In the United States every year, over a million women will choose an abortion. But many of these women have little idea what awaits them during and after the procedure. What they choose is to end a pregnancy, to eliminate an unwanted burden. But what they suffer are the lifelong effects- physically, emotionally, relationally and spiritually.

·         Anger

·         Broken or Abusive relationships

·         Anxiety

·         A desire to replace the baby

·         Betrayal

·         Eating disorders

·         Bitterness

·         Flashbacks

·         Depression

·         Distrust

·         Grief

·         Nightmares or sleep disorders

·         Guilt

·         Helplessness

·         Sexual dysfunction

·         Remorse

·         Substance abuse

·         Resentment

·         Suicidal thoughts or tendencies

·         Shame

·         Lowered self-esteem

·         Uncontrollable crying

·         Self-destructive behaviors

·         Fear of future pregnancies

·         Problems bonding with others children

·         Avoidance of babies, small children, or anything to with pregnancy or abortion

If a woman has had an abortion and identifies with five or more of the above categories, she may be struggling with post-abortion trauma. She should consider seeking help to work through her struggles. Several Christian agencies specializing in PAT are available on the internet.

Research have also established a strong link between post-abortion trauma (also known as post-abortion stress or post-traumatic syndrome) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

1.      Re-experiencing the event through vivid memories or flashbacks

2.      Feeling emotionally numb

3.      Feeling overwhelmed by or diminished interest in performing normal tasks

4.      Developing unusual interests

5.      Crying uncontrollably

6.      Isolating oneself from family and friends situations

7.      Relying increasingly on alcohol or drugs to get through the day

8.      Being extremely moody, irritable, angry, suspicious or frightened

9.      Experiencing disturbance in sleep, either too much or too little, nightmares

10.  Feeling afraid and sense of doom about the future.

Many women who have had abortions identify with some if not most of these criteria, but abortion never informs their clients of these emotional risks prior to the acts.

There are two reasons why post-abortion trauma has become a national problem in America:  25 years of legalized abortion history and the long-term ineffectiveness of denial.

Most women who abort feel deeply ambivalent about abortion, just like the rest of the country.

The Long-Term Ineffectiveness Of Denial. Denial is effective for short-term pain management. It shields us from the brunt of a traumatic loss. Immediately after abortion, denial helps a woman absorb the initial shock of what she’s done. Without it, the pain would be unbearable. Statements like “It isn’t a baby, it’s just a blob of tissue,” If it’s legal, it must be okay,” or “I didn’t kill anything, I just terminated a pregnancy” are woman’s and man’s attempts to minimize the effects of the abortion. But denial ultimately doesn’t work.

As denial melts away and the truth begins to emerge, a woman begins to feel the pain she has tried to bury. Pretending “it was not big deal” no longer works. For most women, denial usually ceases to be effective 5 to 10 years after her abortion. Eventually, some event – the birth of another child, the last child leaving home, a divorce – triggers an emotional tremor, a long-forgotten memory erupts, and the neatly constructed house of denial begins to crumble.

A woman’s ambivalence over abortion is common because it is an assault on her feminine heart and soul. PAT is caused by a woman’s struggle to reconcile what she has done with who she is made to be. Abortion is abhorrent to so many because it violates a mother’s God-given design as a nurturer of life. These two contradictory truths can collide in the heart of a woman who has had an abortion and ignite an emotional firestorm that threatens to destroy her. In order to survive, many shut down emotionally and deaden their hearts through some form of denial so that they feel nothing. Numbness is preferred to the feeling of being ripped in two.

However unless a woman is willing to face the truth and accept responsibility for her own choices, she can remain imprisoned behind her denial, unable to freely enjoy life and relationships. She many work hard to maintain her deadness – from workaholism to alcoholism, from sexual promiscuity, from quickly getting pregnant again to avoiding anything associated with pregnancy. But ultimately nothing works. The carefully woven veil of denial eventually unravels to reveal an empty broken, and lonely woman who cannot face herself or anyone else. Instead of enjoying life, she endures it. As a result, many resign themselves to an existence that is colorless, shapeless, and tasteless.

It’s hard for a woman to work through the trauma of her abortion alone. In fact, the lack of supportive relationships may have contributed to her decision to abort. It is essential that she have supportive encouraging relationships while she works through her grief and loss.

Healing is always a process involving pain and time. There are no “quick fixes” for the wounds soul. But God has given a promise to all who join the journey: “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Ps 147:3).

The journeys involves:

·     Letting Go Of Denial. Denials is the wall of forgetfulness that a woman erects to protect herself from the pain surrounding her abortion. The only way tear down denial is to remember.  Jesus taught that freedom comes through knowing the truth (Jn 8:32). As she begins to reconnect with her feeling about the abortion, a woman must face the truth about who she is, what she has done, and what was done to her.

What Was Done To Her. Many women who’ve had abortions were themselves victims of misinformation. A survey indicated that 93 percent of women who have had abortions insisted that they had little or none of the necessary information to make decision to abort.

·      Releasing The Anger. As a woman faces the truth about her own choices and as she faces what others have done to her, one of the emotions she may have to deal with his her anger. Like many women who have had abortions, her anger had become a way of maintaining her denial and some semblance of control in her life. It becomes her best weapon to keep safe distance. If he got to close to her and shelf threatened, she’d lash out at him and make him pay. She felt that since the man didn’t protect her child, she shouldn’t trust him to protect her either.

In working through anger, it is necessary for a woman to distinguish between healthy anger that longs for fairness and unhealthy anger that merely seeks revenge. (Read: Understanding and Dealing With Anger Biblically). Unhealthy anger seeks to control pain by directing one’s energies toward getting back at those who’ve hurt us.

o   Anger at Her Family. For pressuring her into an abortion or for refusing to support her in trying to carry her baby to term.

o   Anger at the Doctor. For performing the abortion without answering all her questions and warning her of all the risks involved in an abortion.

o   Anger at Herself. For betraying herself and her child by allowing the abortion in spite of the ambivalence she may have felt.

o   Anger at God. For allowing her to get pregnant and then not providing better circumstances or more supportive relationship that would have made it easier for her to have the baby.

o   Anger against her Partner.

·        Grieving The Losses. Facing the extent of the loss over an abortion is one the most important steps in the healing process. But it can also be one of the most difficult. Having lived for so long in denial of her feelings, a woman who begins to face her losses can feel overwhelmed by the sorrow. She may find herself tempted to return to denial because the pain seems unbearable. This is when she needs the loving support of a group that is willing to weep with her as she faces her loss.

·        Confessing The Guilt. Many women who have had abortions are so weighed down by the guilt and shame over what they’ve done in taking the life of their child that they cannot even imagine what it would be like to feel free. Some express that they feel “dirty” or “ugly”. Some may even have difficult to look at themselves in a mirror, because they are afraid of the ugliness they will see.

Without  her denial or anger to hide behind a woman struggles with horror of being exposed by her sin. Everyone now knows what she’s done. She feels naked and ashamed with nowhere to hide. All is open before the Savior. She knows she deserves condemnation for what she has done. And that’s what she expects. But that’s not what she received. Instead He offers her respect and hope.

For a woman to move toward forgiveness, honest confession needs to take place in two areas:

First, for the sin of violating the sacredness of life and taking the life of her child.

·      Receiving Forgiveness. Women who are struggling with the guilt of having had an abortion may say something like, “After what I’ve done, God couldn’t possibly want to forgive me. Maybe He can, but I don’t think He’d want o. How could He forgive me for killing the life that was growing within me?”

Yes, He Can. This is the reason why His name is the God’s of love, God’s of forgiveness, God’s of Hope.  Abortion is not an unpardonable sin. That’s the glorious good news of the gospel. God offer forgiveness of all sins-without exception to anyone who comes to His Son for mercy.

Counselor, Pastor needs to communicate the struggling woman that the purposes and reasons Jesus died on the cross was also to carry the burden of Abortion. Because He knows that no one is capable to carry it and heal to wounded heart.

A woman who has had an abortion often has great difficult accepting God’s forgiveness for three reasons:

Because the memories of a woman’s abortion don’t disappear after being forgiven, the devil one likes to dredge up those memories and wave them in front of her, causing her to doubt God’s goodness (1 Pet 5:8). That’s been Satan strategy from the start (Gen 3: 1-5). But we have an Advocate (Job 16:19), High Priest (Heb 2:17), and Intercessor who is on our side.

In the book of Rom 5:20 the apostle Paul reassured us that no sin – including an abortion – can outdistance God’s grace, because “where sin increased grace increased all the more”.

Living Passionately. “The LORD your God is with you,  he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing" (Zeph 3:17).

This two passage must be memorized by women who are completing their healing process. You know you are making good progress toward healing when you desire to sing returns. Singing reflects a gratefulness over seeing your abortion redeemed and a desire to give back some in return.

·        Redemption Of The Abortion. They no longer define themselves by their abortions. Instead, their abortions are remembered along with the other life-shaping events that God used to draw their hearts back to Himself. The irony of redemption is that God honors a woman’s abortion not because it was good but because He wastes nothing (Rom 8:28). It became her “desert wandering” where He drew her back into a relationship with Himself by speaking tenderly to her. He honors the past because His intent it to restore what was marred.

·      Restoration From the Abortion. The restoration from abortion takes two forms. First, God begins to restore a woman’s inner beauty (1 Pet 3:3-6). She becomes a woman of strength who is free to laugh again because her confidence is in God (Prov 31:25). She free to enjoy healthy relationships with others.

Second, out of gratefulness for God’s forgiveness, she is motivated to nurture life again. She reaches out and encourages other in their healing journey. Same as the woman who bathed Jesus’ feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, and anointed them with a costly perfume (Luke 7:36-37)

Finally: The woman who has been suffering from the PTA and find healing through the healing process, needs to understand that she has a new mission from now one, which is to reach the world and apply the same loving principles to others women suffering all of the world. If God’s have healed you by using information on this page, please take a decision to minister to others as well. You can minister in different ways, the Holy Spirit will guide you and will provide you the guidance where and how to minister.