Holy Spirit Catholic Church Fountain Valley

Years ago, I helped an unmarried friend through an abortion. It is something both of us will regret the rest of our days.

After the abortion, when she was returned to her room, I expected to find her relieved. She wasn't. She picked up her hospital gown and said, "Look Janie. The heartbeat is gone." I pretended not to notice, believing that I was doing her a favor. We had bought into the "glob of tissue" theory peddled by the abortion industry. If it were anything more, surely someone would have told us! Prior to her abortion, both of us saw something that looked like a heartbeat.

However, we now know that the baby's heart begins beating at just 18 days of life, so it was beating until his life was ended by that abortion. I would like to be able to tell you that after a brief moment of regret my friend went on with her life and never looked back. I can't. She has suffered severe emotional pain and chronic back problems, which doctors told her likely were the result of some deep psychological trauma.

It was years before we talked about her abortion again. Through tears she said, "Janie, if we knew then what we know now, I wouldn't have done it and you wouldn't have let me do it." Abortion often is presented as the end of the problem of an unwanted pregnancy. It isn't. Studies have shown that women with a history of abortion are at a significantly higher risk of experiencing clinical depression than women who give birth.

When a woman's body is preparing to deliver a child and that child suddenly is jerked from her, regardless of what she has been told, she instinctively knows that something is terribly wrong.

The so-called women's rights groups, who fight against informed consent laws that would ensure women have all the facts before they make those choices to abort, and psychologists - who dismiss the pain caused by abortion - deserve our consternation.

Adoption may not be a perfect end to an unwanted pregnancy, but it is a noble choice. It has to be a lot less painful for a woman than the knowledge that she is responsible for the death of her child, even though that decision often
is made in ignorance.