.

    No women grows up wishing to have abortions. It’s a surgical proceedure. Nobody wants that. The decision has to be hellacious. Maybe Anderson Cooper could talk about that. Why not compare the decision making process a working class women has to make in the United States and in the Netherlands? Why not show the starkness and the paucity the decisions involved? The traumatic stress starts long before the abortion. Maybe they have grinding work that barely cover’s their needs. Maybe they have an abusive boy friend or husband. Abusive husbands like to tie down their wives with pregnancy and child rearing (its all about power): I’ve seen men do it, and I’ve seen their wives sneek out and get abortions.

    Why don’t they show the wisdom of preventative measures demonstrated in Holland and Germany and Belgium? Why?

    No surprised

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