In a cover story timed with the Roe anniversary, the New York Times Magazine asks, "Is Post-Abortion Syndrome Real?" The answer, supported by an overwhelming body of evidence, is NO, and the article does a good job laying out the research.

By and large, this is another article (echoing the one that appeared in The American Prospect in the wake of the South Dakota abortion ban) about people like Leslee Unruh who want all anti-choicers to frame the issue David Reardon-style: "abortion hurts women." Because even though most antis are opposed to choice because they value fetuses over adult women, the "abortion kills babies" argument just doesn't sell very well.

And here's the thing with these "abortion hurts women" people who don't focus on fetal rights. Even Reardon's own biased and baseless "research" shows that not all women are traumatized or harmed by their abortions. So it's safe to assume that there are some women would have been traumatized by the reverse -- being forced to carry those pregnancies to term. If we acknowledge that women's reactions to unplanned pregnancy and abortion can vary greatly, isn't informed choice what's best for women? And I don't mean "informed" by the lies spewed by most crisis-pregnancy centers. But informed by the kind of personal counseling practiced by Peg Johnston and many other abortion providers.

While abortion-rights advocates frame abortion as a woman’s legal right, the November Gang providers tend to think in terms of a woman’s responsibility to decide when and whether to bring life into the world. And instead of telling women who grieve over their abortions to look elsewhere for the source of their distress, they try to use the moment as a catalyst. Sometimes an abortion “pops open the box where old anxieties have been kept,� Torre-Bueno says. “It’s an opportunity to revisit past traumas like child abuse, or to face them for the first time.� This doesn’t mean that the abortion was a mistake, or that other circumstances — the unresolved past, a loutish boyfriend, money problems — aren’t the real trouble, Torre-Bueno reasons. But women sometimes need help sorting this out.

That sounds ideal. The problem is, with the financial and political strain placed on abortion providers by anti-choice groups and legislators, there isn't much cash lying around to hire extra staff to do more than routine intakes for abortion procedures. Ask almost any clinic -- they're understaffed, and often have trouble just keeping the place running. It's financially untenable for every abortion provider to offer that sort of counseling. Which is truly depressing.

There's a part of me that sometimes resents how statistics are bandied about when it comes to abortion -- mostly by the antis, but by pro-choicers, too. Sure, it's important to publicize that over 75% of women who have abortions say their foremost feeling is one of relief. And to examine statistically the reasons women say they choose the procedure in the first place. But one of the main reasons I'm pro-choice is that I believe there is no "typical" situation. Every woman chooses abortion for different, complex reasons and reacts to the experience in different, complex ways. Somehow, making this an argument about how "most women react" doesn't quite dignify the personal nature of the experience. And that's why I'm rooting for the idealists, the Peg Johnstons and Ava Torre-Buenos of the movement. Even though the political pragmatist in me will continue to cite statistics about how the vast majority of women are helped, not harmed, by abortion access.

3 Comments

January 22, 2007 3:06 PM

[0+|0-]  anorak said:

Ann, this is such a well-written piece.
Thanks for summing up so eloquently my own feelings on this complex matter.
And as a non-U.S.er, may I wish y'all congratulations on your Roe vs.Wade anniversary.
Many safe, compassionate returns of the day!

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January 22, 2007 3:18 PM

[0+|0-]  Shai said:

i particularly appreciated this exerpt from the article about a woman who does post-abortion counceling in prisons.

"After what she describes as a revelation from God, she decided that her own pain and unhappiness were rooted in the abortion she had in 1973, when she was 19."

Revelation from God? If so, good for you, but don't go around assuming everyone else is also traveling down your shame and guilt spiral.

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January 22, 2007 5:52 PM

[0+|0-]  plenilune said:

i thoroughly enjoyed reading such a well-written article.

abortion is never any easy choice and no two women are going to react the same way afterwards. i'm sorry that arias had such a bad early life, but you have to come to terms with the decisions you made and the matters that were not within your control. when you dwell in the past and continually punish yourself for it, you can't live fully in the present.

as something of an aside, did anyone else catch the paragraph about her teenage daughter getting pregnant:

Arias taught her daughters about saving themselves for marriage but not about contraception. “Abstinence works better than birth control, really,� she said. “It’s just that people don’t do it.�

I couldn't have said it better myself. All-around just loved this piece!

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