{"id":161982,"date":"2017-02-08T14:03:16","date_gmt":"2017-02-08T19:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=161982"},"modified":"2017-02-07T22:01:48","modified_gmt":"2017-02-08T03:01:48","slug":"post-abortive-woman-seeing-baby-abortion-worst-moment-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/post-abortive-woman-seeing-baby-abortion-worst-moment-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Post-abortive woman: Seeing my aborted baby was “the worst moment of my life”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A post-abortive woman from\u00a0Buenos Aires, Argentina recently shared her abortion experience with Humans of New York. She wanted an abortion for many of the reasons that society tells women they should have abortions, but in the end, it would turn out to be the worst moment of her life:<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t want to be a mother. I was eighteen. We weren\u2019t in love. I had goals I wanted to accomplish. So I made the hardest decision of my life. It\u2019s not legal here. So I researched it on the Internet. I did it myself. In my room. If things had gone wrong, I could have died. Seeing it come out of me was the worst moment of my life. And I couldn\u2019t tell anyone. Not even my parents. So I carried the secret with me. I felt like this thing was always in my chest, but it was stuck there. All day I\u2019d act normal. Then at night I\u2019d go to my room and cry.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This woman, like so many others, is probably suffering from post-abortion syndrome. Most likely not realizing just how developed her child was at the time of her self-inflicted abortion, she was horrified at what she saw once the abortion was complete and her child had died. Fear had caused her to abort her child and now fear was causing her to keep the abortion and the brief life of her child a secret from her family.<\/p>\n

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Post-abortion syndrome, also known as post-abortion stress syndrome<\/a>, is a form of post-traumatic stress disorder. \u00a0Whether a woman has had numerous abortions as her own choice, has been coerced to abort, or believed that she had no choice other than abortion, she can suffer from the aftermath of the traumatic experience of ending the life of her child. Symptoms<\/a> can include guilt, anxiety or panic attacks, depression, inability to bond with future children, eating disorders, alcohol and drug use, and thoughts of suicide. These symptoms may appear immediately after an abortion or not until years later.<\/p>\n

A 2011 study<\/a> in the British Journal of Psychiatry found that women who have had abortions have a 61 percent increased risk of mood disorders as well as a 261 percent increased risk of alcohol misuse and a 313 percent increased risk of drug misuse. In addition, they show a 61 percent increased risk of social phobia, and a 59 percent increased risk of suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n

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