Child Abuse and Abortion
By ensuring that unwanted pregnancies ended in abortion, legal abortion was supposed to reduce certain social ills that resulted from neglectful parenthood, such as child abuse.
- Child abuse rates have risen steadily over recent years and several studies indicate a possible link with abortion.
- It has been found that unwanted children are not more often abused than wanted children.
- A mother who aborted may feel depression, anxiety and guilt during a subsequent pregnancy, interrupting in utero maternal/baby bonding.
- There may be lack of partner support as the father is not sure if the woman will continue with the pregnancy.
- 80% of relationships break up after abortion and the woman may have difficulty bonding in subsequent relationships.
- A great many unwanted children become greatly 'wanted' after birth.
The National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) in America, predicted:
"A policy that makes contraception and abortion freely available, will greatly reduce the number of unwanted children, and thereby curb the tragic rise of child abuse in our country. Legal abortion will decrease the number of unwanted children, battered children, child abuse cases, and possibly subsequent delinquency, drug addiction, and a host of social ills, believed to be associated with neglectful parenthood." (A Speaker and Debater's Notebook, June 1978)
In the first 10 years after abortion was legalised in America however, child abuse increased by over 500 percent.
As in America, reported child abuse cases in New Zealand have been steadily increasing every year. Public awareness campaigns have helped increase reports to child-welfare agencies. Overall, the number of cases is climbing.
Several academic studies indicate a link between abortion and subsequent child abuse.
Women who have had previous pregnancy losses, were more likely to abuse or neglect their children.
"We also found that women not supported by their partners, are more likely to miscarry or terminate a pregnancy. Lack of support by husbands and lack of breast-feeding also appear to contribute to abuse and neglect. It is possible that husbands are less supportive, because they fear that their infants might be aborted and they are powerless to stop it."Comparative studies on child abuse rates
"Some authorities (Calef. 1972: Denis, 1976: Greenland, 1973) have contended that every child should be a wanted child. Because of a belief that unwanted children are morel likely to be abused and neglected.""The thought was that elective abortion of unwanted children would help prevent child mistreatment. Now that western society provides effective contraceptives and abortion on request, nearly every child is 'wanted'."
"Remarkably few studies have been found that compare the incidence of child abuse and neglect today to earlier periods. However, there appears to be some dispute as to whether or not there is an increase in the incidence of mistreatment, or an improvement in reporting. It seems to be that the former is the case."
One week after Donna Fleming's second abortion she heard "voices" in her head and tried to kill herself and her two sons by jumping off a bridge in Long Beach, California.
The tension between the need to hide a trauma and the need to expose it, is at the heart of many of the psychological symptoms of post-abortion trauma. Symbolic re-enactment is one of the ways that the subconscious seeks to simultaneously satisfy both of these needs: the need to expose trauma and the need to hide it.Re-enactment - where a person subconsciously seeks to go through a traumatic situtation again - allows the person to expose the trauma with the hope that its exposure will eventually lead to understanding and mastery over the trauma. At the same time, because the trauma is re-enacted behind a symbolic mask, the essence of the trauma is still concealed and protected. Re-enactment allows the person to call for help, while disguising the areas that need help.
Maternal instincts can be affected
According to Ney there is a complex relationship between abortions and child abuse:"It is possible that the mother who has had an abortion is more anxious during the pregnancy and more depressed afterwards. She is less able to bond with her next child."
"It is possible that the abortion alters the mother's innate response to the infant's cry. Abortion may make it difficult for the mother to touch the baby, lessening the chances of breast-feeding and a healthy child. A less nourished child will cry more often and more pathetically, making the mother more anxious and/or irritable in her response to her infant's needs."Women who were sexually abused as children, are more likely to seek abortions.A comprehensive 1963 study on the effects of denied abortion on resulting children, followed 249 children of Swedish women denied abortions for seven to ten years. The study found that 73% of these women were satisfied with the way things turned out, and 12% had given their children up for adoption.
Dr Joseph Lidz of Planned Parenthood commented at a conference on abortion in 1955:
"There are a great many originally unwanted children in this world, who have become very deeply wanted after birth, and I don't think this is simply reaction formation. There are women who do not realize how gratifying it can be to mother a baby until they actually have it in their arms, and maternal feelings are aroused by the tangible situation." (quoted by Mary Calderone, M.D., medical director of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, editor of 'Abortion in the United States: proceedings of 1955 conference on induced abortion'.)