Reclaiming Our Children: A Blog About Healing After Abortion

Unfortunately, to spite what people want to believe, I think there are many Emma’s.  The denial of the impact of abortion contributes to the feeling of being all alone and leads to despair. Combined with the abandonment of those who hoped loved and supported you, the desolation can be unbearable. That is why it is so important to have post abortion ministries and groups visible..so  people know there is help, they do not have to grieve alone, and there is healing.
I wish Emma had reached out to a post abortion group or counselor who understood so she could begin her road to hope and healing. May our God of Mercy who understands all things embrace her…

by
    Steven Ertelt
          LifeNews.com Editor
          February 21,2008

London, England (LifeNews.com) — A British court held a hearing yesterday on a case of a young 30-year-old woman who committed suicide after  the abortion of her twin babies. Emma Beck left a suicide note and said she faced such an intense period of grief afterwards and regret  over the deaths of the babies that she killed herself "to be with them."

The 
court heard testimony that Beck asked doctors for help prior to the abortion but that no one was able to meet with her and the number of a counseling service.

Officials went ahead with the abortion even though she said beforehand that  she had second thoughts.

Weeks 
later, following the abortion, she hung herself at her home.

According 
to the London Daily Mail newspaper, the note she left read:

"I  should never have had an abortion. I see now I would have been a good  mum. I told everyone I didn’t want to do it, even at the hospital. I was frightened, now it is too late. I died when my babies died.
        I want to be with my babies – they need me, no-one else does."

The  Daily Mail reported that Sylvia Beck, Emma’s mother, told the court 
that Emma was never given a chance to se ea counselor and only had  the abortion because her boyfriend didn’t support having the babies.

"I
  want to know why she was not given the opportunity to see a counselor," she said. "She was only going ahead with the abortion because  Ben did not want the twins."

"I  believe this is what led Emma to take her own life," Beck added.  she could not live with what she had done."

News  of the suicide comes weeks after a new study
  published in the journal BMC Psychiatry which found that women who  have abortions typically experience high levels of post-traumatic  stress disorder.

The study appeared in the July 2007 issue of the professional psychological 
publication but it only received publicity recently.

The  research involved 155 women from South Africa who had abortions and were evaluated one month and three months afterwards.

Approximately
            20 percent of the women had post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms
            just one month later. The results led the authors to note that "high
            rates of PTSD characterize women who have undergone voluntary pregnancy termination.

Looking  t the women three months after the abortion, the number of women  experiencing the PTSD symptoms increased 61 percent.