Published February, 2001
Theresa grabbed the side of the podium and looked out at the crowd. She considered them friends, but this was going to be difficult. For the first time, she would speak publicly about something that had always been private. “I was really nervous about it. You know, nobody ever talks about it. I had to really…this had been so personal and private for so long, and now I would talk about it and say ‘the word.’”
Taking a deep breath, Theresa slowly began to tell about her first pregnancy and the steps that led her to have an abortion. “It was scary when I was standing there,” as she remembers her speech. “I could see the shock factor. Abortion was an unspoken issue. To talk about it in a mixed group of individuals…you could hear a pin drop.”
Nearly four years later, Theresa continues to speak publicly about her abortion experience. She wants other women to know the facts about abortion, facts that are often hidden in the silence that surrounds the subject.
Thirty years after Roe v. Wade, over 31 million abortions have been performed in the United States. Yet, abortion is still a subject few women feel they can discuss openly, and this helps hide the truth and facts about the physical and mental consequences connected with abortion.
Death is the ultimate harm that may come to a woman having an abortion. One Arizona woman, LouAnne Herron, bled to death following her abortion, and Dr. John Biskind is currently on trial in Arizona Superior Court for gross negligence allegedly leading to her death.
Evidence introduced during the trial of Dr. Biskind describes a 2 inch hole in Ms. Herron’s uterus. Such injuries to the uterus in other women, while not always leading to death, have resulted in hysterectomies and colostomies. Even when injury to the uterus remains undetected by a woman immediately following her abortion, she may find years later that she is infertile or unable to bring a pregnancy to full term as the result of uterine scarring.
Thirty years of legalized abortion have also raised the very real evidence that abortion may cause the death of women in an unexpected way. Researchers are busy studying the link of abortion to breast cancer. Dr. Joel Brind, president of the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute, first wrote about the link between breast cancer and abortion in 1993 for Family Voice. He notes that 27 out of 33 studies worldwide demonstrate this ABC link.
The risks for women having abortions are serious, and women like Theresa are stepping into the public light to end the silence. They work to educate the public at the same time that they encourage women who have had abortions to seek help.
Representative Laura Knaperek is also bringing her legislative expertise to bear on the situation. For the third year, she will introduce a bill in the Arizona House in support of a Woman’s Right to Know. Rep. Knaperek addressed the crowd at the January 23rd rally for Arizona Right to Life and asked them to help her see this legislation become law, guaranteeing that women will be told the truth about the real risks associated with any decision to have an abortion.
On the national level, the Texas Justice Foundation has begun a campaign to help document the truth about complications arising from abortion. Their campaign Operation Outcry asks women “who have been harmed by abortion to use their testimony for something positive: preventing other women from being hurt the same way.”
Operation Outcry operates a website where women can come forth and testify. “We need women who have had an abortion(s) to fill out an affidavit form describing their experience.” The affidavit forms are available on the web, as well as two sample testimonies filled out by Susan Renne and Sharon Blakeney. The website also lists hot lines for women who may be suffering from abortion and need help in healing.
Theresa understands firsthand the courage women need when they make the decision to reveal their abortion for the first time. While she still feels nervous in her public speeches, she knows she is committed to the cause of truth. Reflecting back to her first speech, she speaks with conviction. “That was just the beginning. When I was done, it was a matter of relief and trust that everything was going to be OK. No matter who heard this, even if it only reached one individual, it was 110 per cent OK.”
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