This iReport is part of an assignment:
Have you had an abortion?
About this iReport
- Posted February 9, 2013 by
- Berniemarie Follow
Location
Plainfield, Indiana
Plainfield, Indiana
Assignment
 |
Oh me of little faith
Coming from a large catholic family, I knew what I was doing was wrong. There was no excuses but there were reasons. I was divorced with 2 sons, and was told by a doctor that I would have trouble carrying the baby full term. I was afraid to ask my family for help so I chose to have an abortion and I really thought that would fix everything, but it made things worst. I lost my self respect, my faith, and tried to bury it for over 20 years, by any means possible. Today after all these years I have forgiven myself with the help of Rachel's Vineyard Retreats. I now help others that have gone through an abortion and share my journey with them to try to help them cope with their choice. We talk about our children in sweet thoughts of what they might have been and how they might have looked, but that also is painful. We call it sweet pain for that reason.
My life is forever changed because of my decision to have the abortion. My lack of faith that my sons and I could get through it and that my large family would love me and help me. I have since come to terms with it and process each day as it comes, yet there are days, like Christmas, family baptisms, the anniversary of the abortion, that after all these years still tears me apart. I am doing my best to tell the truth about abortion and the price a woman will pay.
Dr. Julius Fogel, a well known, obstetrician-gynecologist and a psychiatrist, who also performed 20,000 abortions, recognized the trauma. . In an interview, done for the Washington Post, Dr. Fogel said, “Often the trauma may sink into the unconscious and never surface in the woman’s lifetime ... [But] a psychological price is paid. I can’t say exactly what. It may be alienation; it may be a pushing away from human warmth, perhaps a hardening of the maternal instinct. Something happens on the deeper levels of a woman’s consciousness when she destroys a pregnancy. I know that as a psychiatrist” (McCarthy, 1989). This interview was done on February 5, 1989, for the Washington Post by M. Coleman on page F2. That interview done in 1989, is still relevant today, something does happen on a deeper level and I know it.
My life is forever changed because of my decision to have the abortion. My lack of faith that my sons and I could get through it and that my large family would love me and help me. I have since come to terms with it and process each day as it comes, yet there are days, like Christmas, family baptisms, the anniversary of the abortion, that after all these years still tears me apart. I am doing my best to tell the truth about abortion and the price a woman will pay.
Dr. Julius Fogel, a well known, obstetrician-gynecologist and a psychiatrist, who also performed 20,000 abortions, recognized the trauma. . In an interview, done for the Washington Post, Dr. Fogel said, “Often the trauma may sink into the unconscious and never surface in the woman’s lifetime ... [But] a psychological price is paid. I can’t say exactly what. It may be alienation; it may be a pushing away from human warmth, perhaps a hardening of the maternal instinct. Something happens on the deeper levels of a woman’s consciousness when she destroys a pregnancy. I know that as a psychiatrist” (McCarthy, 1989). This interview was done on February 5, 1989, for the Washington Post by M. Coleman on page F2. That interview done in 1989, is still relevant today, something does happen on a deeper level and I know it.
- TAGS:
- GROUPS:
What do you think of this story?
Select one of the options below. Your feedback will help tell CNN producers what to do with this iReport. If you'd like, you can explain your choice in the comments below.
Be and editor! Choose an option below:
iReport welcomes a lively discussion, so comments on iReports are not pre-screened before they post. See the iReport community guidelines for details about content that is not welcome on iReport.
© 2013 Cable News Network. 
Comments