The following is a guest post from Adrianne Redding. Adrianne is currently studying Political Science at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas.
Conservatives, especially pro-life conservatives, are often viewed by the media, and perhaps the general public, as hard-nosed, insensitive, and downright cold. Many people think that all pro-lifers are concerned about is a “blob of tissue,” and don’t even look at the troubled girl or woman right in front of them.
But the reason we—especially we female pro-lifers—are against abortion is not just because of the consequences to the child in the womb, but also the consequences the young woman will have to face afterward.
Studies show that women who have abortions go through psychological distress, depression, anxiety, and regret. A 2010 study from Denmark claimed that there was no rise in mental health problems among post-abortive women, but several research experts have found serious flaws in the study’s selection and definition process.
Women that used to work in abortion facilities have confided that one wrong move with the surgical utensils sometimes easily turns a “simple, safe abortion” into a life-or-death situation for the girl on the table. Also, women that have had abortions tend to find it more difficult to conceive later in life.
The pro-life people, often women, who stand outside of abortion facilities to talk to girls and pray are not cold-hearted people at all. They care about the girls just as much as they care about the baby inside them—and often because these pro-lifers were in the same situation as the scared, worried girl considering abortion years ago. Some of these women chose to abort their children, and now carry deep regret.
These pro-lifers are compassionate, caring people that want to help a girl in a tough spot, often because no one was there to help them.
