If you look around on the news or social media, you may have the impression that people feel ONE way about abortion. The truth is most people have a wide variety of emotions and thoughts on the topic. And for yet many others, these views have shaped over time whether it is because you experienced, or you watched someone walk through an abortion. It seems simple until it hits close to home. The truth is, abortion brings about complex feelings for just about everyone, including men.
Believe it or not, how you think about this topic politically may not be consistent with what you choose. So many factors go into the decision. What is consistently true is that it is not an easy decision, the memory of it does not go away quickly and you may be reminded of this decision many times in the future.
Immediately or even years after an abortion decision, many women experience a variety of side-effects. These side-effects may arise days, months, or even years later.
After abortion experiences may include:
- Recurring thoughts about the abortion
- Depression or anxiety
- Anger (if someone coerced you into the decision)
- Feelings of regret, guilt, loss, anxiety or shame
- Crying occurrences
- Sadness around the anniversary of the abortion
- Other addictive behaviors to numb any of the above feelings
- Medical issues (especially if there were complications during the abortion)
This is not a complete list of post abortion symptoms, and not every woman who has an abortion will experience them.
However, chances are if you are reading this you may be experiencing them or someone you care about is and you want to have a better understanding of what is available to you. You do not need to tackle this alone. And, just to be clear, it doesn’t matter who you voted for or what you think about the laws. In the space of abortion recovery, there is no respect for a person. It can impact anyone and help is for everyone.
Just as each woman and their circumstances are different, so are the options available to you if you are looking for help even if you are not sure what you need or what you are looking for. Across the country there are a variety of recovery options. Many women find healing through one-on-one clinical counseling, or a 12 step type recovery meeting (typically one for women who have suffered past trauma, codependency, alcohol, etc), a 6-8 week bible study format with formal post abortion recovery material (usually written and led by past survivors) and weekend retreats. Use our directory to see what options are available to you.