{"id":200227,"date":"2019-04-18T12:47:45","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T17:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=200227"},"modified":"2019-04-14T23:54:04","modified_gmt":"2019-04-15T04:54:04","slug":"women-pregnant-rape-abortion-trauma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/women-pregnant-rape-abortion-trauma\/","title":{"rendered":"Women pregnant by rape: Abortion ‘just added more layers of trauma’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Many people assume that abortion is the best answer for women who conceive in rape. But as these women\u2019s stories show, abortion often only serves to add to the survivor\u2019s pain.<\/p>\n

Deana Schroeder<\/a> was drugged and raped at 17. She says that when she learned she was pregnant…<\/p>\n

… my family, counselors, and doctors took control. They intended the best. They wanted to help me. And even though there are literally no studies showing any benefit from abortion, they had total confidence in the social myth that abortion is the best option, even the only\u00a0option, in cases of sexual assault.<\/em><\/p>\n

Even many pro-lifers approve of abortions in cases of rape. So surely it must be the best choice, right?<\/em><\/p>\n

But for Deana, it wasn\u2019t. “Not in my case,” she says. “It just added more layers of trauma, self-doubt, grief and guilt. The negative impact lasted for years.”<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Pregnant from rape, Victoria now says \u2018my daughter saved me\u2019<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Another rape survivor, who told her story at LifeNews<\/a>, wrote:<\/p>\n

I knew abortion was wrong and went against everything I had believed up until that point. At the same time, I had no ability to process what was happening in my life. I couldn\u2019t even tell anyone. I was shocked, embarrassed and disgusted with myself. In the week that followed, anger and fear built up in my heart until I felt I had no other option.<\/em><\/p>\n

But she suffered after her abortion:<\/p>\n

I put up a good front, pretending that everything was fine. In reality, I had found my way to a secret life of drugs, alcohol and just about anything else I could do to numb the pain I felt inside my heart…<\/em><\/p>\n

Now, nearly five years removed from the decision to have my abortion, I can say with some certainty that I regret it to the fullest extent possible. My heart hurts deeply with the wounds that came from my assault.\u00a0 But the pain of knowing that I will never meet my child hurts more deeply. While I continue to wonder how I could have coped with having a baby from rape, I know that killing him did nothing to heal my pain.<\/em><\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Those of us who conceive in rape will not be bullied into silence<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A woman who identified herself as Cheryl wishes more people<\/a> understood that abortion doesn\u2019t solve a rape victim\u2019s problems:<\/p>\n

I just wish society would realize the long-term effect that abortion has on women even in the case of rape. You know, to further traumatize a woman the way I\u2019ve been further traumatized. I just don\u2019t want this to happen to no one else.<\/em><\/p>\n

The website AbortionConcern.com, now down, had stories from post-abortive women. One woman who had an abortion after rape remembers her abortion as traumatic:<\/p>\n

The clinic staff made me feel not only like I was on an assembly line, but if I stopped to look at information, or if I looked like I was scared, and\/or having second thoughts, they became impatient. One nurse even raised her voice to me; like how dare I question her.<\/em><\/p>\n

I barely whimpered \u2014 almost like a sad little kitten \u2014 and this woman berated me and made me feel so scared and lost\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Physically, the abortion hurt almost to the point [where] I was seeing little white spots on the ceiling and the operating room was beginning to softly spin…<\/em><\/p>\n

I wanted to scream out, \u201cNo!!! Stop!!! You’re hurting me, and you’re killing my baby!!! Please stop!!!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2026 Fourteen years later, and I still don’t know if it was a little boy or girl baby I aborted. I’ve often suspected \u201cit\u201d (my baby) was a girl …. I ache to hold my baby. And ache that I cannot.<\/em><\/p>\n