As at-home abortions rise, will women see the humanity of the babies they’ve killed? by JONATHON VAN MAREN for Life Site News
At an abortion facility, those carrying out the procedure never permit women to actually see the baby they have aborted. But women aborting by themselves at home will see.
A new study by Dr. Katherine A. Rafferty of Iowa State University and Tessa Longbons from the Charlotte Lozier Institute titled “#AbortionChangesYou: A Case Study to Understand the Communicative Tensions in Women’s Medication Abortion Narratives” was published in the journal Health Communications on June 1, 2020. With medication abortions on the rise, women are increasingly using RU-486 to abort at home, leading to more complications and an increase in emergency room visits.
According to one summary of the study, at-home abortions are having an impact on the emotional health and well-being of those utilizing this abortion method. In an analysis of 98 blog posts from women who aborted their babies using medication between October 2007 and February 2018, the study’s authors found that 83% of women reported that their medication abortion had changed them. According to the article:
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Each site of struggle characterized a different noteworthy moment within a woman’s medication abortion experience: the decision, the medication abortion process, identity after the abortion, and managing the stigmatizing silence before and after the abortion.
One factor contributing to the trauma of women who aborted on their own was the fact that they were pressured to have abortions. Ffity-three percent of women reported that either the father of the baby or a family member pushed abortion on them, exposing once again the farcical nature of the “choice” that many women face. Several stated that they were unaware that they had choices other than abortion until it was too late. In their own words:
“I remember my husband telling me, ‘well don’t expect me to be too happy with the idea of having it if you decide to keep it. I won’t be too loving.’ That was a knife through my heart and I made the tough decision to go through with the abortion.”
“They all tell you ‘it’s your choice’ in the moment, but you don’t feel that it is. Being unable to afford it, unable to tell you loved ones, not having the help or feeling unable to support a child. When your partner doesn’t want it like you do. All these things push you, blind you to a decision that you don’t realize will destroy you.”
“I was kind of excited but I was so scared to tell my family. I told my mom and her first response was I hope you’re getting an abortion. You’re going to be a terrible mom.”
