american life league

Brochure Endnotes

1. Karima R. Sajadi-Ernazarova and Christopher L. Martinez, “Abortion Complications,” National Library of Medicine, May 16, 2023, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430793.

2. Priscilla K. Coleman, et al., “Women Who Suffered Emotionally from Abortion: A Qualitative Synthesis of Their Experiences,” Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons 22, no. 4 (Winter 2017), jpands.org/vol22no4/coleman.pdf.

3. David C. Reardon, “The Abortion and Mental Health Controversy: A Comprehensive Literature Review of Common Ground Agreements, Disagreements, Actionable Recommendations, and Research Opportunities.” Sage Open Medicine 6, (October 29, 2018): 205031211880762, doi.org/10.1177/2050312118807624.

4. Martha Shuping, 2016, “Counterpoint: Long-Lasting Distress after Abortion.” In Peace Psychology Perspectives on Abortion, edited by Rachel MacNair, 153-177, Kansas City, MO: Feminism and Nonviolence Studies Association. scstatehouse.gov/CommitteeInfo/SenateMedicalAffairsCommittee/Shuping%20Long-lasting%20Distress%20after%20Abortion.pdf.

5. “Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) – Symptoms & Causes – Mayo Clinic,” Mayo Clinic, April 30, 2022, mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pelvic-inflammatory-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20352594. 

6. Boeke et al., “The Risk of Pelvic Inflammatory Disease Associated with Urogenital Infection with Chlamydia Trachomatis; Literature Review,” PubMed, April 16, 2005, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15868993. 

7. Jennefer A. Russo et al., “Controversies in Family Planning: Postabortal Pelvic Inflammatory Disease,” Contraception 87, no. 4 (April 1, 2013): 497–503, doi.org/10.1016/j.contraception.2012.04.005.

8. “Could an Elective Abortion Increase the Risk of Problems in a Subsequent Pregnancy?,” Mayo Clinic, August 3, 2022, mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/getting-pregnant/expert-answers/abortion/faq-20058551.

9. David C. Reardon and John M. Thorp, “Pregnancy Associated Death in Record Linkage Studies Relative to Delivery, Termination of Pregnancy, and Natural Losses: A Systematic Review with a Narrative Synthesis and Meta-Analysis,” Sage Open Medicine 5 (November 13, 2017): 205031211774049, doi.org/10.1177/2050312117740490.

10. Mika Gissler et al., “Pregnancy-Associated Deaths in Finland 1987-1994 – Definition Problems and Benefits of Record Linkage,” Acta Obstetricia Et Gynecologica Scandinavica 76, no. 7 (January 1, 1997): 651–57, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9292639/.

11. Lori Frohwirth, Michele Coleman, and Ann M. Moore, “Managing Religion and Morality within the Abortion Experience: Qualitative Interviews with Women Obtaining Abortions in the U.S.,” World Medical & Health Policy 10, no. 4 (November 21, 2018): 381–400, doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.289.

12. M. Antonia Biggs, Katherine Brown, and Diana Greene Foster, “Perceived Abortion Stigma and Psychological Well-Being over Five Years after Receiving or Being Denied an Abortion,” PLOS ONE 15, no. 1 (January 29, 2020): e0226417, doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226417.

Additional Reading from Celebrate Life Magazine

“Abortion and Women’s Health in Developing Countries: Does Legalization Make Things Better?”

“Safe,” legal abortion lessens maternal death. Or does it? Global data shows that focusing on abortion over other factors may worsen maternal death rates rather than improve them.

“Hiding Abortion’s Complications”

Did you know that abortion-related deaths and complications are severely underreported in the US? Investigative reporting shows how skewed data sacrifices the safety of women to protect abortion.

“Mailing RU-486 Makes Women Patient-Abortionists”

When the FDA allowed women to take the abortion pill at home and away from medical supervision, it increased the drug’s already high risks. This article summarizes an in-depth report on the abortion pill, its history, use, and the dangers it creates for women.

“Safe for Whom?”

Pro-abortion advocates say abortion is “highly safe and effective.” But what about the real pain and complications women face during and after abortion? Worse, how can abortion be “safe” when it involves at least one death 100% of the time?

“The End of Neutrality: Gosnell—America’s Moral Moment”

Kermit Gosnell’s abortion business was a “house of horrors” with filthy medical equipment, bloodstained furniture, untrained medical staff, and the dismembered remains of aborted babies stuffed into bottles, jars, and freezers. How did he get away with it for so long? And why did the media refuse to cover the case?

“The Secret Life of Post-Abortive Mothers: And How We Can Help Them”

A healing retreat for 150 women who had had abortions revealed powerful truths about their scars. Through their vulnerability and pain, they showed the best ways to offer healing to other post-abortive women.

Post-Abortion Trauma

Post-abortion trauma refers to the emotional and mental pain women have after an abortion. It is also called Post Abortion Stress Syndrome.

Many abortion supporters don’t think women have any real or lasting trauma from abortion, but their denial doesn’t change the mothers’ painful experiences.

A report from the American Psychological Association’s Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion, for example, explains: “It is clear that some women do experience sadness, grief, and feelings of loss following termination of a pregnancy, and some experience clinically significant disorders, including depression and anxiety.”

Generally, women with post-abortion trauma have signs such as:

• Guilt
• Numbness
• Anxiety
• Flashbacks of the abortion
• Depression
• Suicidal thoughts

Research shows that many factors can increase the risk of trauma. These risk factors include:

• Perceived outside pressure to abort
• Aborting a baby who is wanted
• A lack of support
• Feeling unsure about the choice to abort
• A history of mental health problems
• Feeling the need to keep the abortion a secret

The same study states, “The association between abortion and higher rates of anxiety, depression, substance use, traumatic symptoms, sleep disorders, and other negative outcomes is statistically significant in most analyses.”

Pro-lifers know that this trauma comes from killing your baby, but they aren’t the only ones acknowledging this sad truth.

Julius Fogel, a psychiatrist and abortionist responsible for over 20,000 abortions, once said:

Every woman—whatever her age, background or sexuality—has a trauma at destroying a pregnancy. A level of humanness is touched. This is a part of her own life. When she destroys a pregnancy, she is destroying herself. There is no way it can be innocuous. One is dealing with the life force. It is totally beside the point whether or not you think a life is there. You cannot deny that something is being created and that this creation is physically happening. . . . Often the trauma may sink into the unconscious and never surface in the woman’s lifetime. But it is not as harmless and casual an event as many in the pro-abortion crowd insist. A psychological price is paid. It may be alienation; it may be a pushing away from human warmth, perhaps a hardening of the maternal instinct. Something happens on the deeper levels of a woman’s consciousness when she destroys a pregnancy. I know that as a psychiatrist.¹

In a later interview with The Washington Post, he also said:

There is no question . . . about the emotional grief and mourning following an abortion. It shows up in various forms. I’ve had patients who had abortions a year or two ago—women who did the best thing at the time for themselves—but it still bothers them. Many come in—some are just mute, some hostile. Some burst out crying. . . . There is no question in my mind that we are disturbing a life process.

Acknowledging this pain validates the experiences of women who have had abortions. It can also help them heal.

If you have trauma from a past abortion, you can find forgiveness, compassion, and restoration at Rachel’s Vineyard.

1. C. McCarthy, “Worst Form of Birth Control Hurts a Woman’s Psyche,” The Washington Post, February 28, 1971.

Do Abortions Cause Breast Cancer?

This topic has been debated for decades. Several studies have claimed that having an abortion increases your risk of breast cancer. Other studies have claimed that there is no link between abortion and breast cancer. Both sides point to flaws in the opposing research.

Science hasn’t yet given a definitive answer to this question. Until we know more, we can only acknowledge that abortion may be a potential cancer-related risk. 

Though this link isn’t certain, researchers have found a clear connection between breast cancer and the birth control pill.

The birth control pill isn’t often thought of as an abortion-causing drug. But it does kill babies in their earliest stage of life. Science shows that human beings begin at the moment the sperm fertilizes the egg. To continue growing, this new human being must implant in the mother’s womb.

The birth control pill thins the lining of the uterus to prevent implantation. Unable to get nutrients, the baby starves to death.

But preborn babies aren’t the only ones that birth control hurts.

Contraceptive medicines use man-made versions of hormones to make a woman infertile. They usually include estrogen and progestin or just progestin. Many studies have linked hormonal birth control to a higher risk of breast cancer.

A 2017 study, for instance, found that women on hormonal birth control had a 20% higher risk of breast cancer. This included the pill, vaginal rings, IUDs, patches, and injections. Researchers also found that women who used Plan B (the morning-after pill) had the highest level of risk. 

Another study showed similar results. Women who used birth control had a 23-32% higher risk of developing breast cancer. 

The American Cancer Society lists birth control as a “lifestyle-related breast cancer risk factor.“ The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer also names birth control as a Group 1 carcinogen. 

Be good to your body, yourself, and your children. Avoid birth control and the risks they create.